Comments on: UTOPIA Moving Forward in Brigham City

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:12:23 +0000

annon to the best of my knowledge they do not have a firewire port but they do have HDMI, RGB, standard coax and A/V. available for use with a media center the internet connection its’ self is more than capable of steaming HD video as the connection starts at 10/10 Mbps and the availability of 100/100 Mbps for res. customers and 1/1 Gbps to business.

the percentage is actually over the estimated 29% as there are several unpopulated areas that have been assigned a parcel id that will not be included in the build.

as for the question on why UTOPIA did not want to use a satellite is simply a matter of principle why would they want to reduce the potential Quality of service that they have striven so hard to raise the bar on.

Current customers using the UTOPIA network are approximately 70 while only about 5 are using the television services as they were just recently implemented for use.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:37:15 +0000

Step one: Get a bunch of your neighbors interested. The new model is going to require a lot of boots on the ground before UTOPIA sends their sales teams in to assist. It requires a lot more grunt work than talking your city council into it, that much is for certain.

By: Gene

Gene — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:27:30 +0000

So what would it take to get them to do this in Riverton?

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:06:26 +0000

The new headend is at least MPEG-4 and I know Prime Time also uses MPEG-4. I have no idea if they’re using H.264 or not. As far as the STB, I believe it is up to each provider to select which one they would like to use.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:04:55 +0000

Does anyone know about the IPTV streams? Is it MPEG2 like what iProvo has or will it be something else (h264)? Any chance there will be a firewire port on the set-top boxes enabled for media center connectivity?

By: Capt. Video

Capt. Video — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:38:37 +0000

I would think this is al in all the best UTOPIA news I have heard in a very long time.

The SAA numbers are fantastic. Well beyond the numbers I thought they would get in my wildest dreams.

The video package seems very good and very aggressive on the pricing.

I’m sure you will quickly work thru the minor bumps one would always expect upon the launch of a new service.

I’m actually thinking there could be a bit of light at the end of that dark tunnel.

By: Warren Woodward

Warren Woodward — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:33:22 +0000

I’m not sure if that number includes current non-SAA subscribers or not, but if it did, it would hardly make a dent. Current Brigham subscribers would number in the dozens, not hundreds. The only live footprint in Brigham passes a little over a hundred homes, if memory serves.

The main reason Brigham hasn’t rolled yet is because they keep getting more and more people signing up, so it made sense to delay the SAA close.

Paul, the basic video service includes nearly every non-premium channel one expects to get on higher tier services with other providers (including a slew of Spanish channels), and includes HD and DVR for $65/mo. Premium movie packages are priced ala carte at pretty standard industry costs. It is very aggressive.

And that channel lineup looks old, though it gives you a good idea what’s in store. We’ve been testing the feed in house for months, and have a number of live testers on UTOPIA. I’m expecting a few kinks at launch, but nothing we won’t work out over a few weeks.

By: Capt. Video

Capt. Video — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:31:11 +0000

If 29% of the homes signed up for the SAA I am VERY, VERY IMPRESSED with UTOPIA!

AMAZING!!!!

Beyond Amazing to UNBELIEVABLE!!!

I really tip my hat to them.

By: Capt. Video

Capt. Video — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:28:01 +0000

Glad to see video is finally going to launch. Even after the launch that took a year too long to reach, I tip my hat to them for getting it launched. (While you point to the trouble with Turner, I suspect UTOPIA could have agreed a year ago to put in a dish to receiver the Turner channels (as they agreed to do now) and had it behind them?)

The channel list seems to list the iProvo Channel (which I believe was shut down over a year ago??).

There is no info on the packages/pricing for the UTOPIA video. How are the channels packaged and what is the price of those packages (and equipment)?

The HD packages look strong!

Best wishes to XMission and FuseCore as they move into video!

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:22:31 +0000

The 1600 are the number of homes currently committed to the SAA. Additional homes may join the SAA before the cut-off in early December.

And yes, capturing nearly 30% of any market in one fell swoop is both impressive and unprecedented. Verizon was happy to hit an 18% take rate with FIOS after about a year.

The city has the right to buy construction to city facilities, especially since they are retaining ownership of the network. Qwest is not in the business of building a fiber network under someone else’s ownership so I don’t even see that it would infringe upon what they do (unless they’re trying to insinuate that cities are legally obligated to buy their services?). It’s typical Qwest. If they don’t get the dollars, they’ll litigate and legislate to make sure nobody else does either. At least Comcast has the honor to not pick these fights.