If you sent an inquiry or placed a order, you may notice some or many of of the following activities before service is ready. Here are some of the common actions to expect.

Mapping:
Internally we will check maps, drawings and documentation related to the address. If it looks like there is a possibility of service, we will request a survey. When a technician is in the neighborhood he will do the survey. We generally do not schedule surverys for any specific time and they occur during daylight seven days a week.

Survey:
A Gigabit MN car or truck will stop in front of your house and a technician will check the side of your house for existing fiber and equipment.The vehicle should be identified as Gigabit MN and the technicians will be wearing yellow or orange "high-vis" construction safety colors. They will not distrub or notify you, but they will be happy to explain what they are doing if you inquire.

Sometimes the technicians may need to trace a fiber to a pedestal, down the street or to neighboring houses. In some areas the fibers are connected to houses in groups called "splits" and signal level may need to be checked at various points.

Fiber Drop:
If you have ordered service and no fiber exists to your house, but a survey has determined facilities are available, then a fiber drop will be installed.
A fiber drop is a fiber cable that is placed a few inches under ground from the nearest pipe or pedestal with Gigabit facilities. These facilities are found in the utilitiy right-of-way (ROW) ususally located in the front of your house. While you own the ROW, the city controls the ROW. In fact, the city refers to it as "our ROW", meaning the city's ROW.

At this point if any construction work is required, "Locates" are called for and then all the utilities in your lawn are marked with lines and flags. This is a 2-day process. Wireless dog fences and sprinkler systems essentially cannot, and are not, "located" unless you can do it yourself. Feel free to mark anything in your yard you know about or email us if you have any helpful info.

Wireless dog fence wires are easily broken, but just as easily fixed, so please test your dog fence and let us know if there is any problem after a drop is installed. Sprinkler pipes are more difficult to cut, but are also easily fixed should they break. If you notice a puddle or a gusher in your lawn where we put in a fiber drop, just let us know. We will generally be out to fix a dog fence or sprinkler pipe at our first opportunity after we are informed.

If any construction involves a neighboring yard, outside of the ROW, we will post a construction notice on that home at least 24 hours in advance with a description of the drop and contact information. This happens more in the winter when a temporary connection from a neighboring home is required until spring.

Install:
If you have ordered service and there is fiber to your house, a technician will stop out and install the equipment box, equipment and do whatever splicing is required to get the fiberoptic signal to the outside of your home. This does not require anyone to be home and is not scheduled. The fiber equipment is usually located on the side of your house with the electrical meter box on it. Installation will often take 30 minutes to 2 hours on the side of your house and another 30 minutes to 2 hours at a pedestal somewhere in the ROW, which could be in frount of your house or down the street somewhere. Turn-up will be scheduled with you once all this outside work is completed.

Turn-up:
Once the outside equipment is installed and tested you will be contracted to schedule turn-up, or receive an email suggesting you call Heather at 651-888-4444 to schedule.

Notices:
If your installation has multiple steps and will take some time you may receive email updates as technicians complete various activities. At the end you receive a notice to call Heather at 651-888-4444 to schedule turn-up or you may also get a call or voicemail.

Timeline:
The typical turnaround time from point of order to service turn-up is approximately 5-10 business days. If there is any construction required the time will be longer.

Frequent Questions:
If you have more questions we have a list of common ones on our FAQ page. and of course you can always call or email us.

Order Email: If you place an order you will receive this email.

Dear xxx,

Welcome to Gigabit Minnesota and thank you for your order.

Your order number is: 20160928-xxxx
Your account number is: gmnxxxx

Please reference your order number or account number when contacting our support.

Please note the typical turnaround time from point of order to service turn-up is approximately 5-10 business days variable to your service request, your home's connection and internal setup. If construction is required to connect your home that turnaround time can vary.

Now that your order has been received, here is the process to getting your service going. You will receive automated emails from us updating you on the status of your order as it moves through these steps:

Step 1: Outside Site Survey
After receipt, your order will be sent to our outside plant supervisor, who will conduct an outside site survey to determine where and how our Fiber gets to your home.

