Fort Collins Connexion

First service will be available August 2019. 

Thank you for your interest in Fort Collins Connexion.  The Connexion team is still finalizing the product catalog and will make that available to the public closer to launch time. This will include service levels, pricing, and packages.  All internet speeds will be symmetrical and we will not require a contract for service. 

Thank you for your question. The City recognizes and appreciates your right to choose a service provider. The Fort Collins Connexion team is currently finalizing the product catalog and pricing for services. In addition to world-class customer service, Fort Collins Connexion will be offering 1 gig, symmetrical speed internet, which is about 80 times faster than 12mbps!  Our state-of-the-art fiber-optic network will be built out to the entire City limits, unlike Centurylink and Comcast which are limited in their coverage and speeds.  We will have competitive pricing and different speed options available to choose from for residents and businesses, along with phone and video services.  

Thank you for your interest in Connexion! Our network will be dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 enabled. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) will be the default, but static IP addresses will be available. The standard demarcation for customer equipment will be via RJ-45 (CAT 5/6) ports off of the Optical Network Terminal (ONT).  For most customers, the network will handle route propagation, however BGP will be available as a service.

Thank you for your question. Connexion crews and City-approved contractors are working in various locations across the city to install our fiber-optic network as quickly and efficiently as possible. While currently there is no confirmed date/time for Campus West, our first lit service is scheduled for August 2019 and we will be ramping up turning on service from there.   

With Fort Collins Collins Connexion you will have the option to use one we provide or you can use your own!  

The Fort Collins Connexion Team has not yet made a final determination regarding what areas of the city will have access first. Our goal will be to get the most people on the network as quickly and efficiently as possible. We will be activating neighborhoods in various locations across the city in a controlled progression to ensure we are able to meet demand while providing exceptional customer service.

You are correct that Fort Collins Connexion is a municipal utility and not a private entity.  However, Connexion is not funded by taxpayer dollars--our financing is through the bonds that were issued back in June of 2018. Broadband must be priced appropriately in order to pay back the $142.2MM in bonds. Our products and services will be priced competitively against the local incumbents, Comcast and Centurylink, to ensure residents and businesses within Fort Collins have an alternative option for reliable and affordable broadband services. 

While nothing has been finalized, at this time the Fort Collins Connexion team is not planning on offering Charter Memberships.  Our goal is to provide upfront, easy to understand, competitive pricing for our products and services. 

Our fiber network is being managed through ArcFM Fiber Manager.

There is no immediate plan for WiFi access at our launch in August 2019, but WiFi access is still under consideration for future implementation.  

Thank you for your question.  The Fort Collins Connexion team is currently finalizing the product catalog including pricing which may differ from the original business plan.  Our products will be competitively priced against what current incumbents are charging for both residential and business services.  

For connectivity to the home, we will be installing a network interface device (NID; also known by several other names) to the outside of the property. This device (a panel or box) serves as the demarcation point between our fiber network and the customer's premises wiring. 

We are in the middle of an RFP process for those providers. We are looking at two Tier 1 providers who are geographically diverse.  Once these providers have been determined we will not be disclosing them do to security purposes.  

Thank you for contacting Fort Collins Connexion.  Our business plan, which is listed publically online at fcgov.com/broadband, provides a wealth of information pertaining to the municipal broadband program. You can find the document here.

Thank you for your question. The Fort Collins Connexion network will be built out to cover all residences and businesses within the city limits of Fort Collins.  

Thank you for contacting the City of Fort Collins Connexion team. If your property is considered within city limits it will be part of the broadband initiative.  

Every community has processes and planning tools to manage how they grow. Growth Management Areas (GMA’s) are one such tool. They are plans where a community sets its growth boundaries. They are developed with public input from citizens and coordination with nearby communities. GMA’s help a community ensure that new residents will have the services they need while also protecting the quality of life and services for those who already live there.  

