Utopia: The Mysterious Promise

This year there have been a lot of things to be excited about: Movies that I have wanted to be released for some time, books that have been of interest to me, electronic devices that have had me drooling since I had heard rumors of them. All of these have been holding me in suspense for the year, but none as much as the Utopia Project.

I've mentioned this before in previous posts, but for any that haven't heard of it, the Utopia project is a municipal project held within various Utah cities to bring fiber optic connections to every home and business within that city. Probably based off of the success of the iProvo project, this extends connections along the length of the State, principally along I-15. Not all cities are participating, in fact the one city that really needs it (Salt Lake City) has refused to participate based on various discussions with the principal broadband monopolies, er, providers within Utah.

Regardless, my city, West Valley City, has decided to invest in this infrastructure in order to benefit its citizens. Murray has also agreed, so those living in Murray will be pleased as punch with the news (if you haven't already got it, you lucky devils!). The only problem is, the infrastructure is growing at a snails pace. It makes sense, as they are installing enough switches to supply access to all the citizens at full speed, as opposed to the practice of piping as many people though the same switch and hope they don't all use the net at the same time. *cough* Comcast *cough*. This way the bandwidth remains strong for all users.

Because it's growing so slow, I don't have that option. In stead, I have opted for the Blue Zone, which offers wireless access for less than Comcast, and at about the same speed (for me anyway). But it is terribly slow, and it seems to get slower every day. Perhaps it's because I'm used to using the Internet pipeline here at the U (sitting on the backbone of Utah), but even my family that doesn't go to the U is complaining about the lag. Perhaps they are doing the same thing Comcast is doing, and connecting too many people to the same antenna, and are not going to upgrade because of Utopia. Whatever the reason, I am aching for the Utopia project to come to my area.

Why am I bringing this up? Because there was a sign of hope on the way to work. As I was heading down SR-201 to work this morning, I saw a Utopia truck pull onto the freeway from West Valley. Imagine my excitement in seeing evidence of the continued expansion of the best network project since Telegraph lines were ran throughout the area back in the day. Yes, it gives me that glimmer of light in the long tunnel of darkness that continues to trouble my network connection.