Los Altos Hills Community Fiber

 

Welcome to Los Altos Hills Community Fiber!

The Los Altos Hills Community Fiber Association is a new, exciting and unique operating model to bring affordable and very high-speed internet service directly to our residential homes using a 100% fiber optic network — completely owned and operated by your own neighborhoods who are subscribed to the service.

The Los Altos Hills Community Fiber (LAHCF) Association is a not-for-profit, mutual-benefit corporation under the laws of California.

This website provides information for potential and current subscribers, including:

• Information about the LAHCF and partnering professional services vendor
• How to get connected and find the closest, local LAHCF build project
• List of LAHCF builds, neighborhood champions and related resources
• Background on LAHCF and why community fiber groups are needed
• Contact and organizational information

To help better navigate the site, please review the options listed below.

Are you looking to connect to LAHCF and get fiber installed on your property?
Please visit the Get Service page for the next steps!

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Are you looking for more information about what LAHCF is and what that means for getting connected fiber service?  Please hover over the FAQ page and review the General FAQs, Subscriber User FAQs, Operating model, and What is community Fiber.  We always recommend you subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about projects and progress as we expand the operations.

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Below is general information about LAHCF.  We invite you to click on the various website page menu options to learn more about our projects, organizational structure and board,  and other important topics like Fiber and Real Estate listed on this page.  The contact page provides you with information to directly reach LAHCF if you have questions.

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LAHCF is not a municipality-sponsored and managed, fiber-optic project.  LAHCF is funded, managed, and operated by our own member board and organization independent of the Town of Los Altos Hills government.  We do require the cooperation of the town to allow access to the town’s utility right-of-ways as they do with other utility providers.

LAH Community Fiber Association does not generate any “profits” that will go to any board members, members, or creators of this association.

LAHCF hires a professional services  for profit company to do our fiber install, network management and support.

We invite you to read the Operating Model  for details about this community and resident-driven organization!

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Update January 2022 – Launch of Fremont Rd/Burke Extension Installation

Construction has started on the Fremont Rd/Burke Extension Fiber Project.  The first leg is being installed in front of Gardner Bullis School on Fremont Rd and will move toward Burke Rd in the next few weeks.  Come out and check the operations to install our fiber backbone conduit.  Our fiber is then pulled through the 8 individual micro-duct conduits that are inside of that large orange conduit.

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Update July 2021

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Update June 2021

LAHCF continues to add connected subscribers and many new neighborhood build projects are moving forward with their neighborhood champion process.  Please refer to the Builds tabs to find the closest project near to your home.  We already have 45+ neighborhood champions in town launching street by street projects that are in various phases of interest, research, engineering or construction.

Community Broadband is the future for many communities to obtain the best possible broadband speeds available by offering fiber to the premise solutions.  LAHCF is on track to be the fastest residential broadband provider in America with our offering of 1 gbit or 10 gbit solutions today to our members.

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Update November 2020 – We are now installing entire neighbors with fiber!

Do you need to contact us with questions,  or issues, or wish to be involved?  There are several different ways to connect or contact  us, so please choose the best option on our contact and support pages in the menu above.

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Speed Tests – Compare LAHCF to your Broadband provider

We were required to use a special speed test to test the speed of our fiber network as most  DSL Speed tests simply do not work at the GB speed rates that is offered by LAHCF.

The image below shows the upload and download speeds and ping and jitter values.

10 Gig Circuits available to all connect LAHCF users

LAHCF is set to lead the nation in providing the highest possible Internet speeds.  We have left traditional copper wired vendors of AT&T U-VERSE and even cable Comcast thick wire technology in the dust.  In a nut shell, any type of copper/metal wired Internet service just can not compete with a fiber (glass) technology when you have any distance involved.  Have you ever received a mailer for a 10 gigabit up and down service from any vendor?  Until a vendor offers fiber to the premise (house) like LAHCF,  they simply can not support anything close to 10 gigabit without a direct fiber connection.

Both U-Verse and Comcast use fiber to their neighborhood nodes but the still deliver internet to you via a wire line (twisted pair or thick wire cable) that “last mile” or last few blocks.  LAHCF solves the last link to bring that fiber level service to your home where you need it!

There is a good reason why 99.999 percent of Internet traffic is transported over fiber and not copper wire based lines.  Why should our Internet speed come to a grinding slow speed when it gets to our last residential 1/4 mile?  Our current telcos don’t want to invest in our communities to bring fiber to our homes.  As long term residents and property owners, we can see the value of investing in a fiber to home solution and willing to see that investment over a 20 year span.  Telcos need to show their investment in an upgrade is paid for in a much shorter time frame, like 1-2 years, much harder for them to risk that investment.

Compare the speeds yourself!

You can download this app we used above at:

https://www.speedtest.net/apps/windows

Next Level Networks was founded by broadband industry veterans seeking to bring down the cost of fiber to the home internet delivery.  Next Level Networks will build and operate the Gigabit -class symmetrical network.  The LAH community Fiber network will be owned by all of its members and operating under an agreement with Next Level Networks.  This will allow each neighborhood or community to be in control of its own communication future.

 

The Los Altos Hills Community Fiber Association is a new, exciting and community owned and operating model to bring affordable and very high speed internet service directly to our residential homes using a 100% fiber optic network – completely owned and operating by your own neighborhood members that are subscribed to the service.

The Los Altos Hills Community Fiber Association is a mutual benefit corporation under the laws of California.

