Utopia?
Why is it so bad?
Simple math. DSL, as an example, is a two-part charge just like Utopia. One fee for speed, another fee for ISP. Well if you choose Qwest as your ISP... the charge is $9.99 per month (no email). Another example is PC's Unlimited. They sold dial-up internet for $10... DSL $14 per month. Keep in mind, the ISP charge stays CONSTANT, no matter what the speed. 256K, 1.5 M, 3 M, 7M. There is no ISP fee increase or decrease with a speed change, higher or lower.
UTOPIA? Well now. The ISP charges increases as SPEED increases. Each tier increases BOTH speed charge AND ISP charge! Really. ALL the Utopia ISPs seem to be in lock step with this scheme. In fact, it doesnt seem you will be allowed to even BE an ISP with Utopia unless you agree to gouge the customers like this.
SO, is Utopia... UTOPIA?
I have spoken with several people thanking me for my last letter to the editor about Utopia. Some have expressed remorse that I had not written about Utopia sooner, because now they are locked into a contract with Utopia. To me, that is another sign of a BAD bad deal, when you can not get out of the deal, even if you were given "incorrect information" (aka LIED to).
Utopia promotes competition? REALLY? How can Utopia drive down prices via competition, when Utopia prices are GREATER than the competition? If a gas station opens across the street from another, yet charges 12-25% higher prices (not including hook-up fees), what incentive could possibly exist for the “lower priced” business, to lower prices even further? It is an idiotic concept. Utopia is going to move in and charge significantly higher prices to encourage "the other guy" to lower their prices? You are joking, right Utopia? And who were the geniuses that signed off on this plan? Did NO ONE have a calculator handy? I feel sorry for those people with signs in the yard promoting Utopia. Please take down the UTOPIA signs before someone else gets trapped by this “FOOL-U-TOPIA”.
In addition:::::::::: look what I got From Sandy City, Utah. The FASTEST internet connected city on the planet! (ps of the top 100 cites... NONE have Utopia!)
No, Sandy City does not have access to the UTOPIA network. Below is a response Walter Miller, our City Attorney, has written to explain why the city has not joined the network:
1. We doubted the economics of the project. Specifically, the feasibility study projected very high take rates supposedly based on the experience of other cities. When we consulted those cities they could not confirm those rates. UTOPIA's actual experience has underscored that those take rate projections were in fact excessive and insufficient to service the debt on the $65 million or so construction commitment which would have been required of Sandy.
2. UTOPIA's focus was on fiber to the home and it seemed to consider wireless to be a detraction from that objective. Sandy considered wireless to be an important component to local internet service; something to be encouraged rather than discouraged as a competitor to UTOPIA. The City is now considering piggybacking some wireless services to the public onto the public safety system it has just deployed.
3. UTOPIA was unable to provide a timetable for build-out in Sandy and talked about a possible lottery among participant cities to see which was built out first. It appeared that, under such a system, actual deployment could take many years. In the meantime, Comcast offered to build-out the City with its service within 12 months without any cost to the City. We considered the Comcast commitment to be more attractive timing than the UTOPIA unknown. Actual experience has shown that UTOPIA has been slow to deploy its system.
4. Comcast has not, of course, delivered fiber to Sandy homes although it has largely met its build-out commitment and each year continues to improve the speed of its service through compressions and other means. Comcast has assured us that it is not opposed to installing fiber to resident homes in neighborhoods which are willing to pay for the added costs of installation. With this in mind, Sandy went to the State Legislature several years ago with a bill which provided a financing mechanism to facilitate neighborhoods wishing to acquire such enhanced services. Although that law was adopted, so far, no Sandy neighborhood has opted for this service.
5. A number of elected officials felt that UTOPIA, a consortium of local governments, should not and could not effectively compete with the private sector in this technically complicated, highly competitive and rapidly changing industry. We believe that recent developments with UTOPIA and iProvo bear out this concern.
6. City officials also believed that competitive forces would arise over time to encourage better service and lower costs to residents. It appears this is happening now as I see Qwest recently offering T-1 level service for about $14.98 a month for the first year, and faster service for somewhat higher costs. In fact, I have read Qwest ads claiming it can match UTOPIA speeds to the home.
Some of the details I've described above may not be entirely accurate as my memory of events has faded over the years. But I believe the foregoing gives you a fair overview of the thinking of City officials. Keep in mind that Sandy already is "well-wired" in our commercial areas and already has fiber to almost all of its neighborhoods through Comcast, though Comcast does not take the fiber from these subdivision nodes to each individual home because that so greatly multiplies the conversion costs of the signal. We believe, however, that fiber will be extended to individual homes as costs and demand justify.
I realize you may not agree with some or all of the foregoing views and we, of course, respect such differences of opinion. We encourage you to continue to share suggestions you may have on how we can be of better service to the public. We believe the more options which can be offered to the residents of our City, the better our City is. I do not believe, however, that there are any cities in our state, other than those locked into long-term financial commitments to UTOPIA, which have any desire to become UTOPIA cities. A quick search of recent articles in our local daily newspapers will describe in detail some of the profound problems UTOPIA and iProvo are having.
Thanks again for your inquiry. Let me know if I can further clarify.
Walter MillerCity Attorney801-568-7170
