Overhead Fiber Service

Getting Overhead Fiber Optic Service to your home – A Bird's-Eye View

OK, you’re excited about getting the super-fast fiber optic cable to your house. Things are easy when your electrical service is overhead and you want to use that route for your “big broadband pipe.”

Expand All

I have overhead service. Now what?

Working together is key. If electricity and fiber cables are on nearby power poles, we allow up to 500 feet of a fiber optic service drop to each household included with your application fee.

Contact a PUD 3 telecom engineer at 360-432-1550 or telecommunications@masonpud3.org to determine the most cost effective route to your home if an overhead path exists.

Who's responsible for what?

YOU

Give the PUD a construction application and pay the application fee.
Work with our engineers to figure out the best path for the overhead line.
Give the PUD the rights of way and easements for construction, operation and maintenance of the cable. This includes the permission of the property owner, and the OK for tree trimming if needed.
Sometimes the customer will need to provide an exterior outlet with a while-in-use cover ("bubble cover"), if power from the electric meter is not feasible.

PUD 3

We’ll give you a written cost estimate for getting the fiber optic service to your house.
We'll install the fiber infrastructure.
We’ll take on the responsibility for maintaining the line up to the fiber optic equipment we install at your house for wholesale telecommunications service.

PUD 3’s engineering staff is specially trained to design a safe, legal, and cost-effective plan to connect your new home or business to PUD 3’s fiber optic network. Because there are so many variables, we do not give “rough estimates” for specific jobs.

All customers must submit an application for fiber service in order to receive a cost estimate.

Connections for Fiberhood customers are included in the Construction Adder.

I have fiber to my home. Where do I sign up for service?

For information about available services, how to apply and be connected, contact any of our fiber retailer partners.

What do I need to connect?

PUD 3 will install a fiber optic network box ("gateway"), most likely near your power meter. Sometimes the customer will need to provide an exterior outlet with a while-in-use cover ("bubble cover"), if power from the electric meter is not feasible.

Once we’ve done our job, you and your retailer service provider will do the rest. That includes wiring into the house with ethernet cable, installation of wireless routers, TV boxes, phone lines, or anything else you want to hook up to the network.

If my connection goes down, what do I do?

Contact your retailer. Do not contact PUD 3, as this will delay the restoration of your service. The retail service provider will work with PUD 3 if necessary to get services restored.

Can the PUD sell service to me directly?

We can’t sell directly to a customer. Only the retail service providers who use the extra space on our system can do that.

And Hey! That creates jobs for local internet, cable and phone companies – being able to give people really fast internet service, great telephone, and even TV.

Why does Mason PUD 3 have a fiber optic network?

Keeping an eye on nearly 2,000 miles of power lines, twelve substations, tons of equipment in the field and keeping in touch with customers takes a lot of communications technology.

Doing things the old way just wasn’t working out…it was really expensive…and not as secure as a state-of-the-art system needs to be. A patchwork of phone lines and copper data circuits really doesn’t do the job when you need to keep an eye on a modern electricity distribution system.

For security and system reliability, we built a high capacity, fast and reliable fiber optics communications network to monitor substations, power lines, and other equipment. We estimate that we’re saving millions of dollars each year by managing our own system.

Why PUD 3, what big broadband pipes you have!

Think about when people first got electricity. All they really wanted was to have lights, and maybe a pump for water. Then they got an electric cook stove, a refrigerator, clothes washer, and wham! their electrical service was overwhelmed.

Just like bringing electricity to new customers, the demand for fast broadband service is going through the roof. The PUD’s fiber optic network is designed so that it can be quickly upgraded to meet the needs of the voracious bandwidth hog: our homes.

What else?

If you have any questions about the installation process, DON’T guess. Call our telecommunications department and ask. We want to make sure your connection to the information autobahn goes smoothly, without any braking. We want you to have the fastest internet experience you can get anywhere in the world, right here in Mason County.

Telecommunications: (360) 432-1550