As the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) project moves along in Traverse City, Michigan, utility board members are establishing the elements to set the service apart from other Internet access options in the community. The Record-Eagle reports that the board will decide in March on rates and that they've already chosen a name and logo.

Brand Recognition

The new service will be TCLP fiber and their tagline will be "Your Community Network." Traverse City Light & Power (TCL&P) are banking on the connection to their municipal electric utility. TCL&P will receive help marketing the service from Fujitsu, the company hired by Traverse City to design and operate the network.

Fujitsu Network Communications Marketing Lead Lori Butler said the name draws on the brand recognition the utility already has, while differentiating the new enterprise. The tagline “Your Community Network” emphasizes the public utility’s mission and the fact that it’s a community-owned network, she said.

Butler said the proposed logo also draws on the familiar, adding the word “fiber” and the tagline to the existing network, plus a strand of fiber optic cable. She showed the board a few proposed color combinations, and they ultimately gravitated toward a blue and yellow design similar to the existing logo, with a darker blue added as an accent.

Fujitsu also recommended rates, which will be approved by the utility board in March:

Fujitsu...suggested [basic] rates from $59.99 per month for residential customers to $149.99 a month for commercial customers. Those rates would buy download and upload speeds of 200 megabits per second residential; one gigabit per second commercial.

Scott Menhart, TCL&P chief information technology officer, said 200 megabits per second is twice as fast as what most area commercial providers offer in their base package, and they typically offer upload speeds of just 10 megabits per second.

The higher upload speed will matter for customers as people put more and more devices online, Fujitsu Network Communications broadband operations head Robert Worden said. He cited a household average of 11 devices — and said that’s bound to rise, factoring in...

Eugene, Oregon’s publicly owned EUGNet is helping create jobs and fill empty office buildings in downtown Eugene, reports KMTR Channel 16.

Gigabit connectivity from service providers operating via the city’s dark fiber infrastructure are charging around $79 per month, allowing more interest in downtown locations and better economics for local entrepreneurs. 

This makes it a game-changer for software firms, graphic art firms, medical- just about anyone that handles large amounts of data.

“Before we had EUGNet, we just couldn't do this product, it would be impossible,” said Pipeworks Studio Technical Director, Daniel White.

Since using the network, Pipeworks has grown tremendously. A faster network means more work and that increase in productivity has allowed them to hire 50 new employees.

“The door was always there, we just couldn't open it...but now you can. Yes, It allows us to do projects we couldn't have done before, it's very reasonably priced... it's super reliable,” said White.

Vacancy in the downtown district has dropped from ten percent to seven percent since 2017.

“The economic impacts from this project are everything we thought they would be and I think even more.,” said City of Eugene Economics Strategies Manager, Anne Fifield, “We have seen the cost of Internet service really come down and service levels go up.”

Watch local reporting on the results of Eugene's fiber optic network investment:

When a renter looks for their next apartment, each weighs various amenities according to their own needs. In a recent study released by BroadbandNow, for almost 39 percent of survey respondents high-speed Internet access came in as a “must-have” feature.

Cleaning and Connecting Most Important

The survey sought opinions from almost 5,800 apartment dwellers, who ranked high-speed Internet access on par with a dishwasher, but below an in-unit laundry. Covered parking, a fitness center, and access to a pool came in well below convenient laundry and fast connectivity.

Renters who already have access to fiber connections were more likely to choose high-quality Internet access as a “must have” according to the survey. Only about 7.5 percent of those who responded to the survey connect with fiber and most rely on fixed wireless, about 35 percent. Current fiber subscribers are also the most likely to feel that their Internet access speeds are “good” or “very good” — a whopping 75 percent.

Approximately half of respondents said they would pay more for a place where they can access fiber. When considering rent, those who already have fiber, 35 present that said that they would be willing to pay an additional $50 per month in order to continue to use fiber for Internet access. About 17 percent of those who do not use a fiber connection, about 17 percent, said they would be willing to pay the extra $50 per month.

Landlords Take Note

Real estate experts have documented the benefits of fiber optic Internet access on both single-family homes and multi-dwelling units (MDUs). At the end of 2016, the FTTH Council (now the Fiber Broadband Association), created an infographic to help visualize the opportunity fiber creates for MDU landlords and building owners.

Based on research from RVA, LLC, American and Canadian renters are willing to pay $80 per month more on a $1,000 per month unit that has FTTH. Like the BroadbandNow research, RVA surveyed renters for their opinions.

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We knew that Longmonters loved their publicly owned network, but recent numbers show how many of them have shunned incumbents to switch. More than half of the market in Longmont has now signed up with NextLight. While NextLight subscribers enjoy fast, affordable, reliable connectivity from their network, benefits from competition are also creating a better environment for Longmonters who have stayed with the incumbents.

When Longmont Power and Communications (LPC) set out to serve the community in 2014, their goal was to reach approximately 37 percent of the market within five years. According to LPC’s Scott Rochat, they’ve blown away that goal and have already reached 54 percent.

No Tricks, Just Gigabits

While large national providers focus their efforts to capture customers with gimmicks such as reduced introductory rates that later increase, LPC has appealed to subscribers with a series of intelligent moves that show their commitment to the community.

At the start of 2018, LPC dropped the cost of their symmetrical gigabit Internet access from $99.95 per month to $69.95 per month. If subscribers have been connected for 12 continuous months, they’re eligible for a loyalty discount which brings the price down another $10 per month. During deployment, LPC created a special program in which folks who signed up for service within three months that service was available in their areas were able to cut yet another $10 per month off their gigabit rate for as long as they stayed connected. These Charter Members are able to take that $49.95 per month rate with them when they move to a different Longmont address where NextLight is available and the rate stays at the premise that they sell.

Approximately 93 percent of NextLight residential subscribers are Charter Members, Rochat told the Times Call. The network currently serves 17,400 premises.

Subscribers who referred friends were also able to get a free month of service for each referral and they had extended the promotion to digital voice service.

Competition=Better Rates, Better Services

The...