I was recently contacted by someone from Sandy who's planning on getting a group of friends and neighbors together to have Sandy to reconsider UTOPIA membership. They'll be taking advantage of the public comments period at the City Council meeting on Tuesday January 8 at 7PM. If you're interested in meeting other UTOPIA supporters and getting the project moving in Sandy, I highly recommend you go to this meeting. (I'd normally be there myself, but work has me going to Winnipeg this week.)
UTOPIA Supporters to Meet in Sandy
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Yeah, there was a paragraph in the Sandy Journal (our free town paper mailing), I believe, that mentioned something about talks for FTTH in Sandy. It was a very cryptic article… I should go post an excerpt on the new Wiki, except the Sandy city page hasn’t been created on it yet.
I could really use an affordable fast internet connection for my small business.=(
I have been fetup with Sandy City and their excuses for not moving on the UTOPIA plan. Statements I received last year from Sandy City included “iProvo failed and we don’t want to put Sandy tax payers in the same predicament” and “Bonding for UTOPIA may not get predicted returns.” I have been forced to use Comcast at this point for it’s speed at cost being better than any other provider in this city. I received my bill from Comcast the other day and to my surprise it states that the franchise owner of Comcast in my area is, to my surprise, Sandy City. Word for word from my bill:
“Your Franchise Authority is:
Cable TV Administrator: Sandy City
10000 Centennial Parkway
Sandy, Utah 84070
FCC Community ID # is UT0146, UT0070”
From the beginning I have beleived that something more was prohibiting UTOPIA in Sandy whether it was Lobbyists paying our city officials to keep the competition out or city officials having ownership in Comcast some how. An now there is proof that Sandy City has a conflict of interest in providing its Citizens cheaper, faster internet via UTOPIA. iProvo issues my ass! I will be attempting to get a response from Sandy City regarding my new findings and will try to update here. Either way my goals are to get a better petition running to get Sandy City on board with UTOPIA and any help I can get would be most beneficial.
Respectfully,
James
The way a franchise works is that the city grants right-of-way to all addresses in the city in exchange for fees from the network owner. Part of how UTOPIA works is that member cities are giving them a no-charge franchise for their city. So yes, cities with UTOPIA aren’t getting the direct revenue from the network. They do get better services to residents and using better services for city agencies.
Mayor Dolan is firmly anti-UTOPIA. His challenger in the upcoming municipal election is likely to not be in favor of UTOPIA either. Without a supportive mayor willing to see the vision through, Sandy’s going to spend a long time waiting. Unless, of course, you get ~37% of your neighbors to agree to an SAA.