6 ms·

I'm pretty proud of my hometown for passing this measure! Longmont, a town 30 miles south of Fort Collins, passed something similar a couple years ago, and it s

I'm pretty proud of my hometown for passing this measure! Longmont, a town 30 miles south of Fort Collins, passed something similar a couple years ago, and it sounds like it's been pretty successful so far[1], so I'm excited to see where this goes. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15570559#up_15573817 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15570559#up_15573817

FLUX-YOU 9y ago
Do you happen to know where they hire people for working on this? Are they city or state employees, or are they using a bunch of contractors? Edit: Hmm, looks like Fort Collins will use contractors for installs and hire 10 to 38 people over five years (p. 39 - Personnel Requirements): https://www.fcgov.com/broadband/pdf/7.27.17%20Broadband%20Business%20Plan.pdf https://www.fcgov.com/broadband/pdf/7.27.17%20Broadband%20Bu... However, this is excluding developers for things like customer portals. Maybe that will get contracted out as well. Seems light to run an ISP, even for FC's size.
- peterjmag 9y ago
  Good find! I was curious too, and that does seem pretty small. I wonder how many people NextLight employs and contracts out in Longmont?
_greim_ 9y ago
Yes, all us front-rangers are envious of you, Longmont :) I'm guessing word-of-mouth helped defeat incumbents' efforts to kill this, as much as anything. It's almost become a standard conversation piece around here: "I'm from Longmont." "Oh, you have decent internet, then? Jealous!"
nulagrithom 9y ago
Some counties in Washington state have a Public Utility District which runs the fiber, then sells it through local ISPs. Lots of areas have 1Gb connections available for below $100/mo. What's more interesting to me is the effect on rural access. Plenty of lake-side cabins in the woods with fiber available. One ISP has taken to putting up poles with Ubiquiti airFiber antennas, creating a mesh network that extends beyond the already large fiber coverage. In Chelan and Douglas counties you can get a 35/2 connection nearly anywhere over this extended wireless network, even way up some lonesome canyon. It's amazing what a little competition does to the ISP market...
thcipriani 9y ago
it has indeed been quite successful: http://beta.speedtest.net/result/6777148187 http://beta.speedtest.net/result/6777148187 it's like that all the time now. Never been down for longer than 15 minutes and I've never been on hold trying to get assistance. All that for $50/mo :)

FLUX-YOU 9y ago

Do you happen to know where they hire people for working on this? Are they city or state employees, or are they using a bunch of contractors? Edit: Hmm, looks like Fort Collins will use contractors for installs and hire 10 to 38 people over five years (p. 39 - Personnel Requirements): https://www.fcgov.com/broadband/pdf/7.27.17%20Broadband%20Business%20Plan.pdf https://www.fcgov.com/broadband/pdf/7.27.17%20Broadband%20Bu... However, this is excluding developers for things like customer portals. Maybe that will get contracted out as well. Seems light to run an ISP, even for FC's size.

peterjmag 9y ago
Good find! I was curious too, and that does seem pretty small. I wonder how many people NextLight employs and contracts out in Longmont?

_greim_ 9y ago

Yes, all us front-rangers are envious of you, Longmont :) I'm guessing word-of-mouth helped defeat incumbents' efforts to kill this, as much as anything. It's almost become a standard conversation piece around here: "I'm from Longmont." "Oh, you have decent internet, then? Jealous!"

nulagrithom 9y ago

Some counties in Washington state have a Public Utility District which runs the fiber, then sells it through local ISPs. Lots of areas have 1Gb connections available for below $100/mo. What's more interesting to me is the effect on rural access. Plenty of lake-side cabins in the woods with fiber available. One ISP has taken to putting up poles with Ubiquiti airFiber antennas, creating a mesh network that extends beyond the already large fiber coverage. In Chelan and Douglas counties you can get a 35/2 connection nearly anywhere over this extended wireless network, even way up some lonesome canyon. It's amazing what a little competition does to the ISP market...

thcipriani 9y ago

it has indeed been quite successful: http://beta.speedtest.net/result/6777148187 http://beta.speedtest.net/result/6777148187 it's like that all the time now. Never been down for longer than 15 minutes and I've never been on hold trying to get assistance. All that for $50/mo :)