Southern Ute Tribe establishes fast, reliable internet network in southwest Colorado

The Southern Ute Tribe Reservation near Durango just got a massive upgrade as it stepped into the modern era for the internet. A multi-million dollar investment into a fiber network underground connecting homes in Ignacio to an open-source network owned by the tribe is now providing internet on average 25 times faster than what people living there had before. 

"It felt like the Stone Age," said Jonathan J. Chavez, a new fiber optic internet customer. "All I ever knew was AOL dial-up growing up." 

Chavez's new connection provides a stable online learning environment for him and his wife and ends the buffering struggles his five children faced while streaming videos. It also creates a sense of pride for his community.

"Being a tribal member and seeing the infrastructure, the time and the patience that the tribe has put into this and providing everybody, not just tribal members, but everybody with a service that is reliable," Chavez explained. "It's definitely a source of pride."

Bringing high-speed internet wasn't cheap. The Southern Ute Tribe secured $69.7 million in funding from state, federal, and private sources. Leah Cleve, Business operations manager for the Southern Ute shared services, said she's hopeful other tribes will follow in their footsteps, find funding as they have, and get to work establishing their own fiber networks. 

"I would want to encourage, especially Indian Country to keep pushing because it can be really overwhelming," Cleve said. "Talk to your NTIA people, the people that are offering funding for broadband can help you and they want to."

She said asking for help felt unnatural for the tribe, but ultimately made the program a reality. 

"I think that that is a barrier because when you think of the federal government, you don't necessarily think that they're going to be helpful," Cleve said. "But I have seen exactly the opposite; work with your state governments too." 

The pandemic highlighted the struggles of those without reliable internet. A study of average internet connectivity and speed found that eighty-six percent of homes on the reservation had speeds of 10 Mbps or lower, forcing some residents to resort to public Wi-Fi in parking lots of places like Starbucks to facilitate online learning or everyday business actions.  

But this is not just improved speeds; it's also a safety improvement for the community. Fast communication can be the difference between life and death in the event of a medical emergency. The current system suffers from a single point of failure; a severed line could disrupt service for the entire town and EMS services. The new plan eliminates this risk by rerouting internet traffic in case of a breakthrough in a second line, ensuring critical services like emergency response remain connected.

Another important aspect of the Southern Ute Tribe was that it owned the network. That makes sure that ever internet service providers (ISPs) end up helping customers, and there will still be competition in the market. In other areas, when the ISP owns the network too, they can charge whatever they want for service because they are the only ones able to provide service. 

"We are investing in the future of our tribal community," said Councilwoman Vanessa Torres. " Today, my tribe's new network will offer at least 250 megabytes per second download speeds, up to two gigabytes per second. "

It's the difference between feeling connected and feeling left behind for Chavez and his family. 

"I will see my kids be able to enjoy the Internet and not have to worry about the dial-up or things just falling off," he explained. "My son, he's a little science buff, so watching him talk about the black holes and learn the things that he's been learning from the educational shows he watches is amazing."

Chavez said his son doesn't get a lot of opportunities to learn like that. 

"He's autistic, and just watching him develop and talk about black holes and the solar system and things like that, it's amazing," Chavez said with a smile in his eyes. "I'm just proud to be in the community and watch everything that the tribe is doing and have the support for him to be able to make those connections. "