West Valley City Connect
On February 18, 2016, West Valley City announced its high-speed Wi-Fi initiative, West Valley City Connect, which will bring free Wi-Fi to city parks and buildings. The free Wi-Fi is being launched first at the West Valley Family Fitness Center and will expand to city parks this spring, allowing visitors to enjoy internet access with connection speeds up to 100 times faster than the national average.
About the Project
We are excited to offer free Wi-Fi to our residents and visitors,
says West Valley City Manager Wayne Pyle. This will allow people to stay connected to their families and to their work while they enjoy soccer or baseball games at our parks, when they work out at our Family Fitness Center or enjoying different events at our Cultural Center.” Offering Wi-Fi at our parks and our facilities enables West Valley City to become one of the most connected cities in the country.
Centennial Park and the West Valley City Family Fitness Center are the first locations to offer free West Valley City Connect Wi-Fi with plans to expand to more than 20 city parks and city facilities over the next 6 months. When completed, West Valley City will boast the largest number of public parks and spaces with free Wi-Fi access in the state. Progress can be followed at the WV Connect website.
Internet access is no longer a luxury; it is becoming a necessity,
Pyle continues. This is about providing high speed Internet service to communities within our city that haven’t before had access.
Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency
West Valley City Connect is part of the UTOPIA (Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency) network, which will be expanding throughout the city during the upcoming year. In addition to the installation of Wi-Fi in public places, UTOPIA will expand residential access to their fiber optic network, with more than 2,700 West Valley City homes expected to be connected by the end of 2016. To fulfill this offering, West Valley City is leveraging preexisting assets that are part of UTOPIA’s state-of-the-art fiber optic network.
The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, more commonly known as UTOPIA, consists of a group of Utah cities that joined together to form an ultra-high-speed fiber-optic network and provide critical advanced communications infrastructure to their residents. The network offers fiber-to-the-premises technology allowing for faster services that are uninterrupted by copper wiring or shared connections with neighbors. Its open access model fosters competition among private sector service providers who offer Internet, television, telephone and other services, giving customers the freedom to choose their own service providers, the best prices and the best service.