How PoleProof researches and verifies

You shouldn't need a telecom lawyer to know a pole charge is wrong.

That is our job, not yours. Every PoleProof finding rests on the actual rule that governs your pole, researched from primary sources, graded for confidence, and checked before it reaches you. Here is how that work gets done, so a finding holds up when you take it to the pole owner, or to your own counsel.

Primary sources first · graded state by state · unsettled questions flagged, not guessed
Finding, sourced
Make-ready review · one pole
Verified
Pole ownerElectric cooperative
Governing ruleVa. Code 56-466.1
Checked againstPrimary text
Open questionsFlagged, not hidden
ConfidencePrimary source
SOURCED
Why the research matters

A dispute is only as strong as the rule behind it.

Anyone can add up an invoice. The hard part is knowing which of those charges the governing rule actually allows, and that rule changes with who owns the pole and which state it stands in. A finding built on the wrong rulebook falls apart the moment a pole owner pushes back. So before PoleProof questions a charge, it does the work to be sure the rule behind the finding is the right one, current, and correctly stated.

The method

How PoleProof researches a pole attachment question.

The same disciplined sequence sits behind every finding, whether the review is done by hand today or by PoleProof's engine as it comes online. Each step exists to keep a finding from resting on more than its source can bear.

01

Owner and state first

Investor-owned utility, cooperative, municipality, or a federally owned entity, and which state the pole stands in. This one step decides which rulebook applies, before any charge is judged.

02

Go to the primary source

The actual statute, the FCC rule or order, the state regulation, the commission decision. Not a summary of it, and not a memory of it. If the text cannot be reached, we say so.

03

Grade the confidence

A rule read straight from the governing text is treated differently from one resting on a single outside summary. Each is graded, and what is genuinely unsettled is marked, not smoothed over.

04

Check it independently

Load-bearing conclusions get a second, skeptical pass built to break them, and anything driving a live finding is reviewed by a person before it is relied on.

State by state

The research goes deeper than a national answer.

PoleProof builds a state-by-state record of what actually governs pole attachments in each place it works, because a national average gets the specifics wrong exactly where they matter to your bill.

Per state
Each state is researched on its own: whether it regulates pole attachments itself, whether it reaches cooperative and municipal poles the federal rules do not, what rate standard it uses, and where a dispute is heard.
Primary state statutes, regulations, and commission decisions
Virginia
A live example of why it matters. Virginia is not a certified state, so its investor-owned utility poles stay under the FCC regime, yet it regulates cooperative poles under its own state cost standard with its own timelines. Two rulebooks, one state.
Va. Code 56-466.1; Virginia State Corporation Commission
Graded
Every state record carries its own confidence grades and a list of open questions, so an analyst always knows how firm the ground is before a finding leans on it.
PoleProof four-tier confidence framework
Kept current

The rules are moving. So is the research.

Pole attachment law is in an unusually active stretch. The FCC rewrote its make-ready timelines in 2026. The BEAD program attached new pole-attachment conditions to cooperative and municipal owners that take funding. The FCC has an open inquiry into whether some older state certifications still qualify. PoleProof tracks the federal and state proceedings that change what a pole owner can charge and updates its research as they resolve, so a finding reflects the rule in force on the date of your invoice, not a version that has since moved.

Without it

A guess that collapses on contact

A finding built on the wrong rulebook, or last year's version of the right one, falls apart the moment the pole owner pushes back, and takes your credibility with it.

With PoleProof

A finding that holds up

The specific charge, the exact rule that governs it, and the gap between them, each tied to a source. It stands up with the pole owner, and with your own counsel if it ever goes further.

Straight with you

Confident where the law is clear. Honest where it is not.

PoleProof is an invoice and cost validation service, not a law firm, and the way it handles the limits of its own findings is part of what makes them trustworthy. A finding shows what was billed, what the agreement and the governing rule allow, and the gap between them, with the source cited. Where a charge is clearly inconsistent with the rule, it says so plainly. Where the answer turns on unsettled law or on facts only your team has, it says that too, and points to where a licensed attorney should weigh in. It never claims to be legal advice and never dresses a judgment call as a certainty. That candor is not a hedge. It is what lets a PoleProof finding hold up.

Questions

Questions about our research, answered plainly.

How does PoleProof know which rules apply to my poles in my state? +
Pole attachment law is not one national rulebook. A federal framework, Section 224 and the FCC's rules, governs investor-owned utility poles, but each state can regulate differently, and many states set their own rules for cooperative and municipal poles that the federal rules do not reach. PoleProof researches each state separately, so the standard we hold your invoice to is the one that actually governs your pole owner in your state, not a national average. In Virginia, for example, cooperative poles fall under a state just and reasonable cost standard with its own timelines, while investor-owned utility poles stay under the federal FCC regime, two different rulebooks in one state.
What sources does PoleProof rely on? +
We work from primary sources first: the actual text of the federal statute (47 U.S.C. Section 224), the FCC's rules and orders, state statutes and regulations, and state utility commission decisions. Where we rely on a secondary source, we grade how confident we are in it and flag anything that rests on thinner ground. We do not build a finding on a blog summary or a headline.
How current is your information, and how do you keep up when the rules change? +
Pole attachment rules are moving quickly right now, from the FCC's 2026 make-ready timeline overhaul to the BEAD program's new conditions on cooperative and municipal pole owners. PoleProof tracks the live federal and state proceedings that affect what a pole owner can charge, and updates its research as they resolve, so your review reflects the rules in effect on the date of your invoice, not last year's.
What happens when the law in my state is unclear or unsettled? +
We tell you. Where an issue is genuinely open, or depends on facts specific to your agreement, we flag it as needing clarification or review rather than presenting it as settled. A finding you can rely on is worth more than a confident guess, and being clear about the edges is part of how we keep our findings defensible.
Is PoleProof a law firm, and is this legal advice? +
No. PoleProof is an invoice and cost validation service, not a law firm, and its findings are not legal advice and do not create an attorney-client relationship. We identify where a charge appears inconsistent with the rule that governs it and give you a clear, documented basis to question it. If a matter needs a licensed attorney, we say so.

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