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High-speed Internet coming to Copper

Lu Snyder

COPPER MOUNTAIN – It’s final – Copper Mountain is going high speed.

Metro district officials signed a three-year contract Friday with ResortInternet, a company based out of Denver, to install high-speed Internet throughout the resort’s village.

The service will use Copper Mountain’s cable television infrastructure and should be available to homeowners and businesses by Dec. 1, said Eric Geis, president of ResortInternet.



Subscribers will have to purchase a cable modem from ResortInternet – specific to the Copper system – to access the high-speed Internet service. The cable modem costs $70 and will prevent people from poaching the system, Geis said.

ResortInternet is offering two installation options to its Internet customers. Self-installation, available only for those subscribing to the basic service, will cost $20. Professional installation – required for those opting for premium services – is $55.



Officials expect to recuperate the approximately $42,000 installation costs within the first several years. Copper Mountain’s high-speed installation will be ResortInternet’s first village project.

Copper’s Internet customers will be able to choose between three different levels of service; the standard package, offering 384 Kbps, will cost $19.95, enhanced high speed includes basic service plus five e-mail addresses and 25 Mb of Web-hosting disk space for $34.95, and the premium service offers a 512 Kbps connection with 10 e-mail addresses and 25 Mb of Web-hosting disk space for $99.95.

The service also includes a 24-hours-per-day, seven-day-a-week help desk for users, with a technician based in Summit County.

The Copper Metro District will receive a small commission for the service. They estimate about 400 users to subscribe this winter, which would generate about $24,000 a year.

ResortInternet said they will begin by installing one T-1 line, but will provide additional T-1s for every 400 subscribers.

Interested customers can access the subscription form at ResortInternet’s Web site at http://www.resortinternet.com/CMCMDIorderform.

Copper to begin

wastewater improvements

COPPER MOUNTAIN – Copper Mountain Metro District officials signed a contract Friday for more than $7 million of improvements, repairs and expansion of the resort’s wastewater treatment facility.

District officials, who received bids from three different companies for the project, agreed to sign a contract with the lowest bidder – Cortez-based Southwest Contracting, Inc. Bids ranged from Southwest’s $7,055,000 to just under $8 million.

Now that contract negotiations have been finalized, construction workers can begin work on the facility in about a week, said Mike Koenig, district director.

Construction workers will install some of the infrastructure for the project this fall before calling it quits for the winter. They will resume building in April and continue work through the following winter. The project should be complete by the end of 2005, Koenig said.

The expanded and improved facility will have the capacity to process sewage from the resort through its anticipated buildout, including Intrawest’s long-term, buildout proposal currently being reviewed by county officials.

The proposal, known as the Comprehensive Development Strategy (CDS), includes a performing arts center, a large hotel and about 1,244 single-family, duplex, townhome and condominium units. It is projected to take 15 to 20 years to complete, Intrawest officials have said.

Once complete, the improved and expanded facility will have almost twice the capacity it has today. The plant currently can treat 700,000 million gallons of wastewater per day (mgd).

The district has $5.5 million for the project in the bank already. Though officials briefly discussed putting a mill levy question on November’s ballot to fund the remainder of the cost, they opted instead to get a loan from the state.

– Lu Snyder

Lu Snyder can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 203, or lsnyder@summitdaily.com


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