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 he was lying about a topic he knows nothing about? #UTOPIA
— Pete Ashdown (@pashdown) June 20, 2014
I’ve personally also heard or seen statements from SumoFiber, Veracity Networks, and WebWave that they have no problems providing the basic tier, a contractual requirement to remain a service provider on the network.
The mayor also accused XMission of redlining poor neighborhoods which also elicited an angry response:
@heppler Another lie. We've been committed to full ubiquity since the start. @BRUNST_4_Mayor does not speak for @XMission.
— Pete Ashdown (@pashdown) June 20, 2014
It’s no secret that Mayor Brunst is a likely no vote against the Macquarie deal, but outright lying about a well-respected local company to try and convince others to do the same is a new low. The Mayor owes everyone at XMission a huge apology for simply making crap up.
Was this part of the meeting?
Yes it was. Multiple witnesses confirmed it.
I wish I could say that I am surprised… sadly I am not.
However this type of nonsense is so absurdly transparent that it may end up having the opposite effect on the cities swing vote.
The desperation is thick, And I get it now, the surprise company coming forward to offer an alternative, the fake economic report, these ridiculous allegations. Its all to influence the Orem city councils swing vote.
Let me lay it out for Mayor Richard Brunst,.. No company would decline to accept customers on the utility fee service tier, And for a couple of reasons..
1. The contract with Macquarie requires it.
2. The ISP is not charged transport fees for the basic service tier.
3. Every interaction with that customer is an opportunity to up sell premium services.
4. After a customer has connection with the basic service fee, that particular ISP now has a captive position and relationship that that customer with in which to market premium services.
5. ISP gets $50 connection bonus for each customer they connect regardless of service level, including for the basic tier.
6. peering costs, aka the ISP’s internet connection, are insubstantial for the mere 20 gigabytes of the basic tier, the connection bonus, and premium service up sell opportunities are worth far more.
During numerous City Meetings and interactions with Mr. Ashdown, he has consistently showed support for a ubiquitous build out. His indiscriminant support to the community as a whole has been VERY publicly proven over the last few decades. His capability and willingness to support the MQ proposal is evident. Even as a competing service provider, I would never stand by while absurd misinformation such as this is broadcast.
Wow, that is just embarrassing for that Mayor. I wonder if it was his choice to make the comments, or if he had other, “donating” parties persuading his comments. He should have to formally apologize for his lies, as well as have Pete Ashdown make a statement with the mayor standing by.
I am so glad I don’t live in Orem anymore. Although our Payson representatives weren’t much better, at least they didn’t resort to lies.
The mayor was also horrible at math, at one point in the meeting he was doing some napkin accounting over the mic and was literally adding debt for an item that would have removed debt. He used addition instead of subtraction to make his numbers look more dire for the MQ deal, when reality made it better. People in the audience were yelling back “You suck at math, Mayor”. Who elected this yahoo… oh yeah all the old people in the room that were eating up his comments and cheering. Please Lord never make me old and stupid and afraid of new things.
I’ve known the Brunst’s personally for many years and all I have to say is that they really don’t know a single thing about the internet or how it works. Knowing as I do, I didn’t vote for him. I feel a little useless about the whole issue.