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Tusayan continues to feel Internet woes
Research into bandwidth availability continues, discussions with Qwest slowly moving forward

Clara Beard/WGCN</br><br /><br /><!-- 1upcrlf2 -->From left: Tusayan Mayor Greg Bryan, Vice Mayor Cecily Maniaci and Councilman John Rueter take copious notes during last week’s regular council meeting.

Clara Beard/WGCN</br><br /><br /><!-- 1upcrlf2 -->From left: Tusayan Mayor Greg Bryan, Vice Mayor Cecily Maniaci and Councilman John Rueter take copious notes during last week’s regular council meeting.

TUSAYAN, Ariz. - Internet bandwidth availability was again discussed at the Tusayan Town Council's June 1 regular meeting. The council is determined to explore every avenue in order to secure service for the town's current and future demand.

Councilmember John Rueter, who has been researching Internet availability for the council, suggested looking into the possibility of securing a tower, or space on a tower, in conjunction with the Forest Service. He said another idea would be to access service from Tusayan's existing towers - the water tank site and school site - while continuing to work with Qwest and their parent company CenturyLink.

Another option would be for the council to form a partnership with the National Park Service, he said.

"But the question then becomes how much bandwidth can be delivered and how much bandwidth are we going to end up with in the future," Rueter said.

Rueter said he wants to continue to exhaust all other opportunities available to better the Internet service in Tusayan, teaming up with Town Manager Enrique Ochoa.

"Right now my research seems to indicate that Qwest already has everyone as pretty much a happy customer. I'm not sure about their incentive money-wise to pursue this and we are pretty small, and, like I said, they have most of our business anyway," he said.

Mayor Greg Bryan said he was not encouraged by his own findings. Using his business, the Best Western Squire Inn, as an example, he said conversations with Qwest regarding Internet expansion began nine or ten months ago. In order to provide fiber optics in town, Qwest said they would need around $1,000,000.

"In fact, about six weeks ago my staff submitted a request for about four more DSL lines to Qwest and they responded back with a contract that said, 'per your request for four additional DSL lines please find attached steps necessary to take in your commitment to pay the $1,140,620 and we will proceed,'" Bryan said.

Since then, Bryan said Qwest has made some effort to assist the town saying the renewal of existing commercial contracts would be considered as part of the $1 million required. According to Bryan, Qwest has also found additional funding available through grants which could bridge the economic gap even further.

"They felt that they could get up to the five or six hundred thousand dollars on a 10-year commitment of current services. They could find the other three to four hundred thousand through other grants," Bryan said, adding since CenturyLink has purchased Qwest, they are more attuned to help rural Arizona areas.

To date, Bryan reported Qwest has received minimal response from businesses in town willing to renew their contract. He urged Qwest to explain how service renewal will help the town.

"Qwest are not asking for an increased higher telephone service renewal, they are simply asking for a renewal that can then be credited to that," he said. "Barring those numbers being put together that would provide a foundation, it's not going to move forward."

Bryan went on to say he was frustrated because his business was the only one in town that renewed its contract with Qwest. Others have not followed up or responded, which Bryan said he blamed on the salesman for not following through with customers.

Other considerations Bryan said he has discussed with Rueter include national grants and other types of services. Otherwise, Bryan said his business is "oversubscribed and maxed out" in terms of providing access points to the public.

"But Qwest can't provide us with the bandwidth coming in to manage it," he added.

Bryan said he supported working with Rueter to find a solution to the disconnected issue, adding the council has committed $125,000 for two years in hopes of improving Internet access in the Tusayan community.

"That's just a process that the council was looking at at that time," he said. "Whether it ends up there, we will see."


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