High-Speed Internet
High-Speed Internet for our Community
Background
For a long time, EFR property owners, along with neighboring property owners, have expressed dissatisfaction with lack of broadband (high-speed) internet in our neighborhoods. This will soon be resolved!
In 2019, a Broadband Initiative Committee was formed. The goal of the Committee was to create a partnership with nearby neighborhoods (Elk Falls Ranch, S. Elk Creek Road, Woodside, Mountain View, Douglass Ranch and Staunton State Park) and an internet service provider (ISP) - Highline (previously South Park Telephone) in order to apply for grant funds from the State of Colorado Broadband Deployment Fund.
Highline was chosen to be our ISP grant partner as they were looking to expand up 285 from Bailey and were successful in receiving grant awards for other neighborhoods.
We believe that fiber optic technology such as Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) is the desired technology to ensure long-term access to a robust and advanced communication network delivering broadband speeds up to 1 GB (1,000 Mbps). This is well above the FCC definition of broadband - 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
To make a long story short, we eventually won a grant during the Summer 2021 grant cycle. Highline was awarded $2.4 million to bring fiber optic high-speed internet to our neighborhoods. The total cost of the project is over $5 million. The difference between the grant award and the total project cost will mostly be covered by Highline, with a small portion coming from residents who commit to purchasing service and pay a $200 installation fee. (It’s important to highlight that $200 for installation is an amazing deal!!)
The route will start in Pine Junction, run along 285 into the project area with five legs. Click here for route map:
Mount Evans into Woodside,
S. Parker Road into Mountain View Lakes
S. Elk Creek Road, into Staunton and Elk Falls Ranch
From Corner of Ella Road and Hwy 126 (Pine Valley Road), north on Hwy 285 to S. Hwy 285 Frontage Road and then east of Douglas Ranch Road
The project is both an aerial and underground build. The aerial portion will be strung on CORE poles and will follow the power footprint. If power to your dwelling is above ground, then the fiber will be run above ground. If power to your dwelling is buried, then fiber will also be buried. Click here for map outlining aerial vs buried cable routes. (There are some recent changes - updated map coming soon!)
Pricing
Monthly service costs with Highline will typically be less or similar to what we pay for various services now. There is tiered pricing depending on how much speed you purchase and there are price discounts if more than 400 out of 796 property owners sign up. Additionally, we will be able to purchase unlimited phone service for $29/month! Click here for pricing details.
Current Activities
There have been many obstacles that have delayed construction. The current obstacle, as of October 2024, is CORE. CORE needs to “make-ready” their poles to accommodate fiber cable. Their work is currently being engineered and scheduled. However, time is running out for 2024. As the weather cools, there is less likelihood of progress. Residents should not expect to be hooked-up until Spring and Summer 2025.
What to Expect for Equipment
Highline has a brochure which contains simple descriptions of the equipment that will be used during the installation phase. All the equipment is very small and non-obtrusive. See below for Page 1 and Page 2 of the brochure for what to expect at your home. Additionally, you'll be able to personalize your WiFi, set parental controls and monitor all your devices with the ease of an app.
Next step for property owners:
Submit commitments! We encourage property owners that have yet to sign up for service to complete the necessary information online - Commitment Form and $200 Payment or to contact Highline at 719.837.6400 for more information.
The more people that sign up, the better the pricing will be for everyone.
Also, note that if you decide you want fiber optic internet after construction is completed, the $200 installation fee no longer applies. The cost to bring fiber to your dwelling could be over $1,000 depending on how long your driveway is and how far you are from the main fiber line.
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Benefits of bringing Fiber to our community
Is fiber-optic internet service better? YES! Aside from being much faster and more reliable vs. cable internet or DSL, fiber Internet has other major benefits that blow all other providers out of the water. For example:
Speed - Fiber-optic internet speed can reach 1 Gbps. That’s 40 times faster than the services currently offered in our area (DSL or satellite). The list below shows how long it takes to download a two-hour movie on fiber-optic vs. other services.
