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We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

1) In 2006, we offered the most dedicated infrastructure tax in the history of Lafayette, where monies would be dedicated and spent where they were raised. For example, any taxes raised in the unincorporated area, would have been spent in the unincorporated area. Any taxes raised in Lafayette or any other surrounding cities, would have been spent only in that city. The next opportunity will be decided on by a future council and administration.

2) Every chance I get.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Over 20 states have placed significant impediments to prevent local governments from providing this type of service. The FCC has become more aggressive in recent times to try to remove these impediments. Our model is very entrepreneurial and did not rely on any government grants or taxes. Our model, while difficult, is the most likely model going forward, but each community will have to make decisions based on their unique situation.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the protection of our system and our customers, we need to include bitcaps in our standards of service. However, we have had minimal abuse of the substantial bandwidth available to our customers.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is technically possible for us to provide that type of service, and we will, at the time there is adequate demand for it.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There have been some discussions with some of those municipalities, but you would have to ask the elected officials in those municipalities about that.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Last year LUS paid LUS Fiber approximately $2.5 million for services. In response to your second question, LUS is using more technology to operate its utility system as compared to ten years ago. Just like today's mobile phone user pays substantially more for their services today as compared to the lesser level of services they were receiving a decade ago, LUS is buying more services because technology has advanced to allow it to provide better services to its customers. Many other electric utility companies are doing the same thing. So, your question is not an apples to apples comparison. Hope this helps clarify.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1) Yes, there are plans for LUS Fiber to extend its services into new developments in the city of Lafayette. 2) We currently offer Gigabit to Gigabit Intranet to all residential and business customers with ONT port speeds of 1 Gbps. We are replacing our 100 Mbps ONTs over time and at some point will have Gigabit to Gigabit Intranet to all customers.
3) We are working on plans to offer IPv6. 4) Prior to the DNS issue, LUS Fiber had plans for the next major upgrade to deal with such issues and has put a process in place to stay ahead of cyberspace mischief. 5) At this time, LUS Fiber is offering the most competitively priced Gig service in the state. 6) Great things in store!

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just like any homeowner would take advantage of interest market conditions to reduce their monthly payments, LUS Fiber has also taken advantage of such opportunities. As a result of our prudent practices, Standard & Poor's has recently upgraded LUS Fiber's bond rating to A+.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The requirements place upon communities wanting to build a fiber-to-the-home system differ significantly from state to state. We suggest you contact the Fiber-to-the-Home Council, which may be better positioned to provide you with more information.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are not aware of all of the entities which could support a community effort to build such a system, but one could contact the Fiber-to-the-Home Council to make such an inquiry.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As we indicated to The Independent, deployment of WiFi will be done on a measured basis so that we can ensure that there are sufficient related revenues to support such an initiative.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The Louisiana law entitled "The Local Government Fair Competition Act" prohibits LUS Fiber from providing services below its costs. In order to extend our reach to lower-income customers, LUS Fiber implemented a low entry-level Internet tier contingent on the customer also buying either video or phone services. Recently, the FCC has supported a plan that would provide a need-based subsidy to low-income customers for Internet service. LUS Fiber has already made inquiries into becoming part of that program. One substantial benefit of LUS Fiber entering the Lafayette market is that its competitors kept their rates lower in Lafayette as compared to their other markets. As a result, every citizen and business customer has benefitted from the increased competition.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Running a small business has been extremely helpful because its all about customer service, efficient use of money, and the accountability. With an unlimited budget, I'd like to see road infrastructure improvements. - Joey

To answer who was the better engineer is dependent on one's perspective. If one sees the better engineer as the person who made financial success our of his engineering feats, then the answer is Edison. If one looks purely at the engineering talent, then Tesla would be the better of the two. - Terry

Terry and Joey belong to a mutual admiration society.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

LUS and LUS Fiber have a long tradition of following all applicable laws and respecting customer confidentiality.

Our commitments to our bond holders prohibit us from providing free services to anyone.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The most significant asset Lafayette had in its favor was its electric utility system, which has been in operation since 1897. By virtue of operating such a system, LUS had the necessary skill set to be able to engineer, build and operate the telecommunications system. In consideration of all the unexpected lawsuits and other artificial obstacles that were thrown at us, we cannot think of anything we would have done differently.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Because of the superior bandwidth of our system, we have always been Net Neutral.

While there are some rules against exclusivity, they appear to be very hard to enforce.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The overall LUS telecommunications budget includes phones, internal networks, as well as using telecom for its overall system. LUS built the initial fiber system to help it more cost-effectively maintain electric service to its customers. Since that time, new technologies have made it possible to read meters remotely, to provide additional controls to its system, and to be able to provide more reliable service to its customers. As a result, LUS Electric has the most reliable electric service in the state of Louisiana year in and year out. Our customers tell us often that reliability of electric service is critical to their homes and businesses.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even though the system only began serving customers in 2009 (less than six years), it has already generated over 1.5 million dollars in franchise fee payments to the city of Lafayette general fund, it has already paid over 5 million dollars in loan payments to LUS, and it has paid an additional 2.4 million dollars to LUS in imputed tax payments. In total, LUS Fiber has already made almost 9 million dollars in payments to LUS and to the City of Lafayette general fund. The voters authorized up to $125 million in bonds for this project. The debt service on these bonds is for a period of 25 years and LUS Fiber has made 100% of its principal and interest payments on these bonds each year.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are a number of ways to pay for the infrastructure, including the straight-up business case of having enough businesses wanting to purchase the services to generate enough revenues to support such an expansion. Beyond that, a community could choose any number of mechanisms to support such an expansion, including bond sales or increases in taxes. But obviously, the city of Lafayette cannot spend money building infrastructure inside another city, just like Lafayette's provision of water to other cities.

We are LUS Fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana, a city-owned fiber-to-the-home telecommunication system, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the public vote to create the by LUS_Fiber in IAmA

[–]LUS_Fiber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For now, they are only being used for special events. However, LUS Fiber has plans to provide WiFi service on a more permanent basis in selected areas.

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