HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 02/05/2002TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
****February 5, 2002 ****
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison: Kurt Kastein Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh
Chairperson: Greg Smith Phone: 686-4755 (W)
Members Present: Greg Smith, Larry Bontempo, Curt Cramer, Tim Tillson, Braun
Mincher, Rob Koellner
Members Absent: Bill Murray
City Staff Present: Eric Dahlgren, Gary Gordier, Liz Stroh
Guests: Barry Eastman, FRII
Chair Greg Smith called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM
Approval of Minutes:
Braun Mincher made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was
seconded by Larry Bontempo and passed unanimously.
FRII Introduction
Greg Smith welcomed Barry Eastman from FRII, and explained that the Board was
interested in what services FRII had to offer the community.
Barry gave a brief overview of the company, noting that FRII has been in business
since 1995. FRII is now the fourth largest Internet Service Provider in Colorado, with
the major concentration of customers along the front range. The company offers DSL
speeds to customers, as well as dial up services. While the company originally focused
on Internet access for residential customers, it now serves businesses as well, with a
total of about 7000 accounts.
Barry explained FRII's network configuration, the peer relationship with CSU, Poudre
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School District and the City of Fort Collins. FRII also offers web hosting services with a
Unix operating system, and is an Internet registrar. They are investigating Voice over
IP, video conferencing and national dial up service. DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines)
circuits are available, as well as dedicated ISDN lines. They are staffed from 7 AM to
midnight for customer support.
Barry pointed out some potential concerns with the change from Qwest to MSN for
Internet services. Instead of the customer having the dsl line, MSN is the customer of
record, so if a subscriber wants to change ISP's, their DSL line is cancelled.
Qwest.com will be transferred to MSN.com in March, and customers have until then to
change accounts
Board members asked about speed issues with the dial up lines in Fort Collins, citing
that a 56K modem does not always provide that level of speed Barry explained that
some areas in Fort Collins have "dirty" lines, which creates problems with speed.
FRII is also watching the wireless industry to determine if that will provide the answer
for the "last mile" problem. Most of the wireless effort is still with tier one and two cities,
and wireless still has problems with high volume.
Other business
Braun commented on McLeod's and Global Crossing's bankruptcy
Planning Calendar:
Greg asked about the March meeting, and Liz verified that Qwest had confirmed they
would be at the meeting. The PUC is tentatively scheduled for April. Braun suggested
adding visits from PRPA, ICG and McLeod as well.
Curt commented that he would be interested to find out if ComCast allowed other ISP's
to use their internet access infrastructure.
Adiournment:
Braun moved to adjourn the meeting, Larry seconded the motion. The vote was
unanimous and Greg Smith adjourned the meeting at 7:15 PM.
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