Fiber-optic internet speed 1 Gbps: 40 seconds
Cable internet speed 100 Mbps: 7 minutes
DSL speed 25 Mbps: 30 minutes
4G LTE speed 35 Mbps: 25 minutes
Fiber internet is known as symmetrical: the same upload speed as download speed. That makes sharing photos and files easier and more reliable than ever.
Latency - Internet latency is the time it takes for a request to go from a source to a destination on the internet (measured in milliseconds). If you have a satellite internet service provider, you've endured the noticeable delay after you attempt to visit a URL. Your staring at static page, then all of a sudden, the page loads all at once. Satellite services send large packets of data to space and back, which accounts for this delay. Although they advertise fast speeds, the service seems MUCH slower due to latency. This very obvious if you've ever tried to do voice-over-IP with a satellite service; there is just enough of a delay to throw off your conversation.
Although latency exists in every network due to distance and speed, fiber's latency is mostly undetectable. Review the average latency results below:Fiber-optic latency: 10ms or less
Cable latency: 100ms or less
DSL latency: 100ms or less
Satellite latency: 500-700ms
Accessibility - Every year, the Internet becomes more and more important to our everyday lives on an individual and societal level. Fiber-optic speed provides enough bandwidth to access these emerging online services simultaneously:
Smart Homes and Security: Smart home technology is one of the fastest growing markets connecting every aspect of your home so it runs seamlessly from your smart devices (speakers, TVs, thermostats, plugs, light automation, video doorbells, refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers and more).
Independent Living for the Aging or Disabled: Aging in place and independent living are quickly becoming more important to us as the population ages. The most affordable home automation products are cloud-based and Internet-dependent. A wide array of products from voice-activated devices to panic alarms can have a profound impact on quality-of-life for senior citizens, the disabled, and the people who care for them.
Telecommuting: Fast access to the Internet makes it possible for professionals to work from home. Symmetrical fiber speeds make uploading/downloading content for work easy.
Education: Aside from the obvious access to information for studying, children and their parents can be engaged in the educational process through educational web portals. These portals provide an interface to communicate with teachers and administrators, real-time access to assignments and grades, and numerous educational resources.
Reliability - We've all had it happen - you're watching television and suddenly a character’s face gets blocky and he/she freezes. This is a result of your slow internet connection.
Your internet connection should be fast enough to stream video without interruption, but peak traffic congests the bandwidth. That's where the benefits of fiber-optic internet become obvious. Fiber-optics can handle more users and more data at consistently higher speeds.
Another bonus - fiber-optic internet does not need energized lines, so it's not as prone to outages. As long as the fiber-optic cable stays intact, it can keep delivering your bits and bytes even when the lights are out or there’s heavy snow storms
Increased Property Value - Studies show that the impact of fiber on property values can be more than 3-6%. On a $600,000 home, that’s a $18K-$28K boost! Today, people are shopping for more than just curb appeal. They’re looking for a quality Internet connection as well.
Supporting Links:
Fiber Broadband Association, Computer World, Ting Blog, Fios VerizonNo Throttling - Like a highway at rush hour, DSL and satellite connections get jammed during peak traffic hours. They simply can’t keep pace with our mushrooming internet needs. Internet providers use “throttling” to prevent this. At peak times, your ISP may lower your speed from 25 Mbps to 10 Mbps or lower to ration their service. Fiber- optic internet speed doesn’t throttle because it’s less susceptible to overload.
Connecting with Multiple Devices - Gone are the days of a single home computer. We now have multiple devices in our homes - laptops PCs, tablets, phones, smart speakers, smart locks, cameras and thermostats. As our internet use increases, our need for reliable and fast data transmission does too.
Fiber-optic's steady signal, low signal loss, and ten times more bandwidth means we can connect with multiple devices at once. Even with different people streaming music and video simultaneously, fiber-optics can handle the load.Increased Mobile Phone Coverage - If you use a cell phone in our beautiful mountain communities, you're familiar with using network extenders to increase the coverage of your phone. With the steady signal, less signal loss, and additional bandwidth of a fiber-optic connection, the WiFi strength that powers your network extender is greatly increased. Your network extender will be more successful in increasing your phone's coverage.
