High quality/speed fiber optic internet backed by Qwest's 24/7 technical support at a competitive price is what I was sold with my house. I'm still waiting.

The speed and quality are comparable on a good day to any other basic service including wireless. Qwest technical support is nonexistent. Price, who care's what the price is if the product delivered is inadequate?

The two options offered are not options. No matter what we are stuck with Qwest. My question is, why did Kennecott, the HOA, and Qwest spend so much time "working" on a solution and then not offer one?

Count me as a bad Daybreak citizen if necessary. I don't want to subsidize anyone's internet bill if it means I suffer with substandard service or I have to pay more to bring in a replacement service.

If you want cheap internet, you should be free to make a choice of provider and programs that meet your needs. Not help captive by a Kennecott Qwest boondoggle gone bad.

A little research shows there are other communities that have sued the developer and HOA for making bad community wide commitments much like our Qwest contract.

I find that odd. My experience with Qwest here has been fantastic, even the customer service, and the speed is super fast. My internet has never gone down.

Maybe I'm lucky? Or maybe I just have a good attitude? Hmm. I guess we'll never know.

I look forward to the outcome of this poll. I still think changing it to option 2 would be a "Daybreak Broken Promise."

I've only lived here for 18 months so I am not an expert on the whole Qwest/Daybreak marriage. The most important thing I know is that Daybreak residents are lucky enough to have a fiber to the home infrastructure. Fiber to the home (FTTH) is a huge plus for anyone that fully utilizes their internet as it allows for much higher upload and download speeds. I was extremely disappointed when I found out that I had FTTH but was only able to get 10Mbps. Basically this is the equivalent of having a Ferrari with a speed limit governor. The fiber we have in our community is a huge waste of money if it is being capped at the same speed that the other copper providers are able to provide. From the sound of things Qwest has committed to providing faster speeds to users by the end of the year. If we are able to get up to 100Mbps download and upload, we will be among a very small minority of residential internet users with those speeds. This would be a huge gain to anyone who works from home, streams media, does online backups, and will allow you to run your phone, tv, and internet online without any performance degradation.

All of that being said; of the current two "choices", I would obviously choose 1 for the lower costs and higher speeds. But if I were able to add a choice it would be to open up the FTTH infrastructure to other internet providers within the valley that have already been able to utilize the UTOPIA network. Currently and if our FTTH is owned by Qwest, our only real option besides Qwest is Comcast. As much as I haven't been a fan of Qwest and our "dedicated" speeds, Comcast is just as bad if not worse. And if Qwest can provide higher speeds then its a no brainer. Comcast can't touch the speeds Qwest has proposed (100Mbps) and the cost will be much higher.

Wow, didn't expect that to be so long winded. Hope I didn't ramble too much, I just really want to finally have "high speed internet".

FYI, I plan on being at the Open House on Tuesday to ask my questions...I'm saving my vote for after the meeting but currently plan on voting for option 1.

I think we need more information before making a decision. Some of my unanswered questions:

1. At the last BOD meeting, KL said explicitly that it had not obtained bids from any other internet service provider (and had no plans to do so). Why not? How do we know that we're getting the best possible deal if we haven't looked at any other alternatives? Yes, option #1 provides better pricing than Qwest's full retail rates, but that says nothing about how this option compares to other mandatory, bundled rates from other providers. Without a competitive bid, we have no idea whether this represents the best deal possible. Remember, we're all giving up something of value (our ability to choose our own internet service). I want to make sure that we're truly getting something commensurate in return.

2. How will the 10% revenue sharing be used by the community. I think we need a SPECIFIC agreement about how these funds will be used. "Extra" money has a tendency to slip through our fingers. I would hate to see KL use the funds to cut its operating subsidy or for CCMC to pad its bottom line.

3. What are the community's objectives behind requiring participation in a mandatory internet agreement? In the beginning, KL said that the mandatory internet arrangement with Qwest was necessary to provide them the incentive to lay the fiber optics in the community. That's where the original 5-year contact came from. Now that the contract has expired and those initial investment costs have been recouped, what is the reasoning behind requiring everyone in Daybreak to have the same ISP? Is it to save us money? Is it because they think they can choose better than us? Is it a marketing tool? Is it because they are getting something extra from Qwest on the back end? Is it because it existed for 5 years and now must continue for 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 more? I'm not saying any of these are necessarily bad, but I think we should be really clear about what we're trying to accomplish. Specifically, what happens if another type of service provider (say lawn service or bottled water or fresh milk and egg deliveries) comes into KL's office and says that they can save homeowners $10/month if they only require everyone in Daybreak to sign up for their service. Would this be okay with everyone? If not, why are those services different from internet service? I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just think it's a legitimate question to ensure that mandatory internet today does not become mandatory something else tomorrow. Again, we are being asked to give up something of value (our freedom to choose our preferred service provider); I want to make sure we are receiving something equally valuable in return.

4. I am among those who have experienced major issues with Qwest. I have not used the service in more than 2 years. I work from home and, after the sixth or seventh attempt to get them to fix the service (it was likely a problem in the line between their box and my house), I finally had to move on. I have continued to pay for Qwest AND another service for over two years. If this deal goes through, I intend to try Qwest again in hopes that they will make good on their service agreement. But, let's say that I don't have a good enough attitude and it doesn't work. How long should I continue to pay for Qwest's services? One more year? Two? Three? Ten? At what point, can an individual resident opt-out?

It's probably just my "bad attitude" talking, but I am skeptical whenever *any* company says that they have my best interests at heart and that, in exchange for just a small bit of my personal freedom, they will save me a few bucks a month. Before we all jump on board, I hope we can stop and take a look at the fine print.

FlyingAce wrote:

QUOTE:
It's probably just my "bad attitude" talking, but I am skeptical whenever *any* company says that they have my best interests at heart and that, in exchange for just a small bit of my personal freedom, they will save me a few bucks a month. Before we all jump on board, I hope we can stop and take a look at the fine print.

Since the end of your comment is a response to my post about my attitude, I feel compelled to respond. I actually think you have a great attitude about this. After reading your post, I think your questions are totally valid and concerns as well. I, too, have those questions (I just haven't had the same problems with Qwest.) I'm shocked that the HOA has allowed Qwest to ignore that your internet doesn't even WORK. That's certainly something I'd be upset about too.

My comment about my attitude was simply that. About MY attitude... especially here on the boards. It's no secret that these forums are decidedly negative towards the HOA. It's not often we hear people posting that they're HAPPY with how things are going. I was trying to be one of the few who did. I have had a great experience with the HOA the entire time I've lived here. They've always been very responsive to me and to my questions. I also have been very happy with my service from Qwest. Because that's been my experience, I am always surprised to hear how others have had the complete opposite experience. It truly makes me wonder. My comment wasn't accusatory, so I'm sorry if you perceived it to be.

As for the internet poll... like you said, given the two options, #1 is better, but there are questions. I agree. I hope I can get out of work to make the meeting, so I can hear these questions addressed. And I still hope that Qwest is able to make amends with those of you who have been ignored so we can all enjoy the promised Daybreak discounts on high speed internet.

The HOA is unable to get quotes from other internet service providers (i.e. Comcast, Xmission) to service the Daybreak area as a group due to the original agreement between KL and Qwest to install the fiber optic lines throughout Daybreak for a certain time period. I do not have the original email from the HOA that told me the time period, but if you contact them I’m sure they will tell you because they were willing to tell me.