Worried about the road work /Inquiété de la réparation des routes

I rode home yesterday with one of my neighbors from the residence. We talked a lot about the progress of the project and I explained exactly what I'd done so far.

In the course of the discussion he expressed concern that we may not be able to convince some of the holdouts in the residence to agree to do the general road work. That could be a problem because putting in the conduit is probably only economically viable if we're already digging up the roads. The roads will have to be done eventually. It's just a question of how much time we'll have to wait.

If we have to postpone the road work one year then the positive aspect is I'll have more time to get everything ready.

Excavation work? Lay empty conduit. / Excavation? Installer le fourreau vide.

Sweden really seems to get it when it comes to looking for ways to get fiber into the ground. I found this today from the government's IT Policy Strategy Group and was impressed with their foresight:

Pipe-laying should be coordinated, including the allocation of costs, the goal being that empty piping should at least be laid when excavation must in any case be carried out.

“Policy for the IT society: Recommendations from the members of the IT Policy Strategy Group”, IT Policy Strategy Group – Sweden, 26 October 2006, at: http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/574/a/76046;jsessionid=aRgt9J6DAf-g/

I've tried to break this project down into manageable steps and the first is simply getting conduit into the ground. Everything else can progress from there including the details about interconnection with ISPs. For the time being the focus should be on getting the conduit in when they dig up the roads in the residence.

The Swedes do raise another interesting point. Should I announce my intentions and offer to share the costs of putting in the conduit with the other providers? I'd be more than happy to see them come (which I doubt they would) but that could also make it difficult for me to personally recoup my own costs. That then begs the question of how many open access fibers are necessary to each home...

End of vacations in St Nom - fin des vacances à St Nom

August is a very quiet time in France and our village is no exception. I've never seen things so quiet and it feels like a ghost town. That will all change in the next two weeks as people return from vacation and school starts.

I'm planning on preparing a small handout that I will pass around to all the neighbors in the residence explaining what I'd like to do for soon after they get back. It will explain what I plan on doing and where I'll need their help.

I was thinking about it last night and much of this is really going to be about marketing the idea to people. Getting people excited about fiber in English is one thing but trying to do it in French (writing) is somewhat daunting. I've decided to it first in English and then I'll get help translating it into perfect French.

I'll post my drafts of the handout here on the blog and would welcome any comments.