There is no set time frame for areas in the Fort Collins GMA to be annexed. If City council receives a petition to annex a specific area, the City would embark on a community engagement strategy to seek input from property and business owners and other stakeholders. Planning for annexation could potentially take years of intense study, including fiscal and capital cost estimates. Additional factors to be considered would include timing, social impact, cost of providing police services, utilities, and storm drain management.  

Thank you for your inquiry. At this time the Fort Collins Connexion team is still finalizing our product catalog.  However, we will have a variety of internet service levels with very competitive prices to meet our customers needs and budgets. We look forward to sharing more information as it becomes available.  

Thank you for your interest in Fort Collins Connexion!  The fiber optic cable that is being built out throughout the City will run through existing or available electrical conduit that the City is already using for Light & Power. Once the conduit and vaults are built, the fiber is pulled through and terminated at a pedestal. This is an easy access point for crews to reach the fiber cables. When you sign up for broadband service, pre-installation work will include running fiber from the pedestal to another vault called a "flower pot", and then directly to your home using a microduct. The fiber will be connected to your home using a TAP (Terminal Access Point) Box.  Once terminated at the TAP, it will be ready to be connected from inside your home during your install.  

Absolutely.  Fort Collins Connexion will be offering high-speed internet, video and telephone services individually as well as a bundled service. Keep in mind that for residential services, we will not require a contract!  

Residents interested in signing up for Fort Collins Connexion services will have the option to order online or call in and speak with a customer service representative directly.  

Thank you for contacting us about the Fort Collins Connexion Broadband roll out.  To give you a quick update--construction began on Nov 15 with Connexion crews, in partnership with City Light & Power and our third party contractor, AEG, working on the initial fiber pull for our core ring. The ring is essentially the backbone of our network and we will be building out from there. We will begin the full network construction in January 2019 and will be building out in a rolling fashion across the city—so different areas will be built out at the same time. Unfortunately at this time we are not able to provide more details, but rest assured we are still on target for our first lit service to be in Q3 2019. 

The Fort Collins Connexion team has been working extremely hard on the strategy, design, planning and development of our new state-of-the-art fiber network.  While we would love to provide monthly updates, our goal is to provide timely, relevant information as details become available.  We appreciate your interest and thank you for your support.  

Thank you for contacting us about updates. The Fort Collins Connexion team has been hard at work with the planning, design and development of our new fiber network.  We have set out press releases announcing the hiring of the core team, as we all the partnership with Open International, who will be handling our new Utilities & Broadband Customer Information System (CIS/OSS).  Additionally, we provided an update to City Council back in August in a work session which you can access here.  

We will be actively providing more timely updates as details become available.  

Thanks for your interest in our broadband project. At this time Connexion, the City’s broadband team, is not hiring. However, please keep an eye on this page - https://www.fcgov.com/jobs/ - for future job opportunities as our broadband team grows.

Under the current business plan broadband would extend throughout the current City limits and will extend into the GMA when those areas are annexed. Current capital spending estimates are for the City limits only.

We just posted information on bonds to be issued. For those interested in purchasing bonds, more information can be found here: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/1372/documents/1847 

While Red Tail Ponds is in our Growth Management Area (GMA) and is slated to get service, at this time the details of how it will be provided are still in the works. As we begin build out of the network more of those details will be available.

We’re glad that you are interested in supporting our broadband project by purchasing bonds. While the bonds are not for sale right now, we do plan to offer $1,000 bonds for the general public to purchase. We intend to give priority to Front Range zip codes. We’ve selected three underwriters to jointly manage the bond pricing and distribution. We are still working with the underwriters on these bonds. Once they are ready for purchase we will release that information on https://ourcity.fcgov.com/citybroadband

The City appreciates and recognizes your right to choose a service provider. The intent of this map is to allow people who may be interested to express that interest.

The City is currently in the process of contracting with underwriters who will be responsible for marketing and selling the bonds through their retail and institutional channels.  Exactly how this will occur will be determined after we formalize a contract. As we contract with an underwriter, more specifics on how the bonds will become available to the public will be determined.

