How Much Would You Help With Your Own Last Mile Support?

Many people in the United States have less than great broadband service, or none at all, due to the problem of  what is known as the last mile. The meaning is that the cost of getting service to only a few subscribers in the last mile from the local point of connection is very expensive.  If you live in an apartment complex, at the end of a run, with the probability of 50 or more subscribers, chances are good you will have great service, and you won’t be waiting long for the connection. On the other hand, if you are the same distance from the connection point, but are the only probable subscriber, you are most likely in for more of a big wait.

Maximum PC reports that in Norway, a company called Lyse, a provider of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), has become the biggest player in the game by giving the customers what they want, by asking for a little help, then compensating the customer for that help.

In Norway, Lyse has quickly become the largest fiber-to-the-home provider thanks to their innovative new business model that asks their customers to preregister before any fiber is dug, and then offers then $400 savings if they dig up their own trench from the street to their home. So far, 80 percent of their customers have taken them up the offer.

According to Herbjørn Tjeltveit of Lyse, “They (the customer) can arrange things just the way they want,” which has made for happier customers. Evidently, Nordic folk have issues with a corporation digging through their meticulously planted flower gardens.

All this support has given Lyse some breathing room as well – having jumped from 500 to 130,000 customers in just over a year, they’ve got quite a bit of money to use for infrastructure. Word is that they’re already testing both 100Mbps and 1,000Mbps connections.

So by putting out a little bit of elbow grease, you can get a much better  connection, and save some bucks in the process.

This is the kind of cooperation between provider and customer we seldom see in the United States. I’m certain that if this sort of thing were to be offered in the future here , the response from customers would be dramatic, to say the least.

Verizon, AT&T, are you listening? Time-Warner, Comcast, never mind.

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