Comcast versus the City of Longmont

[Absentglare]

The City of Longmont (where i live) has offered a municipal utility fiber optic internet service called Nextlight, more info here.

I had nextlight installed today and ran a side-to-side comparison, here is the result :

Public sector 1, private industry 0.

 

[WCH]

Smokin but, why do you need that much?

 

[RabidAlpaca]

The City of Longmont (where i live) has offered a municipal utility fiber optic internet service called Nextlight, more info here.

I had nextlight installed today and ran a side-to-side comparison, here is the result :

Public sector 1, private industry 0.

Legal weed and insanely fast internet for cheap. I need to move to where you're at.

 

[clownboy]

The City of Longmont (where i live) has offered a municipal utility fiber optic internet service called Nextlight, more info here.

I had nextlight installed today and ran a side-to-side comparison, here is the result :

Public sector 1, private industry 0.

Wait until Nextlight has the same traffic.

 

[gdgyva]

The City of Longmont (where i live) has offered a municipal utility fiber optic internet service called Nextlight, more info here.

I had nextlight installed today and ran a side-to-side comparison, here is the result :

Public sector 1, private industry 0.

comcast charges you $ 93 a mo for just internet usage?

 

[natsb]

The City of Longmont (where i live) has offered a municipal utility fiber optic internet service called Nextlight, more info here.

I had nextlight installed today and ran a side-to-side comparison, here is the result :

Public sector 1, private industry 0.

Your comparing fiber optics to a copper cable. A bit disingenuous don't you think? Why not compare fiber to fiber?

 

[roughdraft274]

comcast charges you $ 93 a mo for just internet usage?

For a top of the line internet package that doesn't seem very far off. That speed costs serious money. i don't even think my company offers speed that fast (125MB) unless it's a business package and not a residential package.

 

[Carjosse]

Smokin but, why do you need that much?

Because why not?

 

[Carjosse]

Your comparing fiber optics to a copper cable. A bit disingenuous don't you think? Why not compare fiber to fiber?

Comcast is probably too cheap and/or lazy to install it most likely.

 

[natsb]

Comcast is probably too cheap and/or lazy to install it most likely.

That still doesn't make it a fair comparison. It is like pointing out that a Porsche 911 is faster than Ford Escape.

 

[Helix]

high speed internet access should be cheap as **** by this point in the technology. the more competition the better, public or private.

 

[Carjosse]

That still doesn't make it a fair comparison. It is like pointing out that a Porsche 911 is faster than Ford Escape.

it is like pointing that out but the guy with the Escape claims that he cannot afford to upgrade even though he lives in multi-million dollar mansion.

 

[WCH]

Because why not?

Unless you have a super PC it's broadband overload.

 

[Carjosse]

Unless you have a super PC it's broadband overload.

No not really it is well under 0.8GB/s which well under the capacity of most hardware. It is overkill but if he wants to pretty much download anything in under a minute all the power to him.

 

[Absentglare]

Smokin but, why do you need that much?

I don't, but i've had bad experiences with Comcast in the past and the other alternatives were not acceptable for other reasons.

 

[Absentglare]

Wait until Nextlight has the same traffic.

^ very good point, they are gradually expanding service in the city so we'll have to wait and see if it continues to be this fast.

 

[Absentglare]

comcast charges you $ 93 a mo for just internet usage?

I was doing Comcast Blast ! I think it was the highest bandwidth they offered to residences at the time in my area.

 

[Absentglare]

Your comparing fiber optics to a copper cable. A bit disingenuous don't you think? Why not compare fiber to fiber?

Their physical connection is transparent to me- what i'm paying for is the service, and so i am comparing the service.

If your suggestion is that coax is worse, then shouldn't the price reflect that ?

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

That still doesn't make it a fair comparison. It is like pointing out that a Porsche 911 is faster than Ford Escape.

It is fair of the service area is the same and the prices are similar. Which they are

 

[Cephus]

Unless you have a super PC it's broadband overload.

It really doesn't matter at that speed, you're limited by the speed the rest of the Internet can feed you. It doesn't matter if you can receive at gigabit speeds if the sites you're accessing are sending much., much slower.

