Mountain Village: Internet Upgrade!

23 Nov Mountain Village: Internet Upgrade!

The Mountain Village Broadband Department is proud to announce that Mountain Village’s internet connection has been successfully upgraded  in partnership with Mammoth Networks, creating a stronger network for all customers.

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A new connection makes Mountain Village’s internet redundant, meaning the internet is fed to Mountain Village both from the south (from Albuquerque via Durango) and from the north (from Denver, via Montrose). Having a redundant internet connection prevents the town from significant outages because there are now two sources of connectivity.

“This first upgrade is a giant step forward, improving internet uptime for business and residential customers,” said Mountain Village’s Chief Technology Officer Jim Soukup. “The town is very committed to building internet pathway diversity. Our residents and visitors deserve a high-speed connection to the rest of the world.”

While the system is not entirely fail-proof, Mountain Village is now much better equipped to prevent major long-term outages.

For example, on July 15, 2019, Mountain Village sustained a long-term outage after a fiber line was accidentally cut in Como, CO, 255 miles northeast of Mountain Village in South Park. The internet was out for more than 12 hours because that line fed the only fiber route into Mountain Village.

Moving forward, if that were to happen again, Mountain Village broadband customers should expect just a brief outage as the connection is switched over to whichever route is still connected.

The upgrade also allows for Mountain Village to purchase on-demand broadband to meet increased internet needs during the busy holiday season.

Mammoth Networks is a facilities-based aggregator of wholesale data services throughout the Rocky Mountain region. They provide services throughout the West through more than 50 network-to-network interfaces with regional fiber carriers.

Mammoth was able to leverage existing fiber infrastructure to engineer a unique solution for Mountain Village which not only increases capacity, but also creates network redundancy.

“I love engineering fiber transport in the Western Slope,” said Evan Biagi, VP of Colorado operations for Mammoth. “Jim and his team at Mountain Village asked me to find them a way to ensure they are not impacted by a cut in the fiber backbone, and we found a solution.”

Mammoth offers Mountain Village customers a direct connection to Netflix and Google. This means Mammoth has fiber directly connected into Netflix and Google routers. Mammoth is also a member of the Any2 Internet Exchange where different IP networks such as Apple and Microsoft meet in Denver to exchange traffic, an integral part of the internet ecosystem.

“This is just the beginning of building a better, resilient network in Mountain Village,” Soukup added. “We will continue to invest money on our network and services as we work through the system.”

Additionally, the Town of Mountain Village is developing a text-message notification system to better notify customers and the community-at-large in the case of internet outages, power outages, and more. The system is expected to launch by the holiday season in December.

Mountain Village, more:

Situated at 9,545 in the heart of the breathtaking San Juan Mountains, Mountain Village was incorporated in 1995 as a home rule municipality and is widely considered a world apart from other towns. Mountain Village is innately spectacular, beautifully orchestrated and planned and overflowing with style, charm, and sophistication. A state-of-the-art gondola transportation system connects the Town of Mountain Village with the Town of Telluride.

For more information, please visit us online at townofmountainvillage.com.