Future Proof: - Global internet traffic has exploded and will continue to increase. In fact, Internet speeds of just two or more years ago, are no longer acceptable for today’s increasing demands. Not only is fiber the fastest service available today (by a longshot), but fiber has the capability of future-proofing through dark fiber. Dark fiber, optical fibers that are part of a fiber cable but are not currently being used, can be a great asset. When new technology becomes available that requires more data transmission, fiber-optic lines may already be able to accommodate the unforeseen demands of the future.
Higher Quality TV - High definition TVs pack more pixels into the same real estate, which makes for much crisper pictures - but they also need a lot more bandwidth from your internet connection.
DSL, satellite, and even cable connections struggle, at times, to deliver high defintion streaming. Fiber-optic internet service won’t even bat an eye. A fiber-optic connection running at even a sub-optimal 500 Mbps should have no trouble streaming high-quality, high defintion TV and movies.Healthier - You may have heard about the race for 5G internet access. But hundreds of scientists and medical professionals recently petitioned the WHO, claiming 5G will boost the potential for cancer. Fiber-optic signals remain trapped in their cables, so they don’t carry those fears.
Community Improvement - Fiber-optic Internet doesn’t only improve homes, it’s great for communities too. Fiber-ready areas are more attractive to businesses, especially those that rely on the fastest Internet speeds. More businesses means more jobs – and a better economy. And fiber Internet access can also improve public services, including healthcare, safety and education.
Telemedicine - Telemedicine allows health care professionals to evaluate, diagnose, and even treat patients remotely. Much faster fiber-optic internet speeds make telemedicine more reliable, thanks to higher resolution video chats. It can help the elderly and those with disabilities live more independently as well.
Video Conferencing: - Video streaming uses a huge amount of bandwidth. On average, HD video streaming uses 6 Mbps upstream bandwidth per user.
Better Gameplay - For gamers, if you love playing Fortnite or League of Legends, you may already know fiber-optic internet speed is the holy grail of gaming connections. It’s not that gaming uses mega bandwidth, in fact, compared to high-quality video streaming, gaming sips a tiny fraction of the data at less than 1 Mbps.
So what’s the problem? Consistency. A tiny hiccup at the wrong moment can get you killed in your game. There are lots of little hiccups in a satellite or DSL connection all the time. Thanks to fiber-optic internet, the smooth and constant flow of data means whenever you twitch your mouse hand, the game obeys.
Call to Action for Property Owners
Please submit commitments! This is an amazing opportunity! We encourage property owners that have yet to sign up for service to complete the necessary information online: Commitment Form and $200 Payment or contact SPT/Highline at 719.837.6400 for more information.
For updates/Information:
Please join our Facebook Discussion Group for the most up-to-date news: Staunton Area Broadband Initiative
Contact Bev Long, Committee Chair and Elk Falls Champion at 720-633-2454 or bevlong2555@gmail.com for information or questions.
Neighborhood Champions:
Woodside 1 - Kimberlee Martin hometocoloradore@gmail.com or 303-888-7458
Woodside 2,3,4 - Pam Hyer lovethemtns2@gmail.com or 303-916-9873
Woodside 5,6 - Bev Livingston bevlivi49@gmail.com or 720-202-8335
Mountain View Lakes - Ron Bich ronaldjbich@q.com or 720-473-2801
Douglass Ranch - Pam Senjem pamsenjem@yahoo.com or 303-910-5735
Grant Application
Summer 2021 applications can be found at: Broadband Grant Applications. Our Application Number is S-2021-19: South Park Telephone – Staunton State Park Visitor Center
Documents
Route Map (Buried & Aerial Routes) (There are some recent changes - updated map coming soon!)
Property Owners Communication
References
For a complete guide to fiber-optic technology, click here