Fort Collins Connexion is the new community-owned fiber network. Fort Collins Connexion will bring high-speed internet, advanced video, and telephone services to the residents and businesses of Fort Collins.

Broadband is a high-speed communications network that can support many different communication services.  This term is commonly used to describe different types of internet services delivered at speeds significantly faster than those available through “dial-up”. The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan now defines broadband service as providing a minimum of 25-megabit (mbps) download speeds and 3 mbps upload speeds.

Broadband is the communication network. The term broadband commonly refers to high-speed internet access that is always on and faster than the traditional dial-up access.

Fiber to the home (FTTH), also called "fiber to the premises" (FTTP), is the installation and use of optical fiber from a central point directly to individual buildings such as residences, apartment buildings and businesses to provide unprecedented high-speed internet access. Fiber is more cost-effective, eco-friendly, provides virtually unlimited bandwidth and is more reliable, requiring less maintenance once it is constructed.

Optical fiber is a hair-thin strand of glass, specially transmit light pulses. The fiber uses light instead of electricity to carry a signal. It is unique because it can carry high bandwidth signals over long distances without signal degradation, and it can provide those signals simultaneously in both directions – upload and download.

Bandwidth is the capacity of a wired or wireless network communications link to transmit the maximum amount of data from one point to another over a computer network or internet connection in a given amount of time -- usually one second. Bandwidth is not a measure of network speed -- a common misconception.

A Community Fiber Network is a community-owned broadband network that uses fiber-optic cables to connect all subscribers. It can offer phone, television, and internet access and other broadband services.

DSL, also known as Digital Subscriber Line, is high-speed internet access that uses existing copper telephone lines from homes and businesses to transmit data. DSL speeds can range significantly, and performance decreases significantly the farther away the DSL subscriber is to the closest telephone provider connection.

Cable internet uses the existing coax lines for your cable TV to get a high-speed internet connection.  Coaxial cable is a shielded copper cable used to transmit video, audio and other forms of data. The copper wires lead from your property to a neighborhood node, and eventually to your service provider. Speed and performance are dependent on the subscriber’s modem, available bandwidth and the amount of traffic on the network.

The City recognizes that a fiber-connected city created advantages over a disconnected city.  With the growing importance of high speed internet within the economy, to support the needs of our community and local businesses as well as improve our citizen’s daily lives, securing gigabit-speed internet across the City’s growth management area (GMA) is crucial.

Connecting homes directly to fiber optic cable enables enormous improvements in the bandwidth that can be provided to consumers. While cable and DSL providers are struggling to squeeze small increments of higher bandwidth out of their technologies, ongoing improvements in fiber optic equipment are constantly increasing available bandwidth without having the change the fiber. That’s why fiber networks are said to be “future proof.”

DOCSIS 3 is a standard for cable modem networks that will greatly increase the available speeds offered by cable companies. However, the cable network remains a massively shared loop, leaving it vulnerable to a few subscribers consuming more bandwidth and degrading service for everyone else. 

Gigabit internet means that 1,000,000,000 bits of data is transferred through fiber optic cables in one second. Fort Collins Connexion (1 gigabit internet) is roughly 85x faster than average DSL speeds. Note: Speed comparison based on maximum download speed of Connexion service (1 Gbps) vs. average DSL speed of major U.S. DSL providers (< 11 Mbps) per 2016 Measuring Broadband America – Fixed Broadband Report.

If your current internet speed is 10 Mbps (megabits per second), Fort Collins Connexion offers up to 100 times that (1 Gbps). With all those extra megabits, you can download a video game in less than a minute, download 100 songs within 3 seconds, 1,000 photos in 16 seconds or a 2-hour movie in 8 seconds!

All that data — a million bits per second — means that you can do everything you already do online, but a lot more of it, and faster. All of your usual web browsing, and streaming will be supported, but with higher speeds and less congestion on your home network. Fort Collins Connexion’s 1 Gig speed provides enough bandwidth for everyone in your home, and all your devices!

• Stream videos, movies, and TV shows, even when your entire family is watching on different devices at once. With a gigabit connection, you can stream high-definition (HD) and 4K video content at amazing speeds with little to no delays or buffering. This means less time waiting and more time enjoying your favorite shows and movies. 

• Enjoy a better online experience for multiple users and devices connected to your network.  Typically as more devices (smartphones, TVs, gaming systems, computers, tablets, and so on) sign onto your network using your bandwidth, each user's speed decreases. However, with Fort Collins Connexion this is not a concern because our speeds are much faster. 

• Download and upload files, photos, and videos at incredible speeds. Regardless of the size of the file, with a Gig speed connection, your download and upload times are reduced down from minutes and hours to seconds.  

• Play games. Online gaming continues to grow in popularity, and new games with high-quality video content require fast, stable connections, with low latency. With 1 Gig speed from Connexion, you can play online games seamlessly. 

• Video conferencing. Facetime, Skype, and other video conferencing services use bandwidth on your internet connection. Without sufficient speeds, video quality is poor, and users can experience frequent disconnects or frozen pictures. With 1 Gig service, these types of problems are no longer an issue, even if your video conference has multiple people connected at once. 

Symmetric connections have the same downstream speeds as upstream. This means that you can send a file to someone else just as fast as you could get it from them. Asymmetric connections tend to offer much slower upload speeds, which can slow usage of the modern internet to a crawl. Both cable and DSL networks are typically asymmetrical by design.

Internet applications are using more and more broadband capacity every day as more information, education and entertainment content is enabled online. Smart Homes equipped with lighting, heating, and electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by phone or computer are increasing in popularity, and emerging trends such as IT automation, machine learning and the internet of things (IoT) are driving smart city adoption.  

The citizens of Fort Collins should have access to everything the internet has to offer, without being restricted by their local broadband services. Fort Collins Connexion will support citizens’ needs to run their local businesses, ensure their children have the best opportunities to learn through technology and access the wealth of information and entertainment options that the internet provides. 

Access to next generation high-speed broadband increases development opportunities, improves the performance and cost effectiveness of business services, provides better support for the emerging “creative class,” supports school technology programs, allows those that can work from anywhere more options, and generally enhances the community as a center of innovation.

As a current Utility provider, the City takes privacy very seriously and this commitment would be extended to broadband. Personal information, also known as personally identifiable information (PII) or sensitive personal information (SPI), will not be used beyond what is required to provide service.

The City has no need, desire, or intent to collect, share or sell customer personal information including browser history. Ensuring customer privacy is a City priority and is critical to maintaining customer confidence.

Net Neutrality is the principle where services are not blocked, slowed down, sped up, or otherwise manipulated based on who is accessing the internet or from where. The City of Fort Collins is committed to the principles of Net Neutrality. Fort Collins Connexion will not call for any restrictions on access including uploads, downloads, delivery methods or providers (email, Skype, Netflix, etc.)