By Jonathan Wardle
Several student apartment complexes are being used as testing grounds for a fiber optic network that may connect every home and business in Provo.
Belmont, King Henry and Sparks are among the complexes that have been connected to Provo''s network.
'Sometimes it''s fast. It works great,' said Aulani Rogers, 20, a sophomore at UVSC from Plasterville, Calif., majoring in elementary education. 'Sometimes the connection won''t come up, like it won''t work for a few days. But other than that it works great.'
Rogers said she likes the service, despite the network problems.
Emily Alger, 21, a junior from Colombia, Mo., majoring in fitness and wellness management, said she signed up to use the new connection because it''s free. She said the service will be free until the network is stable.
'It''s really slow at nights and it''s usually fastest during the afternoon,' Alger said. 'All I know is that I''m really annoyed when it''s slow.'
Quik Internet provides the actual service to the apartments.
Paul Shumway, co-owner of Quik Internet, said Provo City just provides the cables.
'We''re the middle man,' Shumway said. 'We''re the retailer. They''re our accounts, and we just buy the bandwidth from Provo City.'
Shumway said the connection Quik Internet provides is as fast as a T1 line, the connection that many businesses have, but less expensive.
Quik Internet is currently providing two to three megabits of service to most apartments they support (easily equal to the service capable of a T1 line), but they could provide as much as 100 megabits, Shumway said. One hundred megabits would be sufficient to provide for telephony, Internet and other data services.
Shumway said some apartments are considering providing more services through Provo''s fiber network than just Internet access.
Belmont Apartments has connected to the Provo City network, but not through Quik Internet.
Sherry Wadsworth, manager of Belmont Apartments, said Belmont started providing service for tenants around the beginning of February.
Belmont residents pay eight dollars a month for the service, she said.
'I use it once in a while when I''m here. It''s fast. I haven''t had any problems with it,' Sherry said. 'I try to save all of my Internet surfing times for when I''m at work.'
Sherry said she hasn''t heard any complaints about the network from any tenants.
Paul Venturella, telecommunications manager for Provo City, said the city is using the apartments as a testing ground to help 'get our feet wet.'
King Henry is the most recent apartment complex to be wired to Provo''s network, Venturella said. He said it has been connected a little over one week.
He said the city is just testing apartment complexes at this point, but expects to test some neighborhoods and individual houses this summer.
Venturella said it should take two to three years for the entire network to be approved and built.
'We think if the (Provo city) council decides to go ahead with the project, whoever winds up on the end of the project will not have to wait too long,' Venturella said.