My UTOPIA experience has also been terrific. I have no idea why every household wouldn’t want to take advantage of this. Our home, like many, has come to rely on fast, reliable Internet service. We were subscribers to the “Comcast triple play” for our Internet, phone, and TV (with 2 DVRs) for approximately $255 per month. The TV service was outstanding but our Internet and phone connection were plagued by short, occasional outages (once or twice a month, that we noticed) that became increasingly annoying.

We would call Comcast technical service (using a cell phone since our home phone would be dead) but the Internet connection would usually come back on before we finally would get through to a “technician.” One day I called Comcast to inquire how much my monthly bill would be if I removed phone and Internet, but kept my cable TV setup the same. I learned that it would be $122 per month with my same channels and setup.

UTOPIA advertised that they could provide a “clean,” reliable fiber optic Internet connection with a range of possible speeds and services for Internet, phone (and even TV), so I invited one of the UTOPIA sales people over for an in-home visit. I decided to go with a service provider that would provide Internet and phone for $53 per month (after taxes) with Internet speeds near 100 Mbs in and out of our home. That Internet speed is more than 5 times faster than what Comcast could deliver. My net savings per month would be $80 with Internet speeds 5 times faster!

Of course there is also an infrastructure fee of $2,750. My view is that this was like when natural gas came to town decades ago. There would be an initial expense but it would pay for itself for years to come. I learned that this fee can be amortized over time at $20 – $30 per month, or you can pay it all at once. Either way I would be saving money. This was not a tough decision:  Do I save $50 per month, $60 per month, or save $80 per month in three years for the rest of my life? I chose to pay it all at once.

The installation of our fiber-optic cable in our yard was done in about an hour with no problems. Later that day a crew came to do the in-home installation. They were here for about 90 minutes—again, no problems. I have had the service since May and have NEVER had a service disruption.

This truly was a “No Brainer.”  Thanks to UTOPIA for doing something that Comcast and CenturyLink were unable or unwilling to do—bring clean, fast, fiber-optic Internet service to our home.

Scott Higgins
Centerville