Update, 1 p.m. Thursday: Connexion unveiled residential pricing on its newly launched website Thursday afternoon, keeping its promise of sharing pricing before the launch party. Leaders had said on Wednesday that pricing would be available soon after the launch.

Original story: As Fort Collins celebrates the Connexion launch with cookies and congratulations on Thursday, some mystique will linger for the municipal broadband effort more than 4 years in the making.

Connexion leaders pledge at least one customer will have city-provided internet and phone service by Aug. 31, two days after the Lincoln Center launch party.

Residential pricing will be revealed soon after the launch party, Connexion marketing manager Erin Shanley said, although the city previously said that information would be available before the launch.

It’s unclear exactly when a large portion or all of Fort Collins will have access to city-operated high-speed internet, phone and video services. The city’s self-imposed 2022 deadline is a moving target.

And, to answer the question that touches most conversations about Connexion, the city won’t — and can’t — tell you when service will be available in your neighborhood.

There’s good reason for the ambiguity, Connexion leaders say.

“We understand the public’s excitement and interest in wanting to know, but it is a very competitive marketplace,” Shanley said, referencing the timeline for service availability. “So we are trying to keep that close to the chest.”

Connexion’s vision, fueled by community interest and endorsed by 57% of voters in 2017, is to give residents and businesses access to affordable, reliable, no-contract broadband with transparent rates and the same level of service regardless of location. Fort Collins has come a long way since that pivotal vote, assembling a broadband team, laying more than 37 miles of fiber optic cable throughout Fort Collins and building the framework for a new Utilities billing system and 24-7 help desk for customers.

But the city continues to navigate the maze of technical and economic obstacles that come with the municipal broadband package.

First, there’s the pressure of competition from local providers Comcast and CenturyLink, which supported a $900,000 fight against the 2017 ballot initiative that opened the door for municipal broadband. Residents have reported aggressive private provider efforts to lock them into long-term contracts with special offers and progressive pricing as the Connexion launch nears.

Second, Connexion must negotiate hundreds of individualized contracts with video providers and dozens of access agreements with owners of apartment complexes and mobile home parks.

Third, the city’s tasked not only with embroidering a vast network of fiber optic cable beneath Fort Collins but also with finishing a seamless new billing system and web interface in time for the first round of Connexion customers.

Fort Collins is committed to pulling it off “as fast as we can,” which has become a motto of sorts for Connexion leaders. Shanley and Connexion Executive Director Colman Keane project the full build-out will happen by an unspecified point in in 2022, but city manager Darin Atteberry wants it done even sooner.

OPINION: Darin Atteberry says broadband is a community milestone

“You want to get as many people on as fast as you can, because that’s a customer satisfaction issue,” Keane said. “The faster we can do it, the happier the community will be, just as a general statement. So our ability to build it right and build it fast is the limiting factor.”

There’s no top-secret master plan for when broadband service will become available in each neighborhood. Connexion is purposely flying by the seat of its pants in a design sense, Shanley said, hopping from location to location throughout the city to lay fiber depending on factors like ease of construction, population density and whether the neighborhood is currently underserved.

The relatively extemporaneous approach allows Connexion to be nimbler and more flexible, Shanley and Keane said.

“Since we’re doing a design-build (which includes design, planning and construction in one contract), we’re literally deciding where to go next when it’s time to decide where to go next,” Keane added. “We don’t have an internal ‘this is how we’re building out the city’s timeline.”

Some areas, like Old Town, will present unique construction challenges because they have more underground infrastructure or heavier traffic. The city also has to secure easements for things like irrigation ditches and railroads.

When Connexion service is available in your neighborhood, you'll see a door-hanger on your door and an email to the address registered with your Fort Collins Utilities account. The Connexion website will include a tool where you can enter your address to see if you can sign up yet.

Connexion’s customer base will start as a trickle, with no more than a few dozen new customers a month for the first few months, Keane said. He said the growth rate will eventually ramp up to a few hundred new customers a month. The first customers will have internet and phone, but video service won’t be available until sometime this fall, Keane said.

Connexion will waive installation fees for early customers and possibly eliminate them altogether down the road, Shanley said.

While residential pricing remains unknown, the city previously projected it could charge $50 a month for 50 megabit-per-second uploads and downloads, and $70 a month for 1 gigabit-per-second speed. Business pricing will most likely be available in September, Shanley said.

Building trust

The city is branding Connexion as “a broadband provider you can trust.” That message is fittingly displayed across the top of renderings for the new Connexion website.

They’ll seek to prove that and reach the 28% take rate needed for economic viability through a combination of ubiquitous coverage, straightforward pricing and impressive customer service.

The “ubiquitous coverage” component means there should be no pockets of Fort Collins with limited or nonexistent access to broadband. The service will also have no data caps or overage charges, two more key planks of net neutrality.

As for customer service, Connexion leaders are assembling a 24-7 technical support desk staffed with local representatives who should be able to answer calls quickly and help resolve any issues, Shanley said.

The new billing system, which Shanley said will be available for the first broadband customer, will be a self-service web portal that allows people to check for service availability in their neighborhood, sign up for service, view account information and pay bills. The platform is expected to host all Utilities accounts by March.

A team of 30 people is working “round the clock” with Open, the international partner involved with the project, to test and fine-tune the billing system, Utilities customer connections manager Lisa Rosintoski told City Council at its July 30 work session.

“Providing that quality service is an expectation, and it’s something the city is very proud of,” Shanley said. “So being able to continue that legacy is really important, and I think that builds trust.”

A lot of talk about Connexion mentions “future-proofing” the city, which means equipping Fort Collins with the infrastructure needed to pursue forward-thinking technology like a smart grid.

Building a smart grid was the main goal of the broadband efforts that put Keane’s previous home on the map. Keane was involved with the broadband launch in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which offers municipal broadband speeds of up to 10 gigabits — much faster than prevailing broadband speeds in Fort Collins. Keane spent recent years consulting with other cities looking to replicate Chattanooga’s efforts.

Smart grids allow the different components of an electricity system to communicate with each other in real-time. On a smart grid, managers can use local electricity sources — think residential solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles — to balance out the inconsistent power produced by renewable sources. Fort Collins will need that kind of technology to reach its goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2030, and broadband sets the stage to make it happen.

Keane said municipal broadband could eventually follow the path carved by previous government infrastructure revolutions, like the electrification of rural America and the Interstate Highway System.

“All of those were key platforms for economic development, in the end, and this is similar,” he said. “When your existing providers are not necessarily looking out for your best interests, you need to look out for your own best interests.”

Jacy Marmaduke covers government accountability for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @jacymarmaduke. Support stories like this one with a digital subscription to the Coloradoan.