What happens when the technician comes?
The technician brings fiber from the street into your building, terminates it at a wall port you chose, and hands you a standard Ethernet port your own router plugs into.
The technician brings fiber from the street into your home and finishes at a wall port you can plug a router into. Here's the sequence.
- Walk the space. You and the technician confirm where the wall port goes and how the fiber will get there.
- Run the drop. Fiber comes from our network into the building — aerial or underground, depending on your street — and up to your unit.
- Terminate the port. The fiber ends at a clean wall port in the spot you picked.
- Hand off the connection. You get a standard RJ45 Ethernet port or an SFP handoff. There is no modem, and no bulky ONT sitting in your living room taking up a shelf and an outlet. Any router you want plugs straight into the wall.
- Test the line. The technician verifies the circuit is up and delivering your plan's symmetrical speed before leaving.
If you added our $10/mo Wi-Fi router, the technician connects it during the visit. If you're bringing your own, have it out of the box and nearby.
If your unit is already wired, you can self-install. In buildings where fiber has already been run to the unit, the wall port is in place and there is nothing to build. You plug your router into it yourself — no appointment, no window to hold open, and nobody has to be home.
Otherwise a technician does it. Fiber is not a coax cable you screw on yourself: it has to be run into the building, terminated properly and tested. That is why professional installation is free rather than something we hand you in a box.
You find out at signup, and it is your choice when it is available. Self-install appears as an option while you are ordering, and only when your property and your unit are both set up for it. If you see it, you can take it. If you do not, your address needs a technician and the check has already worked that out — so you know before you commit whether to expect a package or an appointment.
What arrives is what you ordered. The kit is packed from your service order, so it contains the equipment you chose when you signed up — our rental router if you took one, nothing if you are bringing your own, and any extras you added. There is no standard box that is the same for everyone.
It comes in the mail, usually within three to five business days. We send the kit USPS to your service address. Nothing needs to be signed for and nobody has to be home for it.
That timing is worth knowing if you are switching from another provider: keep your current service running until the kit lands and you are online, then cancel. See How do I switch from my current internet provider?.
There is nothing to activate. No code to enter, no call to make, no waiting for someone to switch you on. Plug the router into the wall port, then set it up in the Boston Broadband app or at myaccount.bostonbroadband.com — the same place you manage your Wi-Fi name and password afterwards.
Professional installation is included free with every residential plan.
If that didn’t work
if the technician left and something isn't right, call (617) 693-9434 the same day so we can get back out to you.
More in Setup & Installation
- How do I check if fiber is available at my address?
- Where is Boston Broadband available?
- Which internet plan should I pick?
- How do I get ready for my installation?
- How do I get online for the first time?
- How do I switch from my current internet provider?
- How much does Boston Broadband cost?
- Who is Boston Broadband?
Talk to us
Call (617) 693-9434, Monday to Friday 8am–6pm ET, or email [email protected]. We answer within 24 hours, and usually within an hour.
Boston Broadband is a service-area business serving Boston, Brookline and Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is no counter to walk up to — phone, email and your account at myaccount.bostonbroadband.com are the ways in.