Comparing live pricing and terms from 400+ carriers and platforms
Same address, same speed, wildly different monthly numbers—because whoever already has fiber in that building prices like it. Here is on-net vs dig, what to normalize on a quote, and how Buckeye runs Compete.
Someone said fiber is available. One rep quoted a number. Finance wants to know if the market was tested. This page is the explanation behind Buckeye’s Compete story: same building, same 1 Gbps, six answers—not a carrier bash, and not a guarantee that every address spreads 2.4×.
Published sample bands live on pricing bands (Ohio). Your address gets a named, current comparison.
Marketing footprints show where a carrier sells. They do not prove fiber is in your entrance, riser, and suite.
Neighbor buildings on the same street can return different build requirements and prices. Suite path, landlord access, and who already lit the MPOE matter more than a green checkmark on a ZIP tool. Ask for building-level lit status in writing.
A carrier already lit in the building prices and installs differently than a carrier that must construct, permit, or extend to your suite.
Fiber already serves the building. Install intervals and MRC usually look better—still confirm suite path and handoff.
“Fiber 50 feet away” can still mean permitting, laterals, riser work, and landlord coordination. Map distance is not a free lateral.
Longer intervals, higher NRCs, more slip risk. Model all-in cost and rollback before you fall in love with a headline Mbps price.
| Field to normalize | Why it changes the “same gig” |
|---|---|
| Speed both ways | Symmetric DIA vs asymmetric shared products |
| Product type | Dedicated vs shared cable/fiber economics |
| Term length | 36-month promo vs month-to-month retail |
| SLA / credits | Uptime language and how credits actually pay |
| Install / NRC / construction | Often dwarfs a cheap MRC in year one |
| IPs / handoff | Ethernet handoff, IP blocks, router responsibility |
| Notice / auto-renew | The cheap quote’s second term can be the expensive one |
On a six-carrier compare for the same 1 Gbps at one building, Buckeye has published a sample where the cheapest landed around $695/mo and the highest around $1,650/mo—about 2.4×. That is market intel with a date stamp on the pricing page, not a promise for your address.
Carriers on static tables stay anonymized unless Jonathan approves named rows. See pricing bands for the live table and caveats. Your Compete pack names who can actually deliver.
Not a ZIP fantasy. Address-level reality across 400+ carriers and platforms.
Normalize fields. Show cheapest to highest with assumptions visible.
You hear the strongest options. Jonathan recommends a pick and reviews the contract.
Shopping once is not the whole job. Promo terms roll to retail. Notice windows close before term end. The first three invoices need a human reading them.
That is why Compete links to the renewal calendar and multi-site Stay. A market test without a calendar is how last year’s win becomes this year’s auto-renew.
Ask whether the building is lit or a build, who pays construction, what the install interval is, whether the product is dedicated or shared, what the SLA credit math actually pays, and how notice works at the end of the promo. If those answers are verbal, get them in writing. If one quote is silent on construction and the other shows a five-figure NRC, you do not yet have a market test—you have two different products wearing the same Mbps label.
Multi-site buyers should also resist rolling one “winner” across every address. The carrier that is cheapest on-net at Plant 1 may be a dig at the warehouse. Compete is address by address with a standard architecture on top—not one logo stamped on fourteen demarcs because the first quote felt good.
A market test is not two friends in the industry and a ZIP tool screenshot. It is a set of quotes for the same address with normalized fields, construction assumptions exposed, and enough carriers to show whether on-net economics exist. Buckeye’s Compete pack is built to be kept: even if you place elsewhere, you leave with the spread and the assumptions. That is intentional. Artifacts beat decks.
Published Ohio samples exist so buyers can see that 2.4× spreads are real in the wild—not so we can promise your plant matches the sample. Your address may compress or widen. The method does not change: ask who can deliver, show the band, talk to the best three, pick with eyes open, then Stay so the cheap quote does not auto-renew into an expensive silence.
Finance teams should also model year-one all-in, not only MRC. A low monthly with a heavy NRC and a ninety-day install can lose to a slightly higher on-net MRC that turns up next month. Compete is where that conversation happens with numbers instead of vibes.
When the estate is multi-site, run Compete per address against a shared architecture standard. That is how you avoid painting every demarc with the first carrier who returned a PDF. Link Stay and the renewal calendar so today’s win has an owner tomorrow.
Carriers know buyers anchor on the first MRC. Promo terms, waived install, and “limited time” credits are real—and so is the roll to retail. A Compete pack that ignores notice windows and promo end dates is incomplete. Pair this page with the renewal calendar so the cheap quote has an owner before month thirty-three.
Also separate shared and dedicated products even when both say “fiber” or “gig.” Contention, SLA posture, and peak-hour behavior differ. If finance only compares the Mbps label, IT inherits the outage. Buckeye will say when a shared product is fine for a light office and when a plant needs DIA economics instead.
Construction responsibility belongs in writing: who pays, who permits, who owns delay. “Fiber is close” is a sales sentence. A dated interval and a construction exhibit are a quote. Until you have the second, you do not have a number you can take to a steering committee.
Finally, multi-site standardization is not the enemy of address-level Compete. Standardize architecture and security posture. Price transport where the glass actually is. That is how estates avoid both chaos and monopoly-by-convenience.
If you already have one carrier quote, treat it as a data point, not a decision. Send the address and the PDF. Compete either confirms it is strong for that building or shows you the on-net alternative you would have missed. That is the whole point of an independent advisor with $0 advisory and contracts in your name: the market test is the work, and Stay keeps the win from rotting.
Thirty minutes with Jonathan. We will tell you whether those numbers look like a market test—or one carrier’s story.