Charter Installs Broadband Fiber Optic in Phase 2

Over the last two weeks of December 2010, Charter Cable installed fiber optic cable throughout all of Phase 2.  Sometime in January, Charter will officially launch their service to Phase 2 homeowners, offering cable television, broadband internet, and phone service.  This is a welcome addition to Phase 2 homeowners who have not had access to high speed broadband internet access since Phase 2 was built.

Several homeowners have complained to the Board of Directors about why Charter Cable installed their fiber optic cable and green pedestals in the front yards of Phase 2 homeowners.   Additionally, several other homeowners complained about why they were not notified by Charter ahead of time regarding this work. 

Regarding why Charter Cable installed their fiber optic cable and green pedestals in the front yards, the HOA nor the City of Mansfield have any say on this matter.  Charter has the right choose which utility easement they want to run their cable in - whether it be in front of the house or the rear of the house. For ease of convenience, they chose the front yard easement.  Additionally, the City of Mansfield nor the HOA have any power to determine what type of pedestal is used or require screening to be installed around the pedestals after they are put in. 

Likewise, Charter is not required to notify homeowners, the HOA, or the City of Mansfield if they are working in the utility easement.  In areas where Charter crosses the City of Mansfield's right-of-way (i.e. where the cable goes under a city street) Charter is required to submit a permit to the City of Mansfield for approval - which they did.

The Lowe's Farm Board of Directors encourages all homeowners who now have a green Charter cable pedestal in their front yard to plant landscaping around the pedestal to screen it from public view.  Many homeowners in Phase 2 who have Oncor electric transformers in their front yards have already done something similar to screen the transformer box from public view.  Several homeowners and the Landscape Committee are working on a recommended landscape package for homeowners to use around their utility pedestals and boxes so that a consistent screening look can be achieved.  Once this recommendation is completed, it will be sent to all Phase 2 homeowners.

If any homeowners have damage to their property as a result of the cable installation or other complaints regarding the installation, please contact Julie Torres with Charter Communications @ 817-298-3568.  Posted January 13, 2010

Update on U-Verse

In December, the board was advised by our internal contacts at AT&T that the entire U-verse rollout to Lowe’s Farm is now complete and that all homes in Phase 1 and Phase 2 that are within the distance requirements to receive U-verse are able to purchase the service.  Although some homeowners in Phase 2 have been able to get U-verse installed in their homes, the vast majority of Phase 2 of Lowe’s Farm is too far from the VRAD cross connect box to purchase the service.  Even two members of our Board Of Directors attempted to purchase the service because the AT&T website said it was available.  But when technicians arrived to install the service, they were advised that they were too far from the VRAD box and that the availability information on the AT&T website for their addresses was incorrect.  Numerous other homeowners in Phase 2 have had to go thru this same frustrating process. 

Unfortunately, the reality is that until technology improves to allow U-verse to reach longer cable distances OR AT&T decides to provide a second VRAD cross connect box in Lowe’s Farm, the remaining homeowners in Lowe’s Farm will not have access to U-verse.  The Board wishes they had better news to provide our homeowners in Phase 2, but unfortunately the Board has no control or leverage in this situation.  With the deregulation of the cable industry in Texas, cable and broadband service providers can simply pick and choose which areas they want to provide their services.  Local franchise agreements, which used to force Charter to provide service in the City of Mansfield, are no longer in effect.

So if you live in Phase 2 and don't have access to U-verse, what other options do you have?   For television programming the most common options would be rabbit ears or satellite TV.  For internet access, there are several options that the Board is aware of.  Wireless phone providers (such as Verizon, Sprint, AT&T) offer broadband access cards for computers.  Some satellite TV providers offer high speed internet access thru their satellite dishes.  There are also several local direct line of sight internet providers (Air Canopy and Cool Access) who utilize a fixed antenna on your rooftop pointed towards a repeater mounted on a tower or structure.   As it’s name implies, you have to have direct line of site from your rooftop to their repeater. . Posted Jan. 16, 2010

U-verse Now Available in Portions of Lowe's Farm

Last week, AT&T finally started rolling out U-verse to Lowe's Farm which will provide yet another level of competition and options in the television, internet, and telephone market for our homeowners.  Unfortunately, this rollout only occurred in Phase 1 of Lowe's Farm (the homes between Woodcrest Lane and East Broad Street) and not all of Lowe's Farm as we had hoped.  We know this is extremely frustrating for Phase 2 homeowners because this portion of our subdivision was built without Charter Cable or Broadband.

So when will U-verse roll out to Phase 2 residents?  This is a good question and unfortunately the Board doesn't have a firm answer. If you call AT&T, their standard response is that they cannot divulge when U-verse will roll out to a service area because sharing such information would allow their competition to rush into a market with discounted promotions to lock up potential U-verse customers.  That may very well be one of the reasons they rolled out Phase 1 first, because they will compete head-to-head with Charter Communications in Phase 1.  However, working thru a couple indirect contacts we have at AT&T, there is good reason to believe that U-verse will roll out to Phase 2 residents in the next 30 to 90 days.  

Do we think that Phase 2 residents won't actually have U-verse available to them?  No.  During the summer, AT&T crews were spotted in yards throughout Phase 1 and 2 testing out the lines and telling inquisitive homeowners that they were there getting things ready for the U-verse rollout.  We wish we had better news to share with our Phase 2 residents at this time, but unfortunately we do not.   Posted July 27, 2009