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FiberXL, what we do

Every blog should start with an introduction. Ironically this will end up being the post at the very bottom of the list…

FiberXL provides fast internet service to residents of Chicagoland. We bring — to ordinary Chicago residents — the same fiber internet that gets used by the network newsrooms and which the financial services companies in financial centers use to execute lightning-fast trades. We negotiate with multiple fiber internet providers to deliver a fast connection at a wholesale prices.

Our primary target market is large buildings (typically more than 80 units, preferably more than 120 units) which are:

  1. Built or renovated after 2000 (because they would have cat 5 or better ethernet cable run to the units)
  2. Near a fiber line (we have ties to both Lightower and Cogent, which provide commercial fiber).
  3. That currently have relatively slow internet or which lack a “building-wide” system. (Our goal is “service which is always faster, and usually much faster than 10 Mb/s”…11 Mb/s is fast enough to stream hi-def 3-D movies, by the way….)
  4. Within 5 miles of our office at 345 N Canal, so we can quickly respond in-person when needed. Although, a building outside that range which is in quick walking distance of the green, red, or blue CTA lines is eligible too.

 

We are thinking condos use management companies, so we might be better off contacting them.

Any other ideas are welcome…..


 

So far…. we have 2 big installs covering almost 500 units. Setting up a new install takes (from the moment the contract is signed) 3 to 6 months of insanely hard work. Once a building is up and running, if it’s done right, and we take the time and meticulous planning to do it right, it very nearly runs itself. A 200 unit building running at full occupancy takes between 1.5 and 15 hours of a technician’s time per month…typically, that would be around 3.5 hours in a normal month. We have plenty of room for expansion and we’ve recently hired two consultants to help us locate new buildings.