This site survey is completely external of your home and will not require you to be home. You may notice a member of our team stop and check the outside of your house for existing fiber and equipment.

In the event there is not presently Fiber running to your house, we will need to construct a Fiber drop. If there is construction required, we will notify you. If any construction involves a neighboring yard, we will post a construction notice on their home at least 24 hours in advance with a description of work and contact information. Our technician will have a marked vehicle and be wearing "Hi-Vis" coverings.

Step 2: Outside Equipment Installation
After the outside site survey is complete, a technician will visit the outside of your home to install the equipment box (NID), any required external equipment and complete any fiber installation to the outside of your home. It is not a scheduled dispatch, it will occur when we have technicians in your area. Outside installation will typically take 30 minutes to 4 hours. This also does not require you to be home.

Step 3: Inside Site Survey
Depending on your service request, our inside installation team may contact you at this point to schedule an appointment for an inside site survey. Here we will review your internal home setup and your service request to make sure that on the date of turn-up we have all the equipment and information we need to conduct a smooth and seamless turn-up of your services. In the event your order does not require an inside site survey, our technicians will simply contact you to schedule your turn-up.

Step 4: Turn-up
Our inside installation team will visit your home within a 2 hour pre-assigned and confirmed installation window. The turn-up typically takes 30 minutes to 2 hours, but there are instances where the installation can take longer than that. If you have time constraints, please make our scheduler aware and we will accommodate your needs.

Step 5: Billing
All of our services bill a month in advance on the first of the month. Your service will be billed on the first of the following month from the day of turn-up. Your first bill will also include a partial month charge for the time from turn-up to the first of the following month. Any applicable installation or one-time charges will also be applied on your first bill. If you have supplied us credit card or bank account information, those will automatically be charged on our around the first of the month.

For additional details on this process please visit: < a href="http://www.gigabitmn.com/faq_expectations.php">Gigabit MN Expectations

Installation Requirements:

1.) Property Considerations:
You will need one or more Ethernet cables from the inside of your home running to where our equipment box is mounted on the outside of your house. Most homes in the area already have this and we will install our outside equipment near where your cable/s terminate. In the event you do not have any Ethernet cabling running, we will identify this during the outside site survey process and will provide you a recommended action.

2.) In-home Considerations:
Infrastructure requirements for our Fiber service are different than cable or DSL. Our service is handed off to you via Cat5 Ethernet cabling, rather than Coax or Cat3 telephone cabling. Ethernet cables from our outside equipment typically terminate in the basement (this is frequently referred to as your "Comm Panel"). This connection in the basement is then extended to all rooms in the home needing Internet access and TVs via Cat5 Ethernet cabling. This internal wiring is your responsibility and in most cases is already in place. If you would like more than one hard wired device in any given room, you will need multiple Cat5 cables running to that room, or an Ethernet switch (customer provided).

If the you do not have Cat5 Ethernet cabling, but have Coax cabling, you may purchase and configure your own MOCA adapters (which convert Ethernet signaling over Coax) or you may rent adapters from us for $7.50/mo/adapter. Coax adapters may limit the maximum speeds you can achieve, regardless of the speed we provide. If you elect to purchase your own, please consult with us first.

3.) Network Device Considerations and WiFi:
We will hand off the connection installed in the comm panel in your basement via a 5 port or 8 port switch. It is highly recommended that you use a router to connect all of your in-home devices to our connection. Cable and DSL modems will not function as routers with our service, so if you previously had Cable or DSL, you will likely need to purchase a new router. If you do not have a router, we would recommend you purchase the following model: TPLink Archer C7. Any devices connected to WiFi will be limited by the quality of your configured and controlled wireless network. This is often much slower than the subscribed service speed. Regardless of the maximum WiFi speed a router supports, speed will be governed by the amount of local wireless interference. Each customer is configured with one DHCP IP. Static IPs are available at additional monthly cost.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your service, please contact our FREE live and local technical support:

GIGABIT MINNESOTA TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Monday - Friday: 7:00am - 8:00pm | Saturday: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Call: 651-888-4444, email: support@gigabitmn.com

Thank you for choosing Gigabit Minnesota! We look forward to serving you.