Bring the field team in the week homes become serviceable, and run pre-registration during construction only if someone will knock every registered door once the network is lit. A pre-registration is a promise made months before an install date exists, and about three in four registrations that get only email and text follow-up never become subscribers [estimate].
The Fiber Broadband Association puts the average fiber take rate at 46.5% of unique passings and says most eventual connections take about five years after build and marketing start. This plan pulls the first stretch of that curve into the 90 days after lit, and it starts before the first strand is hung.
The 90-day plan by construction milestone
Day 0 is the day an address can order and get an install date; the 90 days count from lit.
| Milestone | What runs | Field team |
|---|---|---|
| Permitting and design | Serviceability file started, one row per passing. Rate card and offer approved. Pre-registration page live with a build map. Solicitation permits filed per municipality. | Recruiting, background checks, and permit paperwork. |
| Make-ready and construction | Construction letters and yard signs point to the pre-registration page, which captures address, phone, current provider, contract end date. Install capacity booked for the first 30 days after lit. | Training on the offer, the file, and the do-not-knock list. Crew sized from the math below. |
| Lit (day 0) | File confirmed against the live network. Pre-registered homes offered an install date by text and email within 48 hours. | Arrives. First pass: every pre-registered address in person, install calendar open on the porch. |
| Days 1 to 30 lit | Install slots filled from pre-registrations first. Digital and mail switch from coming soon to order now. | Second pass over every home passed. Daily check of doors sold against orders submitted. |
| Days 31 to 60 lit | Referral offer to installed customers. No-answers get a door hanger with the next visit window. | Third pass, evenings and weekends. Chargeback watch on the first cohort. |
| Days 61 to 90 lit | Install backlog cleared. Penetration reported by street. Pre-registration opens for the next area. | Crew moves to the next lit area or thins to a hold team for move-ins. |
The pre-registration to activation funnel
What providers put behind a registration: Glo Fiber offers free Wall-to-Wall WiFi for 12 months, a $120 value. Ezee Fiber charges $10 to pre-register and returns the first month free (up to $109 by plan) and priority installation. American Fork, Utah runs a no-cost municipal registration and builds the neighborhoods with the most registrations first: 76 planned areas, 17,109 registered as of September 2026 (map). COS Systems states community FTTH projects commonly target 30 to 50% pre-registration before a build decision [industry figure, unverified].
| Step | What counts | Rate to this step | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes passed | Serviceable addresses in the file | 100% | Your serviceability file |
| Pre-registered | Name, address, contact method, consent | 30 to 50% of homes passed | COS Systems stated target [industry figure, unverified] |
| Ordered, install scheduled | A dated install slot | 25 to 40% of pre-registrations with email and text follow-up; 60 to 75% when a rep knocks within 14 days of lit | [estimate] |
| Installed | ONT active at the address | 85 to 90% of scheduled orders | [estimate]; missed appointments and cancellations |
| Activated, past chargeback | Billing live through the agreed window | 90 to 95% of installs | [estimate] |
For 1,000 homes passed at a 40% registration share: 400 registrations become 76 to 137 activated subscribers with email and text follow-up and 184 to 257 when every registered door is knocked in the first two weeks [estimate].
Staffing math: rep-days per 1,000 homes passed
General door-to-door figures from SPOTIO: top reps aim for 50 to 70 doors a day, and a 30 to 40% contact rate per pass is the usual target. One pass over 1,000 homes is 14 to 20 rep-days and leaves 60 to 70% of doors unanswered, which is why the plan schedules three.
43 to 60
rep-days per 1,000 homes passed, three passes at the SPOTIO top-rep pace of 50 to 70 doors a day [estimate]; size up 20 to 30% for a new crew [field experience]
Source: SPOTIOCrew size is rep-days divided by working days in the window. 5,000 homes lit at once and a 30-day window (22 working days) is 215 to 300 rep-days: 10 to 14 reps, plus one field manager per 8 to 10 reps [estimate]. Then check install capacity: 12 reps writing 3 orders a day is 36 orders, and an install crew completing 15 a day has a backlog inside a week [estimate]. Cap the crew or add installers; a homeowner who waits weeks for an install is the first chargeback.
The launch checklist
In the order they block a start date [field experience]. The first seven gate the field team's arrival.
- Serviceability file, one row per passing, with a lit date column, refreshed nightly.
- Rate card in writing: plans, prices, install fee, promotion terms, per-activation fee to the contractor.
- Launch offer approved by legal, with an end date on every piece.
- Install capacity per day for the first 90 days, and lead time from order to install.
- An order path a rep can complete on a phone at the door in under 10 minutes.
