California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) – Line Extension Program
AB 1665 created the Line Extension Program (LEP) as a pilot project within the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account. Under the LEP, an individual household and/or property owner can apply for an infrastructure grant to offset the costs of connecting a household or property to an existing or proposed facility-based broadband provider.
Consider Group-Deal With Neighbors
When dealing with wired and wireless providers, as a matter of sound business, they need to make sure that they have a reasonable return on their investment when extending their infrastructure. They are much more likely to make that investment if there will be the potential for more than one customer for the project. With that in mind, it helps if you have talked with neighboring homes or businesses to build a group of potential customers you can share with the provider.
Potential Discounts
For fixed wireless providers, they sometimes need the first home to be a “repeater site” that they can then use to broadcast their signal to other nearby customers. If you’re the first home in the area requesting service, and your property is in a strategic location (e.g., on top of a hill), some providers will provide you a discount to use your property as that repeater site. Combine that with a group of neighbors who are willing to sign up for service and you have a good chance of getting a provider’s interest.