New truck! 
Just last week we picked up a new F550 with an Altec boom+bucket truck which we can use to install fibre cables much faster: It sounds a little scary, but can be a line-worker in the bucket while the truck is driven (slowly!) along – while attaching fibre and getting more fibre to more homes more quickly…er.
Story Time: Ten years ago when Ben & Myke were installing fibre optic cables north of Perth, we observed the biggest bottleneck for installing strand and cables was actually waiting for the boom to deploy and retract… the work on the pole only took, say 90 seconds, but truck & boom movements were taking over 5-10 minutes. It lead to a lot of downtime for the crew. Learning from that experience, we’ve selected one truck that’s very quick to deploy; and the design of the new truck that allows a worker to remain in the bucket while the truck is moving – and pull a cable lasher too. So we’ve been really excited to see how quickly things are happening in the scant days we’ve had the new truck on hand; Going from 1KM per day to 5+KM is a huge improvement.
First things first though, we’re currently installing messenger strand, and with this second bucket truck we’ll be able to have crews leap-frogging.
You’re going to see a lot more activity happening along the roads & highways as we get used to the new gear; please slow down and leave lots of room for our crew. It’s dangerous work on the side of the road and safety is our top priority!
Here’s several crews performing traffic control at a busy & limited-sight-distance intersection while Chris attaching & tensioning the new strand with the new truck.