Ask Mr. Answer Person: Why isn't Metronet saving the city money?"

Chris e-mails Mr. Answer Person: "I am curious how much the Metronet repair is actually costing the city taxpayers.  With all the hype on "better, cheaper and faster" Internet for the folks in Decorah, we have been led to believe that it will not cost taxpayer dollars.  Looks like it's costing us now.  Can you explain?"

Mr. Answer Person says, "Yes, we can!  The repairs to the Metronet cost $110,000.  But the expenses will be split six equal ways, with Winneshiek County, Luther College, Winneshiek Medical Center, Decorah School District and Upper Explorerland Regional Planning reimbursing the city a total of $91,666.  That means the net cost to the city will be $18,333.

The repairs were needed in part because--as decorahnews.com reported earlier (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2015/03/10394.html)--squirrels chewed into the fiber cables strung from pole to pole in the city.  Metronet members felt this repair and some others did not fit into the category of "routine maintenance," so the six founding members of Metronet were asked to chip in the extra money.

As for the "better, cheaper and faster" claim, the "better and faster" part has been true.  Metronet members had been getting Internet speeds of 3-5 mbps.  They are now getting Internet speeds of up to 1,000 mbps (1GBps).  That means the speed is from 200 to 333 times faster than their previous speed.

As for the "cheaper" claim, the six Metronet members decided they would be satisfied with paying the same price, so they are now getting speeds 200 to 333 times faster than before--and paying the same prices.

With institutions like Winneshiek Medical Center and Luther College and with governments that include schools, city and county, speed is important.  What does it mean to have those kinds of speeds?  A two-hour movie can be downloaded in 40 minutes to one hour at 3-5 mbps speeds.  Using the high-speed fiber network, a two-hour movie can be downloaded in 15 seconds.