The City did note an interest in evaluating the ability to do a small portion of the bond offering in non-traditional denominations, sometimes called Mini Bonds that could be available to local and regional citizens who wish to support the community and this effort. How these type bonds are marketed and made available to the local public will be determined in late February.

Please check back for details.

Like other internet providers, the City will have marketing and sign-up information widely available.  The decision-maker at Redtail Ponds or Housing Catalyst would be able to select the City as a provider if they chose.

The City of Fort Collins is committed to the principles of Net Neutrality. The City Broadband Plan does not call for any restrictions on access including uploads, downloads, delivery methods or providers (email, Skype, Netflix, etc.) For more detail on Net Neutrality see page 48 of the Broadband Business Plan.
 
Net Neutrality, or Open Internet, means there are no restrictions of any kind on access to content on the Web, no limit on downloads and uploads, or no restrictions on delivery methods or providers. The key principle is that access to the internet is not blocked, slowed down, or sped up depending on who or where that access occurs. In essence, Net Neutrality means the internet is open to everyone. Council will be developing policies around net neutrality and privacy, as the project develops.

As a current Utility provider, the City takes privacy very seriously and this commitment would be practiced with broadband. Private, or personal information, includes names, addresses, phone number, emails as well as browsing and internet history and usage, email and phone records, and other generated electronic data. The City will not collect any of this information beyond what is required to provide service.

Thank you for your support of this project!  To date, the City has not considered “expression of interest” campaigns for the implementation and rollout of the fiber network. The City will work to complete the system in the most efficient way possible utilizing existing fiber, leveraging installation opportunities and ensuring city-wide coverage. Full build-out of the network to the entire city is expected to take 3-4 years, we recommend taking this into consideration when signing current or future contracts.

The map is not intended to be a formal expression of interest and will not be used to determine roll out.  It is intended to keep the community engaged as we start this process.

Thanks for following our project. Our plan calls for building and implementing high-speed next-generation broadband to the entire growth management area (GMA) throughout the next 3 to 4 years as land is annexed. The exact timing of where the roll out will take place has not been decided at this time.

We are currently hiring for key positions related to broadband. For more information, and to apply, you can visit our jobs page. 

The broadband utility will operate just like the other municipal utility. It will generate adequate, but not excessive, revenues to meet the anticipated costs of its construction and operation without relying on the other municipal utilities or the City’s General Fund.

To begin, revenues will come through issuance of bonds As customers are added, all revenues will come from broadband customers. These revenues will meet the ongoing operational and capital needs of the broadband utility as well as provide adequate funds to meet the debt service of the issued bonds.

Countryside Drive, S. Timberline Road, E. Mulberry Street and Summitview are included in the City’s Growth Management Area (GMA), which is included as part of the broadband buildout once the land is annexed. 

It appears, in looking at the map, that Eagle Ranch is not included in the Fort Collins GMA. Thank you for your interest in our project. 

To use a pin function on the Places Map click and drag a "My Home" or "My Work" pin from the box on the left side of the screen to where you want to see fiber on the map. 

The Broadband Plan calls for service throughout the growth management area. Terry Lake is currently outside the City limits but it is within the growth management area. Full build out of a fiber system is estimated to take 4-5 years.

We recognize there’s a lot of technology available to consumers today and a variety of ways to access the internet. 

The City’s broadband plan calls for dedicated fiber-optic cables to each premise that signs up for service. Fiber is different from 5G, or fifth-generation mobile networks, in that fiber uses cables to connect to the internet. 5G is a type of wireless service used to assess the internet. 5G antennas will require fiber optic support at the antenna. 

It is our understanding the technical standards for 5G will not be established until roughly 2020 and the service will not be available until mid-2020’s.  The City will continue to evaluate new technology as it becomes available and options for voice or video.

Design and hookups for the project have not been determined yet. The request for proposal (RFP) for network design is going on now. The process will fit with the general aesthetics and follow industry standards.

Hollywood and Sunset North and South of Laporte Avenue are included in the City’s Growth Management Area (GMA), which is included as part of the broadband buildout once the land is annexed.