This article is cross-posted at Beehive Startups.
Salt Lake City just can’t seem to make up its mind on broadband. Given the chance to join UTOPIA in 2004, Mayor Rocky Anderson turned down the offer citing “risk [to] taxpayers’ money”. His successor, Mayor Ralph Becker, similarly waffled, giving a response that neither closed the door nor endorsed the idea. In that time, much of Salt Lake City has been unable to get CenturyLink’s ADSL2+ service (with speeds up to 40Mbps down), often getting a meager 3Mbps on vanilla DSL. As a result, Comcast doesn’t offer the same high-speed packages it does in areas with better speed choices, sometimes maxing out at 25Mbps. The reluctance to make a bold choice to improve the city’s infrastructure has cost residents dearly.
Now it appears that SLC is about to double down on those past mistakes. Google revealed that they’ve been in talks with Salt Lake City to extend Google Fiber from Provo into the city. While Salt Lake City officials are claiming that “no tax dollars” will be involved, it’s well-known that Kansas City provided a lot of concessions to Google worth millions of dollars. Provo effectively gave Google an indefinite lease on the network for $1 plus $18.7M in closing costs. We don’t know what Austin provided yet, but we can probably take a guess. Google loves it some public funding but without all of that pesky partnership business.
And what does SLC get from the deal? Sure, they get gigabit, but not with great terms. If you don’t sign up during the initial push, you’re forever cut off from the network. Kind of sucks for renters and new move-ins. Don’t like how Google does things? They’ll be the only gigabit option in town. If Comcast and CenturyLink hurt enough, they could effectively withdraw from the market and leave Salt Lake City with a real monopoly. Can’t afford $70 per month? Too bad; there’s no alternative pricing plans like UTOPIA’s 100Mbps for around $35. And if history is any indication, Google won’t sign a contract with the city for longer than 7 years. They reserve the right to get bored and just turn off the network when it runs out. Compare that with the 30-year deal that UTOPIA has been working on with investment bank Macquarie Group. The only reason Google Fiber sounds good is because you’ve been in an abusive relationship with Comcast and/or CenturyLink for far too long.
Given the stark differences between how UTOPIA and Google Fiber operate, how badly Provo was jobbed on its deal, and how much better a deal UTOPIA was able to negotiate, you have to wonder how there’s even a debate about the choice between dealing with Google or joining up with UTOPIA. It seems that Salt Lake City’s elected officials, mayor and city council alike, are too cowardly to do what’s best for the city instead of what’s best for their next election.
I know it’s been said thousands of times but I’ll say it again. High speed (and I define high speed as 50 Mbits or more in both directions) Internet access will become, and for some of us already is, as necessary as water, sewer, roads, electric power, and telephones. Why would Salt Lake City give control of that important resource to Google, an unregulated, for-profit business?
That said, if Google can provide their services with no money or concessions from any government agency then let them go ahead. But not a dime of public money should be used to help Google provide another closed, profit-making, communications network. Other than higher speeds they are no better than CenturyLink or Comcast.
That’s more-or-less my take. Public money should mean open access. Anything else is crony capitalism.
Hey, I’d happily sign up for Utopia if my city (Taylorsville) were covered. I’d prefer it over Google because it’s more local, and yeah, because of that $35 option. I don’t need gigabit internet.
But if Google Fiber were to show up in my city and Utopia didn’t, I’d suck it up and pay for them instead, to get away from my current provider.
Right, and the “more local” UTOPIA is being taken over by an Australian firm, although it will apparently offer revenue sharing to cities.
