This was way back in July …
Several posters responded that this was likely related to telecommunications. They were right. I didn’t follow up with my fellow Dopers because I had no idea until today what it was about. But today I opened my front door and a little brochure fell out, and all became clear.
It was as I suspected. This neighbourhood is serviced exclusively by a cable monopoly. It’s called Rogers, and for my American friends, you can consider it the equivalent of Comcast in terms of incompetence and price-gouging. I figured the monopoly has got to be broken at some point and now it has. All these little orange flags are all over the neighbourhood and are because Bell Canada is installing fiber all over.
I have no problem with the speed of Rogers internet – gigabit service is available here, and my own modest service is about 75% of gigabit anyway, and higher speeds are available. I just hate the bastards. So when I read the brochure and it described what Bell was doing, and then stated that consent was required to bring fiber from the street right up to the house, I called them immediately.
I was so excited that I’d forgotten it was around 7 AM on a Saturday morning, but I got someone on the line anyway, and gave my consent. There is no cost and no obligation to actually subscribe; the consent relates to them digging a small trench in your lawn and fastening some cable to the side of the house. I’m happy to let them do it to have a competitive option and be able to tell Rogers to take a hike to the moon. 