Mountain Village: Faster Internet Service

29 Aug Mountain Village: Faster Internet Service

Dan Jansen, Mayor, Mountain Village

Mountain Village has just completed an important upgrade to the town’s broadband Internet system that will deliver significantly greater access speeds for its customers. The speed with which a computer can access the Internet (also referred to as bandwidth capacity) is measured in megabytes per second (MBPS). The higher the MBPS, the greater the speed. With the upgrade, standard residential customers will see their MBPS increase from six to eight – a 33% increase – with no additional cost. Commercial customers will see similar increases in speed at no additional cost. Perhaps most importantly, the previous limit of 20 MPBS for an individual customer is now eclipsed by a limit of 300 MBPS.

“Mountain Village has long understood the importance to the local economy of having significant broadband capacity, and even before the upgrade Mountain Village Cable was offering two-to three-times what was available elsewhere in the region,” Mayor Dan Jansen said. “But due to an explosion in Web browsing, downloading of documents, photographs, videos and other large files, videoconferencing, and online gaming we were seeing the occasional cyberspace traffic jam on the town’s system. As a result, Town Council agreed to fund the improvements suggested by Mountain Village Broadband Services Director Steven LeHane. I think our customers will be delighted.”

According to LeHane, the system upgrade now allows Mountain Village Cable to purchase 1,000 MBPS (or one gigabyte per second) from its wholesale provider, where the limit before the upgrade was 165 MBPS.

 “If you use the analogy of a water pipe for delivering bandwidth, our pipes just got about six times bigger,” LeHane explained. “Everyone wants to be able to get on the device of their choosing, download what they want, when they want and as fast as they can. Technology and the fact that people want to use multiple devices at the same time was the driving force behind the hardware, software and bandwidth upgrades we just completed in Mountain Village.” 

This improvement in broadband capabilities is a welcomed upgrade to local businesses that depend on fast Internet access and high bandwidth capacity. For example, Len Metheny owns Vidergize, an online platform that offers motivational and educational fitness and health wellness programs through video. His business is dependent upon reliable and fast Internet, and the upgrade is welcomed news to him.

 “I’m delighted with the broadband upgrades,” Metheny said. “It’s comforting to know that we can now increase our broadband capacity as our business grows. This means as we add staff over the coming months, we can keep our offices in Mountain Village.”

In addition to providing its customers with increased broadband, Mountain Village Cable installed new dedicated fiber lines offering increased bandwidth capacity for four of the region’s larger hoteliers: Hotel Madeline Telluride, The Peaks Resort & Spa, Mountain Lodge Telluride and Inn at Lost Creek. This fiber upgrade allows the town to offer hotels speeds that are 2.5 times faster than previously available.

“This translates to less congestion for our all-important hotel guests,” LeHane said. “Since they are connected via a dedicated fiber line, hotel guests are not on the shared cable system. This is good news as any outages in the cable plant will not affect the hotels. In addition, hotels and their guests are not part of any load-balancing process with the rest of our customers, and vice versa.”

LeHane said the move to improve Mountain Village’s high-speed Internet access may ultimately force other regional providers to accelerate and upgrade their networks in order to compete with Mountain Village.

 “The phase that we just completed is part of a multi-phase plan to keep Mountain Village’s system updated and relevant to today’s broadband trends.” 

Mountain Village Internet plans start at $50 per month with eight megabytes of download speed, and increases to either 12 megabytes at $79.95 each month or 20 megabytes for $109. No contract is required, and these rates are applicable to customers who currently subscribe to Mountain Village cable television. Rates increase by $10 for each plan for Internet customers who are not cable television subscribers. All existing customers will be provided with a new DOCSIS 3.0 modem in the coming weeks.

Mountain Village Cable is a Town of Mountain Village department that serves over 1,300 customers, or 75% of the town’s residential addresses. It is operated as a business within the town and generates a net surplus every year after capital investments. In addition to Internet service, Mountain Village Cable offers cable television and telephone service. For Mountain Village Internet cable customers who experience any speed or connection issues, contact the Mountain Village Cable Department at 970.369.0555. To review Internet plans, visit townofmountainvillage.com/internet.

ABOUT MOUNTAIN VILLAGE

Mountain Village, situated in the heart of the breathtaking San Juan Mountains, was incorporated in 1995 as a home rule municipality.  Its founders envisioned a European-style ski-in/ski-out, pedestrian-friendly destination resort that would complement the historic mining town of Telluride. A three-stage gondola transportation system connects the Town of Mountain Village with the Town of Telluride. Situated at 9,500 feet, Mountain Village is comparably a world apart from other resorts: it is innately spectacular, beautifully orchestrated and planned, and overflowing with style, charm and sophistication. For more information, please visit us on the Web at townofmountainvillage.com.