Installation timelines are where optimistic sales meets physical reality. The honest version is simple once you know which of two situations you are in.
If your building is already lit
When a carrier already has fiber terminating in your building, installation typically lands in two to four weeks. Most of that window is not engineering — it is paperwork. Building access agreements, riser permissions, landlord sign-off, scheduling a technician into the building's rules about when work can happen.
A good agent carries that paperwork for you. It is unglamorous and it is most of the delay.
If construction is required
If no carrier is lit in your building, someone has to build a lateral from the street. That is typically 60 to 90 days, sometimes longer where permits or street work are involved. It is not padding; it is permits, scheduling, and physical work in a public right of way.
The number that should never surprise you is the cost. Any construction charge should be quoted in writing before you commit. A build cost that appears after signature is a process failure, not a fact of life.
The fast options
Shared fiber and coax often turn up within days rather than weeks, because they ride infrastructure that is already in the building. This is why they make good bridges: if you are moving in three weeks and your DIA needs ninety days, a coax circuit covers the gap and then becomes your backup.
What to do with this
- Ask "is my building lit, and by whom?" before you ask about price. It determines everything downstream.
- Start earlier than feels necessary. Ninety days from a signature you have not given yet is a long time.
- Plan the bridge. If the timeline does not fit your move date, say so at quote stage, not at week eight.
A quote that includes an honest timeline for your specific address is worth more than one that is a week cheaper and vague about when it arrives.