This type of corporation is used for organizations like HOA (Home Owners Associations or small water/sewer districts) where owners pay for a one time construction fee to create this commonly owned asset (community fiber infrastructure).    Secondly, members have joined the LAHC community fiber association  will pay a monthly fee to cover the  fiber uplink, support, maintenance and funds to sustainably maintain the system into the future.   LAH Community Fiber Association does not generate any “profits” that will go to any board members, members, or creators of this association.   LAHCF is operated by an elected group of volunteer board members who do not received direct or indirect compensation nor do neighborhood organizers (Neighborhood Champions) for particular neighborhood builds.  LAHCF will create reserves like HOA would need to do to continue to maintain the network and operations and provide for equipment replacement.

Where LAHCF differs dramatically from other broadband providers is that as more subscribers join onto the network and the installation and uplink costs are shared among more subscribers, the monthly cost should go down.  We have no external share holders that are looking for the biggest return on their investment.  Instead, LAHCF is owned by the subscribers and their interest is to collecting monthly fees to cover operational costs, maintain the network and keep fees as low as possible.  With our current Comcast broadband provider monopoly in town, fees will not drop unless their is competition for their services.

Like any organization, we still need to purchase professional services to offer Gigabit services to our members.  LAHCF will contract with companies to provide those services.  Currently the vendor that we have selected to provide the installation, and management of the LAH Community Fiber network is Next Level Networks.  LAH Community Fiber has the ability to select another vendor to provide our installation and network services in the future.

Next Level Networks is assisting to properly create the mutual benefit corporation and configure,  install and manage the Gigabit level network for LAH Community Fiber.

 

LAHCF is systemically adding new neighborhoods to their community-owned and operated fiber optic Internet network.  The ultimate goal of LAH Community Fiber is to offer community-owned and operated fiber to every residence and property in Los Altos Hills.

We are getting there through a series of successful neighborhood builds. With each project, we gain experience and we hope to build trust within the community.

The Build menu gives you a way to look through all the LAHCF projects. We have sorted them into four categories:

• Completed — The fiber backbone is installed and the initial set of subscribers is active. For most complete networks, new subscribers can be easily added.
• Under Construction — The initial construction in this area is currently in process.
• Planning Phase — The project is currently being planned and the project is looking for  neighbors who want to join the project
• Inactive or On-hold — The project has been started and likely progressed through at least part of the planning process. For one reason or another, the project is currently on hold or suspended indefinitely.

For each build, we have provided information that should help you understand the basics of the project.  Almost every project has a neighborhood champion assigned to it. That champion can provide you with more information.  We list the champion and their preferred contact information.

If you do not hear back from a neighborhood champion, please contact LAHCF directly and we can get you more information and status on that neighborhood. Many of our champions are very busy individuals and they can be difficult to reach.

Peruse our crowd-sourcing maps to get an idea of the historic changes in our fiber coverage over time.

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This FAQ page is devoted to those questions concerning the subscriber questions about how one will transition from a whole of Comcast and AT&T “bundles” and phone services, cable, and content providers to a new model of everything streaming over the Internet!

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What services and content does LAH Community Fiber offer?

LAHCF offers high-speed (gigabit or faster) internet service.   We have no plans to package phone service, television, movies (Netflix), or other content with our service.  We provide our subscribers with information on how to obtain content over our Internet services in an affordable and comprehensive way.  The questions and answers below will give more details for each type of service and typical replacements using LAHCF as the delivery method for that service

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Will I be able to replace my current AT&T phone line with LAHCF and what will the cost savings be?  Can I keep my same phone number?

If you currently subscribe to an AT&T, copper-based or UVERSE bundled phone, you are paying a substantial fee that is not competitive with Internet-based phone services.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone service has existed for over a decade and the services have become very reliable and comprehensive for relatively low costs.   Assuming you have some sort of internet service at your house, you can switch to a VOIP solution today even without fiber to reduce your phone charge from $50–80 to $5–25 depending upon the features you require.

We suggest that you consider switching your phone service immediately to one of these VOIP services even before LAHCF provides internet for your home.  It will save you a lot of money. When you later connect to LAHCF, you simply plug in the VOIP phone device to the LAHCF-connected internet and it will work without any other changes.

In general, it is better to pick a VOIP telephone provider independent of your internet provider in order to get the best price and options. The VOIP IP solution we recommend is a residential phone system from Ooma:

https://www.ooma.com/

We invite you to visit their site and learn more about their features and pricing for several different packages.

Yes, you can keep your current AT&T /Comcast phone numbers (called porting numbers) to this Ooma phone for a one-time fee.  All carriers are required to allow porting of your old number to a VOIP system.

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I currently subscribe to an AT&T or Comcast content and service bundle (phone, internet, and television content plus other streaming services). What will be the new options with LAHCF for content delivery?

If you wish, you can keep your AT&T or Comcast phone or content services, however, it is not a particularly efficient way to proceed.

As you may have already noticed, content delivery is moving toward streaming services available over the internet.  Both live streaming (watching a sporting event live) and streaming of content on demand such as movies are available in internet-delivered options.

The vendors, choices, prices, and packages continue to change daily but they all rely upon a high-quality, high-speed, internet connection.  With LAHCF as your internet connection, you can choose from a competitive field of content-delivery providers, rather than being forced to select between AT&T’s and Comcast’s content options.

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Will LAHCF replace or improve my cell service?

LAHCF does not provide any cellphone services, so you will still need to purchase your best mobile phone option as you do now.  However, LAHCF will offer reliable, high-speed internet service at your home so if you are using the WIFI calling features on your mobile phones, your service will be enhanced. At this point, nearly all smartphones have options to enable WIFI calling (data and TXT too) and users should be using this option when at home for a better experience.  Check your smartphone for instructions on how to enable this feature.

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Can I watch the Disney channel (for example) without cable, Comcast, or AT&T?

Sure. You can watch the Disney Channel live without cable with one a subscription to one of several streaming services, such as PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV Now, YouTube TV,d and Disney Now. All you need is a high-speed internet service from any ISP.

For more information on streaming content providers, please review our information in our reference pages.

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