Cable Plant basic structure: A coaxial cable plant enables a signal to be received from a satellite using a satellite dish, "captured" in a system called a "head end" which is able to contain the signal, amplify it, and re-send it through a copper cable (coaxial) distribution system to the users. This system is desirable for rural and remote communities because much of the infrastructure can be simply installed, and it can be a very efficient system for sending a great deal of information quickly.

"Canadian Common Carrier License" requirement - As noted in the overview, cable plants have both regulatory and legal requirement which must be met before installation. The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) regulates all "carriers" (people who want to put a cable plant up and broadcast signals over coaxial cable to users) within Canada. For more information on licensing, click here.

Cable plant installation and pole leases The cable plant itself (the individual wires extending out from the "head-end" central location) is generally installed on existing poles, or sometimes into conduit in the ground. Usually, unless a community owns their own pre-existing pole infrastructure, the poles are owned either by the local power company, or local telephone company. Permission, and sometimes a formal contractual agreement that may or not require payment for the use of the poles (such as a pole lease), is required to install wires onto pre-existing poles owned by another company or organization. For this reason, it is very important to foster relationships with these organizations. This is important not simply for gaining first-time access to their poles, but for ensuring long-term access so that a cable plant may be maintained.

TIP: The local cable and telephone companies are your friends! Access to their poles is usually a very important part of cable infrastructure installation. Ensure that relationships with these organizations are fostered - this alone could make or break the ability of a community to install the cable plant they need.

Communication with local engineers - Fostering relationships with the telephone and power companies may require that certain rules be followed, and that certain courtesies are observed. There will generally be specific safety requirements, and installers working on poles will require the correct qualifications to be able to do so. Additionally, as a courtesy to the owners of the poles, it is best to have ongoing conversations with the local engineer in that organization, so that the cable installation won't disrupt the purpose that the poles are installed to fulfill. This, in addition to helping local communities gain the trust of the pole-owners that they are working with, will ensure that through co-operation, the cable installation meets installation requirements for safety, power installation location, and installation placement of equipment.

Additionally, some of the poles where cable plants are to be placed may already have a large quantity of equipment mounted on them. In these instances, the local engineer may have already made allowances for where a cable plant may be placed, or there may be future plans for additional equipment placement on specific poles. Talking to the local engineer first to find out recommended placement for specific equipment, and future plans for poles will help you to gain the engineer's trust. This may also ensure that equipment isn't installed in a location where there are plans to mount something else. Given the limited space available atop most poles, this courtesy alone may go a long way towards relationship fostering.

TIP: To help maintain a good relationship with the local pole owners: Speak to the local engineer first, *before* installing equipment, and, Ensure that rules are followed, that personnel are qualified, and that all work is done well and properly. In short: Ask Permission, Ask for opinions, COMMUNICATE, and follow their rules.

No poles? In some cases where poles are not available or are too impractical or expensive to install, conduit may be used. Like poles, conduit requires a great deal of planning and can be expensive to install, and depending upon where it is placed, legal tools such as easements, rights-of-way, or other methods to allow conduit placement may be required.

For conduit placement, communities may need to contact the community government, private landowners, highways, or in some cases federal or provincial governments in the case of Crown lands. Leases and land usage agreements may need to be made, and this method of installation could be problematic if specific private land owners decide to be unco-operative. As with the owners of poles that are required for successful installation, it is best to foster relationships with organizations or people who own land where conduit placement is desired.

SAFETY TIP: Dial before you dig!! If conduit is being installed, MAKE SURE THAT THE LOCAL POWER COMPANY IS CALLED FIRST. Inform them of the plans, and they may send a crew out to inspect the site, to ensure that no underground wires are present where you would like to dig. This can help save lives!!!

Once the cable plant infrastructure is installed in the community, each of the individual computer users in the community must be 'hooked up' and given a modem that will communicate with the installed "head end" and transfer their data back and forth.