Kevin Duggan

kevinduggan@coloradoan.com

We were all conditioned during the election season to not pick up the phone and answer calls from unfamiliar sources.

But on Monday, if you receive an unexpected call around 7 p.m., you might want to pick up. It could be Mayor Wade Troxell calling.

He’ll want to talk with you about high-speed internet. More specifically, he’ll want to speak with you and potentially thousands of others about what, if any, role the city should play in the future delivery of broadband services.

The city is planning a telephone “town hall” meeting on broadband services. Calls are expected to be placed to about 15,000 phones.

The meeting is scheduled from 7 to 8 p.m. Those who don’t receive a call but want to participate may call 877-229-8493 and enter PIN 110303 to join in. It’s a toll-free call.

Troxell will be joined by City Manager Darin Atteberry and Mike Beckstead, the city’s chief financial officer, according to a press release.

As you may know, the city is looking at ways to bring internet service capable of handling 1 gigabit of information per second to the community. The idea is to have a fiber-optic network that would reach to all homes and businesses.

Officials don’t want to rely on commercial internet service providers such as Comcast and CenturyLink to come through with that level of service any time soon.

Business models city officials are considering and discussing with residents and businesses are:

Do nothing: The city would take no action and let the market do its thing.

Franchise: City would not build or operate the system, but would craft an agreement with an operator similar to its cable television franchise with Comcast that would include performance standards.

Wholesale: The city would build and own a network and lease it to a provider.

Retail: The city would build and operate a network as if it were a municipal utility.

The models carry cost estimates ranging from nothing to $135 million. In addition to cost, control over service levels is an issue to consider.

Another issue to consider is that given the pace at which technology changes, should the city sink a lot of money into a system that could soon be outdated?

The interest in and indeed need for fast internet is clear statewide. Larimer County just got the go-ahead from voters to look into its options for providing or partnering with others to provide services.

Outreach efforts on the topic in Fort Collins have revealed some interesting trends. In face-to-face surveys with residents, 75 percent of participants were somewhat or very supportive of the municipal retail model, according to a memo to City Council.

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Online surveys came in with slightly higher support for the retail model.

However, when the Local Legislative Affairs Committee of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce was surveyed, 95 percent of participants said they were not supportive of the retail model.

About 55 percent did not support the wholesale model: Most supported doing nothing to various degrees.

The City Council is expected to receive a recommendation on what, if anything, to do about broadband services in December.

For more information about the city’s broadband project, visit fcgov.com/broadband.

Kevin Duggan is a senior reporter. Follow him at Coloradoan Kevin Duggan on Facebook or @coloradoan_dugg on Twitter.

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