This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Linda M. Sagendorf's letter ("UTOPIA is information highway robbery," August 27) mentions Shurtleff and Swallow with a completely unrelated UTOPIA issue to raise hackles, not to provide helpful information.
Now an apples to apples comparison is UTOPIA to Comcast.
Now the UTOPIA management isn't perfect, and may even be criminal; however it pales in comparison to the abuses committed by literally every other telecom (residential line provider) available in Utah.
The fact remains that the Internet is being taken over in America by a few big companies, who are quite effectively changing the open nature of the network. We all depend on the way this network currently functions. And for all the talk about "fairness" in this debate, one thing is crystal clear to me: UTOPIA provides a choice in monopoly land.
Furthermore I find it interesting that you'd rather every person affected (who has to pay a paltry $20) would be better served by funneling the money into education. In a Google and Facebook world where our children will never be able to say "I don't know" without the next line being "Look it up."
Without choices like UTOPIA, we're left to hope a giant company like Comcast hasn't blocked (or charging extra for) our access to information and opinion simply because there is no other access for fact-checking.
UTOPIA is an investment in ourselves. Has it been mismanaged? Yes. Do some think it's unfair? Yes. Does your narrow view excluding the national picture do our students and citizens any favors? No.
If anything, be a shill for mandatory line sharing, then every major ISP will be begging for a UTOPIA interconnect for their services, and your profit problem is suddenly solved.
Christopher Eaton
Salt Lake City