Category Archives: News

News articles about UTOPIA from around the country and around the world.

UTOPIA (Finally) Launches New Website

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After many months of waiting, UTOPIA has launched a new website (warning: sound and Flash ahead). It also includes a form for you to submit contact information to UTOPIA to check for service in your area and express your interest in signing up when it becomes available, apparently they hired a business web design firm that help with all the problems the old site had.  It also lists FuzeCore and Fibernet as providers (in addition to XMission, Veracity and Nuvont), but Mstar is still absent from the list. None of the providers on the website are shown as providing video, definitely a cause for some concern. The site is also lacking any kind of newsletter sign-up or RSS feed for updates. Still, this is a marked improvement over the presumed-dead static site that had been up for years.

Will President Obama Be Good For Broadband?

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That depends on who you ask. Consumer groups are no doubt going to flip for his proposed expansions of online privacy, pushing providers to offer true next-generation speeds and fighting bandwidth caps. ISPs, free market types and the MPAA/RIAA are no doubt going to call foul on some of these proposals. Obama is also proposing to open up big chunks of wireless spectrum including the already-opened white spaces. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of fiber or enabling better competitive choice in our telecommunications options.

As a rarity, I’m going to ask that you drop your two cents into the comments and leave my opinion out of the main post. Do you think Obama will fix broadband? Which policies do you want to see him adopt?

UPDATE: Oops. Almost forgot to link to an article from DailyTech that details some of the proposals.

FCC to Investigate Skyrocketing Cable TV Rates, Ignores Telcos

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Have you noticed that video rates have been going up at a painful rate? FCC Chair Kevin “I love Ma Bell” Martin did and he wants answers. Despite also naming Verizon in the inquiry, it’s pretty obvious that cable is the real target. The focus is on the move of more and more channels out of analog tiers and onto more expensive digital tiers, a practice he believes is compelling consumers to pay bigger prices for the same set of channels. We’ve already seen a bunch of cable providers up their rates with Cablevision and Time Warner both getting in on the hikes.

Unfortunately, Martin is not investigating how wholesale rates from programmers have gone through the roof and has more-or-less abandoned “a la carte” programming options. He’s also ignoring caps from both Frontier (5-20GB) and AT&T (20GB) that are designed to boost revenues. Telcom in general is hurting right now and companies may see rate increases as a way to soften the dropping subscriber numbers. Both Qwest and Cox are planning lay off workers and Comcast had disappointing earnings results.

We may, however, see some big changes in store once the new president takes office. Word on the street is that Martin will voluntarily resign to pursue political ambitions in North Carolina. It’s anyone’s guess as to who would take over his spot and what they would do about these out-of-control telcom prices.

UTOPIA Adds Fibernet as a New Provider

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Local ISP and co-location company Fibernet has been added a new provider on UTOPIA. It appears that they will be providing Internet-only services and plan to serve both homes and businesses. The official press release is light on details and Fibernet doesn’t currently have UTOPIA pricing on their website.

As an aside, this popped up in Google Alerts and I didn’t end up getting a copy of the press release directly despite a promise that I would be on that list. Hey UTOPIA guys? On the ball with the information distrubution por favor?

FuzeCore Announced as a New Service Provider

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Talk about out of the loop… I found out today that FuzeCore has become a new provider on the UTOPIA network. Their website indicates that they are a triple-play provider, though they plan to only offer voice and data for now. Unfortunately, the pricing looks out-of-sync with the pricing from other providers. Anyone know any more details?

Light the Fiber: UTOPIA Available in Tremonton

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Good news for those that haven’t heard yet: UTOPIA service is now available in Tremonton. Both XMission and Nuvont are selling services and the word on the street is that the install fees are rock-bottom (under $60). If you’ve been waiting for UTOPIA in Tremonton, wait no more!

Mstar Says It's Still on UTOPIA

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I asked Mstar directly if they are still on UTOPIA and got the following response from Henry Rodriguez, Customer Service Manager:

The change to the UTOPIA website must be an administrative oversight, as Mstar continues to be the largest and most experienced service provider on the UTOPIA network. Any questions about UTOPIA’s website should be sent directly to the UTOPIA staff.

Forum commenter DIE-HARD has reported that he is an Mstar customer and hasn’t experienced any change in service or received any kind of notification of changes. I also put in an inquiry to one of my contacts at UTOPIA, but I haven’t heard anything back yet.

UPDATE: I’ve heard back from UTOPIA who said it is a temporary measure. They’ve started selling in Tremonton as has been rumored on the forum and wanted to make sure that Mstar would be prepared for a large influx of new customers before they’re listed.

Mstar Gone? UTOPIA Removes Them From the List of Providers

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Frequent commenter Capt. Video pointed out that UTOPIA’s website no longer shows Mstar as a provider on the network, but there doesn’t appear to be any replacement for them. This means that no current providers offer video service. Mstar’s website, however, has not been similarly updated and still shows them as a provider. Anyone know what’s going on? Are current Mstar customers still getting service?

Sticker Shock: Telecom Service Prices Rising All Over

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Cox is doing it. So is Comcast. In fact, prices are rising all over the telecom industry as stock prices plummet and subscribers prove fickle (as AT&T found out with a loss of 3.9M landline customers so far this year). Many of them are also ramping up higher-speed tiers and premium services to pad the bottom line.

Unfortunately, prices are likely to continue to rise in our current anti-competitive telecommunications market. Byzantine phone regulations are used to block new voice carriers, the programming cartel consistently flexes its muscle to increase wholesale television rates and data providers continue to increase markup even as the wholesale rate of bandwidth drops to new lows. DSLReports lambasts the lack of competition in a scatching editorial that details why telecom has the lowest consumer satisfaction ratings of any industry in the nation. As we continue to support duopolies and exclusive providers via HOAs, the problem is only going to get worse.