by Joshua Lindenstein on September 1, 2016
LONGMONT – The rollout of Longmont’s NextLight municipal broadband service continues to put the city on the map as it relates to the fastest available Internet speeds nationwide.
PC magazine this week ranked Longmont third in the country among cities with the fastest average Internet upload and download speeds based on tests conducted by the publication. Only Kansas City, Mo. — one of the seven cities where Google Fiber offers its gigabit service — and Deltona, Fla., topped Longmont on the list.
Granted, Comcast — ranked in the same analysis as the fastest among major Internet providers nationally — is still the biggest player in Longmont. But Comcast’s footprint spreads up and down Colorado’s Front Range, and no other cities in the state made the top 10 of PC Magazine’s list. So it stands to reason that NextLight is helping give Longmont an extra boost as the two compete in a way that isn’t happening in most cities around the country.
“We’re very pleased with the ratings here,” NextLight spokesman Scott Rochat said. “We’re also not particularly surprised by it.
”NextLight touts a charter-member rate for its 1-gigabit fiber-optic internet service of $49.99 per month. As the buildout of NextLight’s network continues throughout Longmont, the city-owned service so far boasts nearly 6,800 customers. But perhaps more telling is that, in areas of town where the service is available and where the city has marketed its three-month charter-rate period, Rochat said the take rate stands at 56 percent.
