You have heard the expression, “Time flies when you’re having fun!”. Well, here at Rainbow, we cannot believe it has already been nearly 5 months since we have announced our fiber expansion to the city of Atchison. Your interest, questions, and comments have been very helpful and make the experience more than fun. Below are a few updates of checklist items we have marked off our list in the last few months:
- Completed the city of Atchison engineering design for the fiber expansion. The engineering design tells us where electronics need to be set throughout our fiber build.
- Secured a temporary office location. In 2021, our office will open in the Berger building at 110 North 6th Street. If you have recently been by, you may have noticed our sign was installed!
- Completed staking for Downtown East, Downtown West, route to the airport, and route to the hospital. Staking consists of taking the exact measurements from the engineering design. It lets us know how much fiber we need for the exact path we will be taking for the fiber build. It also determines what fiber will be buried versus what fiber will be aerial. The staking also lists out any permits we may need to obtain during the process.
- Joined the Chamber of Commerce. We take pride in being active participants in our communities.
- Purchased a permanent office location with construction in progress. {And a second business opening soon!} Our permanent location is the old Atchison Grocery Warehouse at 101 Commercial Street. The building is currently in construction. Soon, there will be a second business opening, too! Stay tuned to more updates on that.
- Set our fiber hut behind the YMCA. We entered into a partnership with the YMCA for easement of property for our electronics hut that was placed behind. In exchange, we’re providing fiber services to the YMCA public hotspot.
- Signed a Franchise Agreement with city of Atchison. This allows us to do business in Atchison and have our fiber internet services available.
- Obtained a construction permit with the city of Atchison for the Downtown East fiberhood electronic hut. Rainbow will have electronic cabinets set throughout the city to provide fiber services. The permit notifies and grants permission from the city based on specifications of the cabinets and required property setbacks.
- Applied for a construction permit for Downtown West fiberhood electronic hut. Our second location for an electronics cabinet to provide fast, reliable fiber services.
- Purchased 18.46 miles of fiber for Downtown East and Downtown West fiberhoods as well as the route to the airport and route to the hospital. This calculates to about 24% of the total fiber needed for the build!
More recently, we completed a pole audit for the use of Evergy power poles. The pole audit is a multi-step process.
- Hire an Evergy approved engineering firm to complete pole audit.
- Determine which power poles will be needed to attach fiber to.
- Receive agreement from Evergy that lists details of the power poles make ready cost.
With the current partnership, we are approved for Downtown East, Downtown West, a route to the airport, and a route to the hospital. We are continuing to work on the pole audits for the remaining fiberhoods.
Stay tuned for another update in January! In the meantime, continue referring your friends and neighbors to submit their interest. You can also track your fiberhoods progress by typing in your address here. Every fiberhood goal is 100% on the map. However, that does not mean that 100% of locations within that fiberhood must submit interest; there is a behind-the-scenes calculator that tallies up how much more interest is needed in each area.
If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at 800-892-0163.
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