This petition is for Ogden City, Utah residents who want a better solution for internet access.Currently, there are two main providers of high speed internet in Ogden, CenturyLink and Xfinity.

CenturyLink does have a fiber network, but it is currently available to a small amount of Ogden. Their typical plans are a 20 mbps for $45 a month and a 100 mbps plan for $65 a month. The catch is that the upload speeds are usually around 2 mbps, which are fairly slow (especially for content creators). Their biggest downfall is that the sales team will lie to you. For instance, I was switching to CenturyLink from Xfinity. The sales person told me that I would have a 20 mbps up/down dedicated fiber connection. It wasn’t until the tech came that I learned that their fiber network isn’t available in my area.

Xfinity is notorious for preditory techniques. If you are in an area where your ISP options are limited, they add to the cost of your plan. Getting a plan with a faster download speed will cost you at least $100 a month. That’s with their “bundle discount” where they make you take TV if you want a cheaper price. If you are a heavy internet user, then their data cap can become an issue. Although a vast majority of people stay under this cap, there are those that need more. In order to get the data cap removed, it will cost you an additional $50 a month.

Both providers are known to have terrible customer service. This is a major problem when you need to move/cancel service or adjust your plan.

Fiber providers offer much more value to their plans. A typical fiber provider will offer very high speeds, with no data cap, for a lower cost than plans offered above. A 100 mbps up/down connection is typically around $45 a month. A 1000 mbps (1 gbps) up/down connection is typically around $75 a month. Both plans are much cheaper than the plans Xfinity offers and much higher speeds than CenturyLink.

We need to make Ogden City Council aware of this. They have the ability to bring in a fiber provider as a municipal initiative. Let’s let them know that we want something better!