Utah’s Monumental Fiber City, Google Fiber Advertising, Starry Jersey City Expansion
With 141,000 residents, West Valley City, Utah, is now the second largest city in the country fully connected to fiber.
May 27, 2022 – West Valley City, Utah, announced Tuesday that it had become the second largest city in the country fully connected to fiber, and the largest U.S. city connected via an open access network. With a population of 141,000, the city trails only Chattanooga, Tenn., as the largest fully-fiberized community in the country.
Utah’s largest city fully connected to fiber and one of the original 11 cities open-access network UTOPIA Fiber targeted in the state, city manager Wayne Pyle emphasized the importance of fiber to the city’s economy. Pyle also serves on UTOPIA’s board.
“Not only have we been able to attract and retain major employers,” he said, “now having fiber built to every home and business has enabled us to bridge the digital divide,” said Pyle.
“Our community has been a place where generations of families can enjoy a great quality-of-life, while new immigrants can join the community and prosper.”
Speaking about the milestone at Mountain Connect, UTOPIA Fiber CEO Roger Timmerman said that while believe that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the speed of the build, the open access fiber operator had been on a five-year expedited plan for finishing the city. “They were done waiting around,” Timmerman said of city officials. “And with today’s increased interest rates, and rising cost of construction, it’s a good time to finish these projects.”
Photo of West Valley City, Utah from August 2016 by An Errant Knight used with permission
Google Fiber will alter its advertising following challenges
Fierce Telecom reported Friday that Google Fiber, Google’s fiber-to-the-premises service, would alter its advertising following challenges from the National Advertising Division and cable company Charter Communications that offshoot company made a number of unsupported claims on its speeds.
Google Fiber asserted that it could provide “faster download speeds than you’d get with traditional cable,” and additionally that it offers up to 77x faster uploads and 12x faster downloads as well as that it has “fewer outages than cable internet.”
The company will respect the recommendations of the NAD despite the fact that it disagrees with the agency’s ruling.
In February, Charter was largely successful in challenging advertising from AT&T when the NAD recommended the latter stop saying it offers “better internet” than cable.
Starry oversees a housing community broadband expansion
Fixed-wireless provider Starry Internet announced Tuesday that it would be partnering with the Jersey City Housing Authority to provide residents of two housing communities in Jersey City, New Jersey with access to its digital equity program known as Starry Connect.
Residents will also be able to opt into the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program.
272 building housing units will have the opportunity to benefit from Starry’s program.
“We are ecstatic to partner with Starry to bridge this gap by building essential broadband infrastructure and offering high-speed, low-cost access to our residents,” said Vivian-Brady-Phillips, JCHA executive director.