- Confirmation returned to the rep at submission, with the service address written one way.
- Solicitation permits filed per municipality, with each city's processing time on the calendar.
- Rep badges with photo, company name, and permit number where the city requires one.
- Background-check standard set with the contractor and documented.
- Do-not-knock list: municipal registries, prior opt-outs, any address you flag.
- CPNI handling procedure for reps under 47 CFR 64 Subpart U.
- Pre-registration export with address, phone, current provider, contract end date, consent flag.
- Text and email templates: install date offered, rep visit scheduled, sorry we missed you.
- Yard signs and door hangers with the rep visit window, delivered before lit.
- Daily count: doors sold versus orders submitted versus installs completed.
- Chargeback window and trigger defined in the contract.
- One named ISP contact who can fix a serviceability error the same day.
- Weekly report by street: knocks, contacts, orders, installs, activations.
- Incumbent offers documented so reps answer switching questions the same way.
- Territory maps split by lit date, so no rep knocks a home that cannot order.
Why pre-registrations do not convert
Six reasons, in order of damage [field experience]:
- Time. Registration happens months before lit; phones change, renters move, incumbent contracts renew.
- No date. A registration without an install slot is a bookmark.
- The offer moved. The promotion expired or changed before launch.
- The retention call. The homeowner phones to cancel the incumbent, gets a lower price, and nobody rehearsed the answer.
- The wrong registrant. A household member who does not pay the bill registered.
- Nobody knocked. With email and text alone, 25 to 40% of registrations order [estimate]; a rep on the porch with the calendar open gets the order written.
Each has a line in the plan above: contract end date at registration, install date within 48 hours of lit, printed offer end date, rehearsed switching script, first pass over every registered address. The take rate calculator shows what the difference is worth over four years; what a contracted door-to-door crew does and costs covers the engagement itself.
How fast can a door-to-door sales team launch?
For any vendor, the clock starts once the serviceability file, rate card, and permits exist: the first seven items on the launch checklist above. After arrival, Knoqly's one published market took 1,317 addresses from 2.43% to 19.74% penetration in 14 days.
When should a fiber ISP bring in an outside sales team?
Sign during construction and have reps knocking the week homes go serviceable. Earlier makes sense only for a pre-sale with a build threshold, the co-op and municipal model, where the crew collects commitments before anyone can order. With email and text alone, 19 to 34% of registrations reach billing; with a rep at every registered door in the first two weeks, 46 to 64% [estimate].
What is a realistic pre-registration to activation conversion rate?
From the funnel table above, 19 to 34% of registrations become billing subscribers when follow-up is email and text, and 46 to 64% when a rep knocks every registered address within two weeks of lit, about twice as many at the midpoint of each range [estimate]. The registration share itself, 30 to 50% of homes passed, is COS Systems' published target for community builds [industry figure, unverified].
Should we market during fiber construction?
Yes, with one ask: register, with your address and your current contract end date. Glo Fiber ($120 WiFi value) and Ezee Fiber ($10 to register, first month free, priority install) show the two common shapes, a gift and a deposit. Do not open ordering before you can give an install date.
How many subscribers should a new fiber market produce in the first 90 days?
Set it from your inputs: homes lit, registration share, install capacity per day, and whether a crew knocks. The Knoqly market on this page reached 19.74% in 14 days. Run both paths through the take rate calculator with your own numbers.
Sources
- Fiber Broadband Association, U.S. Fiber Broadband Total Passings Reach 100M Mark (April 2026) 46.5% average take rate on unique passings; about five years for most homes passed to become connections. Attributed to Mike Render, RVA LLC.
- Glo Fiber, construction and pre-registration page Free Wall-to-Wall WiFi for 12 months, a $120 value, for pre-registering.
- Ezee Fiber, fiber construction page $10 to pre-register; first month free (up to $109 by plan), priority installation, swag.
- American Fork City, Fiber No cost or commitment to pre-register; neighborhoods with the largest pre-registrations built first.
- American Fork fiber registration map 76 planned fiber areas, 17,109 supporters registered, checked September 2026.
- COS Systems, How to Run a Fiber Demand Campaign (June 2026) Community FTTH projects commonly target 30 to 50% pre-registration; 4 to 8 week campaigns. Vendor-stated targets.
- SPOTIO, Door to Door Sales guide Top reps aim for 50 to 70 doors a day; 30 to 40% contact rate per pass. Cross-industry door-to-door figures.
- 47 CFR Part 64 Subpart U, Privacy of Customer Information (CPNI) CPNI rules that apply to carriers and the contractors handling customer data on their behalf.