That’s a curious argument. The local cities are retaining ownership. Most of the ISPs are local companies (XMission, Veracity, Sumofiber, Infowest, Beehive, Brigham.net, FiberNet, etc). So what if the loan money is coming from a non-local source? Would you say that UTOPIA is currently “less local” because the bank holding the current bonds isn’t from Utah?
that is what is happening in the uk, we have brave altnets like gigaclear (our utopian equivalent) and the city fathers help the incumbent squash their projects and won’t support them in any way. I think that they forget who they work for, they work for us, the people and we should be able to trust them to get us the best service. Its good that google want to come in, nothing wrong with fair competition, but its daft when they already have a home grown solution they could support and instead choose to help a big company like G. Utopia would provide a better and more local service, employ local people and keep the dollars local.
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Can’t afford $70? How about Google’s free 5mbs option? And only a $30 connection fee. And no municipal bond obligations. Sounds like a great deal to me.
The connection fee in Provo was $30 because they purchased an existing network. Kansas City, which is a new build, charges $300.
In the early days,it was $300 to connect. Now Google charges $30 system wide. $300 to connect is still better than what UTOPIA was charging to connect at one time, approximately $2500.
Google fiber has brought greater competition to Austin. AT&T the only provider before google, now offers faster speeds at a lower cost than before and a new company is laying their own fiber network. This gives you three options.
I agree, UTOPIA would be the way to go and wish SLC would have joined. Maybe having this conversation about google fiber might open that door.
It’s important to note that a local company, Grande Communications, is doing gigabit in Austin right now: http://mygrande.com/austin/1-gig-fiber-internet/ AT&T and TWC are looking at 300Mbps upgrades in response to both this and Google Fiber.
I was on iProvo and the service providers SUCKED! None of the service providers on Utopia thrill me. What good is an open network if no service provider delivers good services and service? What I can consume is what matters not that there’s a pipe for a bunch of crappy provides to offer me crappy services and service.
I’m very pleased with GF + TV so far.
Yes, and iProvo was nearly dead and no company was willing to do what was needed to be done to make it robust. Provo was lucky that Google stepped up to the plate.
I wasn’t aware that “breaking even” is the new “nearly dead”. You and I must be using different dictionaries.
I understand that in a perfect world everything would be open access, and I’ve been a HUGE proponent of UTOPIA. (Before the management was taken over by old school T1 hawkers.) But I really don’t understand Jesse’s hatred toward GF. Life is full of tradeoffs, and Google understands the dream of what broadband is supposed to be about. Excellent service, speeds no caps and features at a low cost, even free for basic service. There’s very little to not love about that. I sense a bit of jealousy, or maybe not, maybe you are just very dedicated to the idea.
That’s cool, but really Google Fiber is a great deal that nearly everyone is begging for. Let the city give some concessions to get it. I’m cool with that. Having GF in Salt Lake means I’m not trapped in Provo for the rest of my life. 🙂
Also, I’m pretty sure that you can add GF later for a reasonable install fee. They may not get to you until they’ve wrapped up other installations in the area, but they won’t leave new move ins high and dry forever.
Agree with you on “Jesse’s hatred towrds GF”.
People cry more about how GF is not open market.
But not about the 2500$ fee charged by UTOPIA for a connection. Before GF came to Provo, gigabit was costing $299 a month.
Also about GF buying iprovo for $1, but they dont talk about the condition, where GF has to wire up every house within the iprovo territory for a 30$ fee (BTW GF was ready to null that, but the Provo Mayor insisted on collecting it) providing 5/1 at zero cost for the next 7 years.
A big difference between UTOPIA’s install charge and Google’s: ownership. You’re actually buying a piece of the network for that $2500-3000. That’s a good model to turn it into a subscriber-owned cooperative down the road, and you know you’ve truly paid for the installation completely instead of via residual monthly fees forever. (PS UTOPIA offers a connection lease option if the fiber is already on the curb. At $300, it’s a much closer comparison to the Google model.)
If Google is required to wire every residence, why is there a deadline to signup that has, to date, been the final cutoff of it you are or will never get service? That’s a very well-documented restriction.
