Fri 9 Jan 2009
Cost for Centerville UTOPIA Hub May Top $100K
Posted by Jesse under News, UTOPIA
[7] Comments
The Standard-Examiner reports that the network communications hub in Centerville may cost about $20K more than initially projected with the additional money paying for conduit to cross the railroad tracks. A vote on the spending could come as early as January 20. There’s no word yet on Qwest’s response to this new plan or if they plan to take advantage of the new facilities.
The bigger question, however, is why Centerville appears to be the only city willing to go “all in” to make the network succeed. I’m not aware of any other member cities looking at building and leasing infrastructure or spending RDA funds to help UTOPIA succeed. What’s the deal, guys?
January 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
We either need to support Utopia or find another solution. I can’t see Utopia financials falling apart and us not doing something about resolve it.
I’ve had lunch with several people across several Utopia cities. It’s interesting almost all of them didn’t realize they have Utopia at their home ready for hookup. Or that it’s cheaper and better service.
Getting the word out is the BIGGEST problem IMO here. I’ve suggested there are people willing to donate their time to help get the word out but it needs to be organized. I’m curious if this is something that could still happen or if the interest it still there.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Maybe we should coordinate with Hugh Matheson to do some kind of guerrilla marketing. I’m thinking honk-and-wave or door-to-door. Maybe even sidewalk art, if someone has the skills.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
As soon as UTOPIA reaches Layton, you can bet I’ll be hitting the street to get people signed up. (Since Layton is close enough to me that I can get there easily).
UTOPIA got a new website, but they seriously need to provide better maps of coverage or SOMETHING. When you click on “service areas” on their new site, it still shows Tremonton, for example, as being a “Future Phase”. Seriously guys, get some maps or at least show what cities have it available!
Also, companies like XMission could really benefit from ramping up their marketing/sales campaigns in these cities where UTOPIA is available.
I was able to sign up three new businesses in Orem just by telling them about UTOPIA (with no financial benefit to myself). They were delighted that they could drop their Qwest connections and had no idea it was even available.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Is this not an areas where the cities and their elected officials that do carry significant weight with city employees and residents stand up and speak out.
Using every opportunity (City or Mayor’s Newsletter, Employee Meetings, Attending things like Rotary Club) and at every public meeting mention how important it is to support UTOPIA and supporting UTOPIA means getting off the Qwest/Comcast networks and on the UTOPIA network for all your services, residential and business.
This can and will reach many more people than this blog or individual actions….and YES, the service providers and UTOPIA may need to crank up the marketing. Where is the “Magic UTOPIA Bus”. When will that be on the road?
The cities and politicians do not seem to understand how important the success of UTOPIA is to them.
We are talking about a loss of over 100 million dollars for UTOPIA cities if they fail, and I firmly believe they are on the road to failure as they need tens of thousands of subscribers to be successful.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Capt: I’m getting pretty frustrated with it too. Many of the member cities are acting as if they expect UTOPIA to do all of the heavy lifting now that they’ve cut the check. Centerville is really leading the charge and other cities need to pitch in, especially Payson. (You guys owe the other ten cities for sticking their necks out for you.)
Don’t get me wrong; I think UTOPIA is doing a better job than they’ve ever done. But they could do better, especially if the cities did something more productive than just extend their liability and hope for the best.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
We are in complete agreement!
I have made clear how hard it will be for an overbuilder to be successful, and even more so on the rebound as both UTOPIA and iProvo/Broadweave are. Why would the cities not do everything within their power to help?
The cities support could do so much to help.
At times it almost seems like the cities do not realize how close they are tied to UTOPIA via the purse string. That “shop locally” stuff has never been more important for them than with UTOPIA!
January 9th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I would be in favor of guerrilla marketing. I think there are more people out there interested than we realize.
For example, the West Jordan City Council (I understand) is getting a lot of people calling and writing this last year about Utopia. People are asking why we don’t have it here. Enough that they wrote a long letter explaining they are in a “Sit and wait” mode. Waiting to see how it works out.
Later this year the other half of the council (and the Mayor) are up for re-election. Guess what i’ll be doing… and it’s not working to help them with their re-election either
People want Utopia and want it to succeed. Sitting and waiting. That doesn’t seem to be solving the problem we have of lousy service and lousy options.
Would you believe when I brought up our issues with Concast that a member of the City Council said we should go with satellite. That it’s really good?
Stunning how little she understood what she said.