In a building where a carrier already has fiber inside (a "lit" or on-net building), business fiber typically installs in two to four weeks, and most of that time is paperwork, not engineering. If the carrier has to build fiber into the building, plan on 60 to 90 days, sometimes longer. Shared fiber and coax in a building that already has them often turn up within days.
Installation timelines are where optimistic sales meets physical reality. The honest version is simple once you know which situation your building is in, and you can find that out before you sign.
Timelines at a glance
| Situation | Typical timeline | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| DIA, building already lit by that carrier | 2–4 weeks | Landlord access, riser work, scheduling |
| DIA, construction needed (near-net) | 60–90 days, sometimes more | Permits, street or sidewalk work, building entry |
| Shared fiber where available | Days to two weeks | Technician scheduling, inside wiring |
| Coax where available | Often days | Technician scheduling |
| Porting phone numbers to a new provider | 2–4 weeks end to end | The losing carrier's process, number records |
These are typical ranges, not promises. Your quote should give a timeline for your specific address.
If your building is already lit
When a carrier already has fiber terminating in your building, it does not need to dig. The work is connecting its equipment in the building to your suite and turning up the service. Two to four weeks is typical, and most of that window is administration:
- Order processing and credit review. The carrier books the order and designs the circuit.
- Building access. The carrier needs permission from the landlord or managing agent to work in the telecom room and riser. If it already has a building access agreement, this is quick. If not, it can take weeks on its own.
- Certificate of insurance. Many commercial buildings require the carrier's contractor to file a certificate of insurance before starting work. Small detail, common delay.
- Riser and inside wiring. Running fiber from the main telecom room up to your floor, sometimes called extending the demarc.
- Scheduling around building rules. Some buildings only allow work at certain hours or require building staff or specific contractors to be present.
- Turn-up and testing. Equipment is installed, the circuit is tested end to end, and you receive your IP details.
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: a new fiber run from the carrier's network in the street into your building. That typically takes 60 to 90 days, and can take longer where permits or street work are involved. It is not padding. The steps are real:
- Survey and engineering. The carrier maps the route from its nearest fiber and designs the build.
- Permits. Work in a public street or sidewalk usually needs municipal permits, and some cities restrict street work at certain times of year or on recently repaved streets.
- Building entry. A path into the building, either existing conduit or a new core through the foundation, with landlord approval.
- Construction. Trenching, boring or pulling fiber through existing conduit, or aerial work on poles, which may require other utilities to make room first.
- Splicing, inside wiring and turn-up, the same as a lit install.
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. Why some buildings need construction and their neighbours do not is covered in why prices vary by building.
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. That makes them useful in two ways. As a bridge: if you are moving in three weeks and your DIA needs ninety days, a coax or shared fiber circuit covers the gap. And afterwards as a backup: once the primary is live, the bridge circuit stays as your diverse second path. See our coax and shared fiber pages, and whether you need backup internet at all.
Fixed wireless and 4G/5G can also bridge a gap, with their own trade-offs in capacity, data limits and whether you can get a static IP.
What slows installs down
- The landlord. Slow responses on access agreements, insurance certificates or permission to core a wall are the most common cause of delay.
- No contact on site. Technicians who arrive to a locked telecom room reschedule, sometimes by a week or more.
- Unclear demarcation point. If nobody knows which room the circuit should terminate in, the install stalls. Decide it before the order.
- Permits and seasonal restrictions on construction jobs.
- Holiday periods, when carriers and landlords run on reduced staff.
- Changes after the order, such as a different suite or a different speed, which can send an order back to the start.
What happens on install day
For a lit-building DIA install, the visit itself is usually short. A technician runs or connects the fiber to your suite, mounts the carrier's equipment (often a small network interface device, sometimes with a router), and tests the circuit back to the carrier's network. Things to have ready:
- Access to the telecom room, the riser and your suite, arranged with the building in advance.
- Space and power where the equipment will live, ideally on a battery backup.
- Your own firewall or router, or whoever manages it, so the circuit can be connected and tested with real traffic rather than left unplugged.
- The IP details the carrier has issued, so your IT person can configure your side.
Accept the circuit before you rely on it
A circuit marked "installed" is not necessarily working the way you ordered it. Before you sign off or move critical traffic onto it:
- Run speed tests in both directions from a wired connection at the network edge.
- Make test calls and a video meeting, and check for dropouts.
- Confirm the static IPs work and that anything that depends on them (VPNs, allow-lists) connects.
- Note the circuit ID and the support number, and file them where the next person can find them.
Billing on most business circuits starts when the carrier reports the service as delivered, so raise problems immediately rather than after the first invoice.
A worked example: planning backwards
A hypothetical move, used only to show the arithmetic.
A company signs a lease on 1 March and moves in on 1 June. Its new building has no lit carrier, so the DIA circuit needs construction. Counting back 90 days from 1 June lands on 3 March, two days after lease signing, which leaves no slack for a slow landlord or a permit hold. The sensible plan: order the DIA the week the lease is signed, order a coax circuit at the same time to go live in May as a bridge, start phone number porting in April, and keep the old office's circuit until the new one has carried a full day of real work.
If the same company had qualified the building before signing, it could have asked the landlord to allow carrier access early, or chosen a building with three lit carriers and a two-to-four-week window. Our office move internet checklist covers the full sequence.
How to keep an install on schedule
- 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.
- Name one person at your company who can let technicians in and answer the landlord.
- Introduce the carrier to the managing agent early, and ask the building what it requires: insurance certificates, work hours, approved contractors.
- Plan the bridge. If the timeline does not fit your move date, say so at quote stage, not at week eight.
Questions to ask your carrier
- Are you on-net in my building today, or does this need construction?
- What is the quoted install interval for this address, and from what date is it counted?
- Do you already have an access agreement with this landlord?
- If construction is needed, what is the cost, and what could push the date back?
- Where exactly will the circuit terminate, and who runs the cabling to my suite?
- What can you install quickly as a bridge if the primary is late?
Get a timeline for your address
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. When we qualify a building, each carrier's install window and any construction cost come back in writing alongside the price, and we handle the landlord and riser paperwork from there. The quote is free with no obligation, and we usually respond the same day. Start with Dedicated Internet Access, send us your address, or call 478-758-8091 or text (347) 870-0965.