Google Fiber solves the speed problem (for now), but that’s an issue caused by a lack of wireline competition. Since CenturyLink is allowing their physical plant to rot on the vine (they announced ZERO upgrades in Provo after Google Fiber), it’s not inconceivable that we’ll have Comcast replace CentyuryLink as the “cheap” provider and Google replace Comcast as the “fast” provider. We’re right back to the craptacular duopoly we have right now. That’s not really much of an improvement, is it? There’s thousands of folks who use XMission on vanilla DSL because they hate CenturyLink and Comcast so much. Speed isn’t why we hate the incumbents.
Here’s a challenge: if Comcast or CenturyLink proposed the exact same terms as Google, would you be as excited? Do you think that Google will really be all that different long-term once they assume a dominant market position? I’ve been in this game for a long time, and I know how this eventually plays out in 5-10 years. You’re trading one monopolist for another and it will not end well.
Before Google Fiber came to Provo, UTOPIA was charging around $70 for their 100 Mbs and $299 for Gigabit. So, it’s a bit disingenuous to decry Google for not having a cheaper option for lower income people. Also, what’s cheaper than $35? Oh, yah. FREE 5 Mb plan from Google.
It’s a silly argument to say that the upgrades were because of Google Fiber. UTOPIA is in a parallel market with Google. They’d been working on a new price point for gigabit for many, many months. I know because I talked to them about it LONG before the change.
Comcast was a reaction because they compete directly with Google. That’s a much better comparison of competitive response.
Also, Comcast offers 50 Mbs in SLC, not 25 Mbs.
Not according to users in some neighborhoods. Comcast does speeds and pricing on a node-by-node basis.
Comcast 50Mbs
anybody note the “up to ” disclaimer?
I have Utopia – 60 MB
and every time I check speed even on Comcast site I get –60 Mbs
I watch Netflix using the latest ROKU streaming box- no issues and perfect razor sharp pictures
Comcast for me ? – not on your tintype dearie.
they love their low speed setups which they milk their customers for .
I think the Broadband blunder is already here, it is called Century Link. I have not been happy with the Internet Service or Phone service ever since they took over for Quest. They tell you one price and it seems the bill is always higher than what they say. I have been lied to repeatedly and their Customer Service is lower than par with Verizon, probably worse which is certainly nothing to bag about. Finally getting fed up I decided to cancel my Service with Century link I informed them I was cancelling my service effective immediately and I was not going to use the month they are billing me in advance for.about two months ago and I paid the current bill at the timeover. They have used every unfounded excuse in the book not to cancell my service, telling me I need to call them. I don’t need to xcall them and be subject to the kind or rudeness they dish out, they need my pin number ? They already have that finally they threaten me that I have a contract. I do not have a contract with them and I have kept telling them this. When I request to see the contract they allege I have with them they tell me they can’t provide it because they do not know if I am authorized on the account but I am certainly authorized to be billed by them for a service I have cancelled but they still refused to let me cancel my service. If that isn’t a blunder, what could be worse than being forced to have a service you cancelled and do not want and then being billed for it They refuse to let me cancel my service, and now after the fact claim I have a contract and if I don’t agree to an up to $200 early termination fee, they will not disconnect my service at my request. Now being an indentured Customer against my will and free choice. I feel like I am a Slave to Century Link. they refused to disconnect me at my request are forcing me to have there service against my wishes and are billing me for it and demanding I pay for something I have cancelled. They thank me on one hand for being a Customer of 40 years and give me a $10.00 discount, then they take that away and tell me I can not get that again for two years, so why give it to a Customer to begin with. Now several months later after all the threats and rudeness, I get and e-mail and they admit there is no recording of any agreement with me. Now isn’t that just hunk dory I have been telling them all along that I do not have a contract with them but they refuse to alow me to be disconnected, they are forcing me to have there service against my will and billing me for it. I’m pretty sure this is illegal and I have made that perfectly clear to them. After I complained to the Public Service Complaints office, who informed me they do not have official jurisdiction over Century link but Century Link has asked them to refer any complaint to them, I get a call 5 days ago from the Executive Offices in Denver, I am informed they will waive the $200 early termination fee if I discontinue service within 30 days, but