Looks like the next major upgrade of my internet-link at home is just a few months away…
Earlier this evening we had a friendly Swede at the door, representing Østfold Fibernett and their ‘Altibox‘ (all in one box) concept. If they manage to interest > 50% of the people in our neighbourhood to sign a contract, they will roll out optical fiber, and provide internet, television and phone (triple play) on it. The plan is to deliver 10, 30 & 50 Mbit. The idea is that the customer makes a little investment ($350 or $700, depending on whether you dig your own cable trench from the street to your house), and Østfold Fibernett coughs up the rest of the investment.

In my opinion ADSL has had its best days and optical fiber is definitely the way of the future, so we signed up. We’re gonna start out with 10 Mbit, which should cover our usage just nicely. It will be a couple of months before we actually know whether they’ve hit their mark of > 50% for our neighbourhood. We have committed us now, but since we don’t have to pay a single cent until they have actually rolled out and installed the entire thing it should be pretty safe…

So for now all I can do is wait and see whether the people in my neighbourhood have as much faith in the future of fiber as I do, and sign up!

To be continued!