Grand Junction to Vote on Broadband Improvement

By: Lindsey Pallares

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. The complaints are many and the options are few for city and county leaders looking to improve broadband internet across the Valley.

The City of Grand Junction will be the first of the Mesa County municipalities to attempt to regain their negotiating power with broadband internet service providers.

It’s been 10 years since Senate Bill 152 went into effect, taking away the power of city and county leaders to work with internet companies or share their broadband with their residents. Continue reading

City Leaders Explore Municipal Broadband

English: 4th Street in Loveland CO

English: 4th Street in Loveland CO (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

City officials discussed the possibility of bringing municipal broadband service, or citywide high speed internet to Loveland, at the City Council and staff retreat Saturday.

The structure of how the service would operate as well as whether it would be a city-owned and operated service or one developed by a public-private partnership, among other factors, will be part of future discussions on the topic. Continue reading

The road to municipal Internet: Boulder benefits from Longmont’s journey

English: Looking north from the intersection o...

English: Looking north from the intersection of Main St. and 3rd Ave. towards the 300 block of Main St. Longmont, Colorado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Governments do not tend to learn from their mistakes, they just cover them up with more money. Even detailed articles like these fail to ask the question whether government should be doing this or are there better ways of delivering broadband services.

By Karen Antonacci

Paul Radliff, of Longmont, had his home connected via fiber-optic cable to the city’s new high-speed Internet service earlier this month.

Under his old DSL service, he could download information at a speed of 20 megabits per second. Continue reading

First Day of Longmont Fiber Optic Sign-up Sees High Demand

TCS Communications operator Alberto Lucio uses an underground drilling machine to install lines for Longmont’s NextLight fiber optic broadband

TCS Communications operator Alberto Lucio uses an underground drilling machine to install lines for Longmont’s NextLight fiber optic broadband network on Monday in the Southmoor Park neighborhood. (Matthew Jonas / Longmont Times-Call)

As Longmont Power and Communications opened up NextLight municipal Internet to roughly 500 homes in Southmoor Park for the first time Monday, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

LPC customer service reps worked from 7 a.m. and through lunch answering questions from would-be first customers about billing and installation. Some administrative assistants also pitched in to handle the call volume. Continue reading

Qwest revisits video franchising with lawmakers

Denver Capital building

Image via Wikipedia

The proposal by Qwest for statewide franchising for video services is not necessarily a good move for consumers unless communities have options to ensure their broadband future.  By simplifying the franchising process, Qwest/CenturyLink and others can easily re-enter the video market in Colorado without negotiating with every city they want to provide service; thereby, allowing competitors to satellite and cable TV companies.  I personally welcome Qwest’s re-entrance into the market.  Local franchise negotiations are often fraught with requests for community TV stations and equipment, free or reduced charges to schools and other institutions, municipal network access, and that pesky universal service requirement.

Continue reading

Could Comcast/Colorado DOT Fiber Deal Accelerate Public/Private Network Partnerships?

A new agreement announced this week between Comcast and the Colorado Department of Transportation could spur other communications service providers to explore new avenues for obtaining network capacity. Through the agreement, Comcast will lease two strands of a portion of the fiber network that the CDOT uses for electronic sign message control, traffic camera surveillance, travel time detection, weather station monitoring and other forms of communications. The lease agreement is for 20 years.

Continue reading

Rural Communities Still Lacking High Speed Internet

Brian Larson / Jeff Nuttall (2010-04-22)
GREELEY, CO (KUNC) – Even in the 21st Century high-speed internet service is not a given in many parts of the state. But several groups are hoping to tap into federal stimulus money to fill in the gaps. KUNC’s Brian Larson spoke to Northern Colorado Business Report Publisher Jeff Nuttall about what’s driving the competition. © Copyright 2010, KUNC