I still have to pay the bill, a bill for 2 months that they refused to cancel my service at my request. The phone book says there is no charge to disconnect service, but they insist they can charge me and threaten me with a $200 early termination fee. There is No Contract. Something is really wrong with this picture, I always thought that a customer has a choice of who they are going to do business with but according to Century link and what they are doing, they believe they can force a person to have there crappy service and crappy Customer Service whether they like it or not. They have refused to provide me any information about the contract they claim I have with them, which I do not have a contract with them, and the advertising says No Contact, but they want to pick and chose certain inapplicable jargon, to try and harassment me and not disconnect my service against my will. I have thanked them for the Free service which I do not intend to pay for, because requiring a person to have a service is no different than slavery and I’m done being a slave to Century link and paying them to be there Slave, that just doesn’t sit well with me at all. If they wanted me to remain a customer and thanked me fo being a customer of 40 years, then turn right around and started treating me less than a dog and a slave, and then forcing there service on me whether I like it or not and then billling me fior it after I have cancelled it. This makes me wonder what their next plan is going to be?? If they ever let me finally cancel service with them and I do not have any service with them, are they going to keep billing me on a monthly basis for not having a service with them.
Now to add a little fuel to the fire, when Quet was my provider, I was given a modem and the Man that installed it atold me this is your modem and you are not going to be billed for it. Sometime later I findout I am being billed for it $7.99 a month for I don’t know exactly the number of months, but probably since Centurylink took over I was not ever given a choice to but the unit or lease the unit, I have been forced to lease it the whole time. At&t on their lease, the customer owns the unit after two years.But according to Centurylink apparently they can bill you indefinitely for the unit and you do not ever own it and in my case I as not ever given and option to buy a modem for $99.00 which they claim every Customer is entitled to do that. Why wasn’t I given the same choice as there other 5 million customers?: Your guess is as good as mine. Any feedback and suggestions is appreciated. I guess my next step will be the FCC. Maybe they can stick up for me I think My Consumer Rights, My Human Rights and my Civil Rights are being violated by Century link and as a over 40 year Customer I don’t expect a Thank You for being a long term Customer and then when I decide I no long wnat what they are dishing out and force feeding me, they give me a kick in the old keiser and tell me I can not cancel my service and they are going to bill me for the service they refuse to cancel at my request whether I like it or not.That is just WRONG and not the way Business is conducted here in the U.S,. and in Utah. I might be that way under a Communistic rule which apparently Century Link think with this mentality, but not in the U>S. So help me God to get some justice against Centurylink who is not only monopolising on me they also refusing deliberately to understand the principle of Free Trade and competition in the Market. What would we have if every ISP was allowed to fofce there service on the Customer? Chaos, utter total chaos, does that work No that does not work Is this a blunder at it finest? I think it goes way beyond and begs the question. Century link what are you doing? As you can tell I am rightly teed off with Centurylink. Thanks for your time and listening to the Greatest Blunder called CenturyLink and its forced service whether you want it or not you are going to get it and be billed and bilked for it irregardless of that think about it and in violation of the Laws that you are protected by. If you are a Century link customer dissatisfied with them, this is all the more reason you should quit there service or lack of is a better term, but expect this same thing to happen and I would not recommend Century Link to anyone, not only because of dissatisfactory Service, but because to the hugh ultimate run around they have given me to cease there service and they still have not cancelled me at my request. Lets see how far Century link gets when they try to shove their service and the bill down a judges throat. I’m sure Century link is going to have some regeneration to answer to because there is No judge that is going to be force a service against there will and be bullied for it after they try to cancel it, and they are denied the right to do so.
I have had enough of Century Link and request that my issues as presented be submitted by anonymous, as I do not want any further harassment from Century Link., and them refusing to allow me to cancel my service I had with them. (this is in reference to the above information I submitted) Thank you