Summit Daily News reported Frisco is considering improvements to internet service and has installed conduits for fiber installation. It’s asking for proposals. Foremost has to be the question of whether it will install its own fiber and follow Breckenridge’s path.

In 2018 Breckenridge approved spending $8 million on a town-owned fiber network to create a backbone for users. Despite its intent to create competition for its fiber network, it granted an exclusive right to ALLO Communications. And how well has that taxpayer money been spent?

Richard Himmelstein of Breckenridge recently wrote in a letter to Summit Daily News that the town is “about 70% complete with less than 200 subscribers (with the town being the largest user of the network).” That’s a horrible “take rate.” That amounts to $10,000 per user. Money well spent?

Vanessa Agee, communications director and project manager for Frisco, said in an article that although Frisco currently relies on DSL and that cable connections its internet download and upload speeds are “not that great.”

So I randomly checked what Comcast offers for a home now for sale in Frisco and advertised in Summit Daily News: 317 Creekside Drive. Entering this address into Comcast’s app returned offers for 300, 600 and 1,200 megabits per second. Those speeds aren’t fast enough? Really.

The site HighSpeedInternet.com says 500 to 1,000 Mbps is good enough for “doing a lot of almost anything on numerous devices simultaneously.”

Comcast’s Infinity meets that threshold. (Disclaimer: I have had and have no association with Comcast.)

So will Frisco follow Breckenridge down an apparently foolish path? Or would the money be better spent on workforce housing as Mr. Himmelstein suggests?