 

[Cephus]

If your suggestion is that coax is worse, then shouldn't the price reflect that ?

You're ignoring that tax money is almost certainly covering at least some of the costs. It isn't cheaper, you're just not seeing the rest of the money they're taking out of your pocket.

 

[Absentglare]

You're ignoring that tax money is almost certainly covering at least some of the costs. It isn't cheaper, you're just not seeing the rest of the money they're taking out of your pocket.

Bonds cover the investments but not the costs.

On the one hand, the $50/mo is a charter member only price meaning that you have to sign up in the first 3 months of availability in order to latch in that price. The standard price for the 1Gbps service is $100/mo, while 25Mbps is available for $40/mo. Note that this charter member price is transferable to both your new address (if you move) and to those who bought your old house. It is subject to possible rate increases in the future but those rate increases must be due to cost increases because it is a utility, not a for-profit.

On the other hand, from the FAQ:

"1. How much tax money is being spent on NextLight?
None. Funding for Longmont Power & Communications comes from a city enterprise fund, meaning that LPC utilities each support themselves through the electric and broadband rates collected. By leveraging our excellent electric utility, we were able to obtain favorable interest rates for NextLight’s $40.3 million bond issue, reducing the overall cost of building the system. As with LPC’s electric utility, NextLight is expected to pay its own way through its own revenues."

 

[Cephus]

Bonds cover the investments but not the costs.

On the one hand, the $50/mo is a charter member only price meaning that you have to sign up in the first 3 months of availability in order to latch in that price. The standard price for the 1Gbps service is $100/mo, while 25Mbps is available for $40/mo. Note that this charter member price is transferable to both your new address (if you move) and to those who bought your old house. It is subject to possible rate increases in the future but those rate increases must be due to cost increases because it is a utility, not a for-profit.

On the other hand, from the FAQ:

"1. How much tax money is being spent on NextLight?
None. Funding for Longmont Power & Communications comes from a city enterprise fund, meaning that LPC utilities each support themselves through the electric and broadband rates collected. By leveraging our excellent electric utility, we were able to obtain favorable interest rates for NextLight’s $40.3 million bond issue, reducing the overall cost of building the system. As with LPC’s electric utility, NextLight is expected to pay its own way through its own revenues."

Which still means they are using funding methods not available to private companies, plus they are getting special rates that private companies simply cannot get. So it's not a fair comparison, no matter how you look at it.

 

[Absentglare]

Which still means they are using funding methods not available to private companies, plus they are getting special rates that private companies simply cannot get. So it's not a fair comparison, no matter how you look at it.

As a preliminary consumer, i find the value proposition to be superior.

Only time will till if their service continues to exceed my expectations.

They plan to pay off the investment money, plus interest, while still providing 3 times less latency, 8 times more download bandwidth, 80 times more upload bandwidth, and charging about half the price.

Oh, and get this jewel from the FAQ:

"4. Are there other discount options if I miss signing up for the NextLight Charter Member discount program?
Not at the Charter Member rate. NextLight’s gigabit service is available to residential customers at a standard rate of $99.95 a month. If a customer keeps the service at that rate for a year, we’ll lower it to $59.95 a month afterward as a loyalty incentive. "

That's right, unlike Comcasts whose rates notoriously eek upward, often unbeknownst to the consumer, they plan to lower your rates in recognition of customer loyalty. Of course, this offer is not available to charter members like myself, but that's because i'm starting with a discounted rate.

 

[bluesmoke]

Comcast is a corpus magnacide that scans all developing laws, and changes in laws, that may give them a business advantage of any kind. Their programs reach conclusion that take in behavioral traits that are somewhat judgmental from their on-site people, but mostly "just the facts, mam". While they work every way which-way, they focus on local jurisdictions, which tend to have their own way, regardless of the state. Anyway, decisions made are in their favor. They control cable and the prices go up while they have the lowest quality rating, and that's the way the want it. It is heartening to see a local jurisdiction decide in the favor of the locals. There are many people in government jobs making such decisions on a national level having been in Comcast jobs. No joke.