Back from the dead: New UTOPIA provider may revive FTTH in Springvile

Way back in 2004, Springville had a fiber-to-the-home network covering most of the city, but it had only picked up about 100 subscribers. The city made the decision to shutter the network, purchased from the defunct AirSwitch, since it was operating at a loss and was mostly dark. Now a… Continue reading

Macquarie Milestone 2: What you need to know

Macquarie’s Milestone 2 proposal has been finally released to the public. Here’s a quick run-down of the most important details. The final cost per address is estimated at $22.60 per month. Macquarie estimates that re-working the deal to account for five cities bowing out trimmed the cost by $8.57 per… Continue reading

BREAKING: Orem votes no on Macquarie’s Milestone Two for UTOPIA

Orem voted 6-1 to reject Macquarie’s proposal for the UTOPIA network. Orem represents 18.7% of the total addresses covered by the network. Midvale, West Valley City, Layton, Tremonton, and Brigham City have all voted yes while Payson, Lindon, Centerville, and Murray have voted no. A vote from Perry is expected tonight… Continue reading

Orem Mayor Richard Brunst Lies About XMission to Hurt the Macquarie Proposal

In what can only be described as an outrageous disservice to the citizens of Orem, Mayor Richard Brunst outright lied about XMission’s intentions to participate in the basic 3Mbps level of service. When asked about it, XMission founder Pete Ashdown had this to say: @heppler Did anyone ask @BRUNST_4_Mayor why… Continue reading

Comcast to customer in UTOPIA cities: “drop dead, here’s a rate hike”

In a somewhat shocking move, Comcast has recently released a rate table showing that it’s giving every one of its customers in UTOPIA cities (and just UTOPIA cities) a rate hike just days after the deadline to respond to the Macquarie deal. With several cities still set to vote, you… Continue reading

The Legislature punts on new anti-UTOPIA bills, but for how long?

In yesterday’s meeting of the Political Subdivisions Interim Committee (listen here), legislators sought to get a deeper understanding of what the Macquarie deal is and how it works. Unfortunately, most of the meeting consisted of the Utah Taxpayers Association spewing out fear, uncertainty, and doubt while the Utah League of… Continue reading