Frequently Asked Questions

To get fiber optics in your location call 970-565-7320 to receive a Fiber Drop Application.

The city established the pricing very low to introduce the fiber system to the business community. The average cost of the drop nationwide runs approximately $1,200.00. The city started the drop fee at $150.00. The city moved the fiber program to an enterprise fund similar to the city's water fund. This allows revenue from the fiber to be used exclusively in the development of the fiber system. Council sets the fees for all city services annually during the budget process. As the fiber enterprise fund develops the cost for the drop fees most likely will increase to reflect the true cost of installing the drop much like the water fund does now. The city purposely set the initial drop fees very low to encourage businesses the incentive to take advantage of the services offered by the network, and to lower the cost of the installations.

The city understands many businesses have contracts in place with their service providers. We would encourage businesses to consider installing the drop for future use of the network. As the drop is an asset to the property, the city would like to maximize the drop installation in an area to save digging up the alleys and streets multiple times. We would encourage the businesses to not sign or re-new any long term contracts with service providers until they have had a chance to explore the benefits of connecting to the city fiber system.

The size of the drop will vary depending on the services required at a business. Some businesses may need more phone lines than the neighboring business for example. While others may be more interested in multiple data lines. And others may have many businesses located in the same business and want individual connections and service providers. The size of the drop depends on the services required. We encourage businesses to meet with the service providers and the city to determine the requirements of each business.

The city is ready to accept orders and payment for the drops. You have several choices. First, you can come out to the City Service Center, 110 West Progress Circle, Cortez, CO 81321 and sign up and pay for your drop. Or some service providers have expressed interest in wrapping the drop fees into the introductory offers for service. The important thing is the city cannot begin the drop installation until the drop fee is paid. The payment of the drop fee will trigger a site survey of the property to determine the route for the drop and location of the electronics at the business.

The city cannot recommend a particular service provider over another one. Each provider brings unique services and capabilities to the network. Businesses are encouraged to shop around and evaluate service provider plans and pricing. A business might find using several providers may make sense for their business. An example, one provider for voice, another provider for Internet, and a third business for security or data storage off site. On the other hand, and single provider may offer a good package for the business and a single bill makes sense. The flexibility of the network and the open access model the city is following lets individual businesses tailor a plan for their particular needs.

The only time that you will pay the city is for the one time drop fee. Your monthly bill for services will be paid to the service provider/s that you choose for your business services. The city collects our transport fee from the service providers.

If you experience issues and problems with your service, you would call the service provider that is providing that service. The service providers will have a local phone number to call for issues relating to their service.

During this initial build out of the network, the drop installation should happen within 30-60 days. After the first build-out we anticipate a 3-4 week installation cycle. Currently the city is finishing up the build out to the blocks within the business areas.

In a network, bandwidth (what engineers call bitrate) is the ability to carry information The more bandwidth a network has, the more information it can carry in a given amount of time Networks with high bandwidth also tend to be more reliable because fewer bottlenecks disturb the flow of information.

The amount of bandwidth we need grows every year The biggest growth has been for video – traditional pay TV, “over the top” or Internet-based video, and video communications This trend is expected to continue at least for the rest of this decade Video requires not only extra bandwidth but also extra reliability The smallest delay in data transmission can result in distorted views More video is available than ever before, and people are watching video on more screens at once In addition, video formats are becoming more bandwidth intensive HDTV can require as much as 8 megabits per second (Mbps) for fast action, such as in sporting events, even with new compression technology A high-quality 3D experience requires about 5 Mbps minimum 3D immersive HDTV –already used in some academic and industrial settings for telepresence – requires between 50 and 300 Mbps, depending on screen size (some screens cover an entire wall)

Bandwidth requirements for many kinds of data are exploding For example, new digital cameras can create larger and larger images; 30 megabytes is not uncommon In health care, the medical images produced by equipment such as CT scanners are a hundred times larger than camera images, and more In the last few years, business and science both entered the era of “Big Data” applications that collect and analyze data on massive scales Today’s Big Data applications range from consumer pricing models to DNA sequencing to particle physics to control of electrical grids Big Data doesn’t work without Big Bandwidth

Copper’s capacity is far less than fiber’s It can support high bandwidth for only a few hundred yards The longer a signal travels on copper, the lower the bandwidth falls Optical fiber is unique in that it can carry high-bandwidth signals over enormous distances Fiber uses laser light to carry signals Under some circumstances, a signal can travel 40 miles (60 kilometers) without degrading enough to keep it from being received Fiber is also better able to support upstream bandwidth – that is, from the user out to the network High upstream bandwidth is important for video communication and for many business applications.

That’s the potential bandwidth shared by all users connected to a cellular antenna site Wireless broadband depends on fiber to move information to and from cell towers And even so, each antenna can support only a finite number of cellular signals Cellular data traffic grew 200-fold from 2006 to 2012 and will grow another eightfold by 2015 Providers are now severely limiting wireless data and are encouraging.