Ezee Fiber to add to Rio Rancho's internet options

So much for the notion that Rio Rancho is a one-horse town when it comes to internet service options.

A long-standing myth was that the City of Vision had an anti-competition clause when it comes to internet providers. Rio Rancho citizens now have several internet options and soon will have another as Ezee Fiber is expanding into Rio Rancho.

The city of Rio Rancho and Comcast agreed to a nonexclusive franchise agreement in May and granted Vexus Fiber, LLC, a nonexclusive franchise to operate a telecommunications network within the city limits in October.

The Rio Rancho Governing Body voted unanimously at its July 25 meeting in favor of an ordinance granting Ezee Fiber a non-exclusive franchise to operate a fiber optic internet system in the City of Vision.

“We will be the first city in the state of New Mexico that has fiber optic service directly to the house for most homes,” Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull said. “Rio Rancho will be the first city with that type of deployment. No other city in the state has fiber to house almost there to virtually every house.

Comcast will be spending $150 million in Rio Rancho. Ezee Fiber said it will spend over $250 million in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.

As part of the agreement, Ezee Fiber will pay 5% of gross revenues to the city of Rio Rancho for the next 10 years. That revenue will be used to provide a variety of public services through the city’s general fund.

“We have multiple choices. Actually, we have more choices than any other city in the state. And once Vexus and Ezee Fiber go in, we will be pretty much the most wired city in the state as far as fiber optic goes. You will have a lot of choices, and this will make an extremely competitive market,” Hull said.

The latest company to enter that market is Ezee Fiber, a Houston-based fiber optic telecommunications company providing high-speed fiber internet for residential and business customers. Ezee Fiber currently operates and is expanding in the Houston Metroplex with network presence in Houston, the Woodlands, Sugar Land, Conroe, Pearland, Spring, Katie, among other jurisdictions. Ezee Fiber provides fiber-to-home services and enterprise services to communities. For residences, Ezee Fiber provides home internet services with download and upload speeds ranging from one gigabyte to 20 gigabytes. Ezee Fiber provides telecom services for small, medium and large businesses and enterprises with download and upload speeds ranging from one gigabyte to 100 gigabytes. In other metropolitan areas, Ezee Fiber provides services to municipalities, eRate school networks, police and fire departments, parks, the federal government and other governmental entities.

Ezee Fiber has requested permission to start a franchise in Rio Rancho to connect the local community by operating a fiber optic telecommunications network that can provide greater bandwidth to meet the city’s growing need for internet services.

Ezee Fiber general manager of New Mexico operations Carlos Rosas, vice president of government affairs Garner Duncan and vice president of engineering and market expansion Seann Perry gave a presentation at the June 27 governing body meeting, where the ordinance got its first reading and were on hand to answer questions July 25 when the ordinance was approved.

“Our move into New Mexico will allow residents to enjoy a significantly better internet experience driven by industry-leading internet speeds up to eight gigabytes at incredible prices. Our customers have honored us with a 4.9 Google rating and thousands of five-star reviews. There are no contracts, fees or data caps,” Rosas said. “Our service includes lifetime pricing and friendly, local customer service. Long wait times, outdated technology, confusing bills and frustrating customer service will be history for any new Ezee Fiber customers. We are committed to being your reliable partner in today's digital world.”

While another internet option is a plus for the city, the wounds from the Comcast rollout are still fresh for the mayor.

“We've got PTSD already and we're not done with the first round,” Hull said.

Comcast initiated its installation in residential areas late last year, and it got off to a bumpy start.

After hearing some complaints from residents about the installation process, Hull and the city have held several productive meetings with Comcast representatives.

“Part of those meetings was the fact that we were getting a lot of concerns that Comcast was moving very rapidly, coming in very strong and there was a lack of communication as they were going through these neighborhoods,” Hull said. “I went and walked an entire street knocking on doors randomly saying, ‘Hey, did anybody talk to you about what this is?’ And, of course, they all said no. And I said, ‘OK, I'm going to be working with the company to try to improve that communication level.’ I immediately called Comcast and met with their construction manager, the communications department and said, 'There are steps that I think you really need to take.’”

Among those steps are yard signs and door hangers to provide information to residents and businesses in advance of any work impacting each neighborhood. The door hangers will include a phone number to contact with any questions or concerns.

Ezee Fiber plans to make communication with residents a vital part of its construction process.

“The number-one thing we’ve learned is that residents need to be informed. They want to know what's coming,” Perry said. “So that's probably 90% of our focus.”

The Rio Rancho Governing Body warned Ezee Fiber representatives at the July 25 meeting that effective communication is crucial in various projects and situations, including infrastructure development, disaster response and stakeholder engagement.

“Comcast did come in. For the most part, the deployment of their service has been pretty good. It hasn't come without its bumps along the way. And we've been looking at those individual bumps that have happened, but when you think about the total number of issues that have been created, to compare to the total number of houses that they brought online and are now able to service has been a pretty low percentage, but we've been very proactive about going out and addressing those concerns,” Hull said. “As a matter of fact, I was at an individual's house just yesterday, going over concerns and came out, went to their house with this construction supervisor from Comcast. And we met with the resident, got everything pretty much worked out and I think we took care of them. But that's what we're doing is we're trying to get out to meet the needs. Make sure that we're getting through these various different scenarios as quickly as possible.”

The governing body talked about some issues from the Comcast rollout to stress the importance of timely and clear communication, transparency, accountability and respect for residents' properties.

“I would just like to ask you that you gentlemen continue to be in constant communication with city staffers. We are having significant challenges with another company, and we need to ensure that our folks do not have to go through those steps,” District 6 Councilor Nicole List said. “So all we need is for you to stay in constant communication with the city to ensure that it's a much smoother process. Because it is not fair for people to have to go through this.”

District 3 Councilor Bob Tyler agreed that Ezee Fiber must do better than Comcast has.

“Please don't be as horrible as Comcast, and I'll call it what it is, it has been horrible. It's not been enjoyable at all,” Tyler said. “Please stay in contact with the city because we need to ensure that our citizens and the work that's getting done is in the best interest of the city, the citizens and then your company. So that's third. Everything else comes first and second.”

Both Duncan and Perry emphasized Ezee Fiber’s commitment to delivering high-quality internet services, prioritizing customer satisfaction and collaboration with local authorities.

“Our dedication to communication is two-fold. One, it allows us to keep the city to allow us to keep moving forward at a nice pace. But it also allows us to earn trust with those homeowners and eventually, hopefully have them as customers,” Perry said. “So we 100% believe in that communication for you and for us. We promise to stay in communication with city leaders, community leaders and residents themselves and address those concerns quickly and promptly.”

The company aims for effective communication and problem-solving in construction projects, including the need for proactive communication with residents, a single point of contact for resolution and utilizing technology to minimize disruption.

“Is it a bit disruptive? Yes. But progress is always disruptive,” Hull said. “When you want to fix a road, it's disruptive to get to a new road. When you want to build a new road just by itself, it's disruptive to what's around it at the time. So whether it's reconstruction of roads, replacing of water pipes, bringing in new communication services or connectivity services, there's always going to be some bumps and hiccups. But at the end of the day, when the orange barrels get pulled back and traffic is released on a new street, everything is wonderful.”