“Covid is going to affect everyone’s budget whether it’s a personal or municipal budget.” — Greeley Mayor John Gates.
“If we have a problem there, it’s a problem of marketing and perception, and not reality, I don’t think it’s a problem that can be solved by investing capital or bringing broadband in.” — Rod Esch, task force member.
“If you’re talking internet, it’s hard to say it’s going to be this price at this point. Having had to raise utility rates — seems like every year in Longmont with the government — it is like with any business, there are costs dealing with infrastructure that increase over time. So of course, rates are going to increase. There can’t be just a set price of $49.99 for internet. Eventually, that price will go up for charter members. And right now, if you didn’t get in on that charter rate, it’s almost $70. And that’s just internet.” — Gabe Santos, former Longmont City Councilman.
“I don’t get this push for a municipality to take on being an (Internet Service Provider). You’re telling me you have more knowledge in the marketplace than a company that’s been doing it for decades. And what business has government ever ran more efficiently than private enterprise?” — Kevin Ross, Eaton Mayor.
Over the first four and a half years, NextLight has lost 20 percent of its residential customers (3,700) and 11 percent of its business customers (110).
Services that were once billed by one provider, can now be a patchwork of bills with different billing dates to keep track of. In the end, cutting the cord and going “a-la-carte” for services can be just as expensive — if not more — as sticking to one provider.
Telecommunication giants such as Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint are also in the game, and some experts say the introduction of 5G wireless may kill the municipal broadband effort because the old way of hard wiring will become nonexistent.
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