Utopia Municipal Fiber Network Demonstrates that Low-Cost Pricing and High-Speed Networking Doable in the US Too.

Right before the new year I posted "A Broadband Services & Pricing Reality Check" which presented a quick survey of Broadband Service Pricing in the US versus Japan. As it turns out, the Japanese services surveyed averaged about $41/month for a 100Mbps/85Mbps line.

I received a number of comments, both via e-mail and over at MuniWireless.com claiming that US Broadband pricing was higher because of the lower population density and geographic expanse. But along comes the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) to demonstrate conclusively that multi-megabit symmetric lines are both entirely possible and can be delivered for roughly $40/month.

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UTOPIA is an 14-city consortium serving hundreds of thousands of people. As UTOPIA user, Brad Thurber sums up, ""The speeds are insane... We've been on the system for a month now and there has been absolutely no down time." According to Utopia's website, "As a minimum, UTOPIA will deliver 100 Mbps of bandwidth to every connected home and 1 Gbps of bandwidth to every business." Services are already available at 10Mbps for $39.95/month, 15Mbps for $44/month, or get Internet, Phone, and Cable services for around $90-120/month.

Lest you think it's just the independent ISPs getting in on the act, AT&T plans on the Utopia network that are an order of magnitude better than their regular service plans. In other words, UTOPIA is demonstrating that municipal ownership of network infrastructure dramatically lowers customer pricing while, at the same time, providing faster services.