Select Cottonwood Heights residents can now expect fiber to be coming available for their home usage. SenaWave’s Chief Revenue Officer Ladd Marshall spoke to the Cottonwood Heights City Council on March 19 about their current infrastructure development for fiber along with their future development and service plans.  

This may come as either a welcome surprise or an abrupt shock for residents within the city, when considering the previous council conversations with fiber optic infrastructure. For over two years, the Cottonwood Heights City Council has been in open conversations with various fiber companies to try and determine which fiber company would be best suited for the city. 

Part of the reason fiber has not yet been available throughout the city is because of the requirements and mandates set within current city code and ordinances. Hearing from UTOPIA, Google Fiber, Century Link, and Comcast in 2022, these companies would require alterations to the city’s ordinances to be able to develop infrastructure throughout the city. 

City staff members, city leaders, and elected officials were in process of evaluating these various fiber companies to determine which would ultimately be best for the city and win a contract to develop infrastructure under specific conditions, when SenaWave came onto the scene. 

SenaWave was able to meet all the requirements set out in the current city’s code and ordinances so they were able to move forward with their permitting through the city offices without getting explicit approval from all five of the city councilmembers. 

“They are already within the ordinances within the city so there won’t be any need to update the documents,” said Mayor Mike Weichers. 

The ordinance the mayor is referencing here dates back to March 2022 when Ordinance 376: Granting a Telecommunications System Franchise to Vaix Inc. DBA SenaWave Communications was unanimously approved by the previous city council. 

Fiber infrastructure has begun to be developed toward the east boundary of the city along Wasatch Boulevard, near the mouth of the canyons. SenaWave is currently laying conduit and pulling fiber lines.

“All fiber optic is in the ground,” said Marshall. “We try to match where the other utilities are in the public easement of the road. There is a hole that has to be dug so we can drill or launch with a bore….We can lay the grass back down. When it’s done properly, stuff grows back.” 

When considering providing fiber to apartment complexes within the city, Marshall reaffirmed his understanding that every apartment complex is different and agreements with property owners need to be negotiated. 

“We pride ourselves on being real easy to work with,” Marshall said. “We care about our customers and the neighborhoods.” 

Marshall reported that SenaWave offers fiber and internet residential services from $55 up to $200 monthly, depending on desired internet speed and download/upload capacity.  

“We like to be a breath of fresh air for pricing,” Marshall said. 

Marshall also mentioned that SenaWave has 24/7 tech support and can often have techs within the Cottonwood Heights area within 24-48 hours, if not the same day. 

To contact SenaWave directly: call 801-217-9000 or email [email protected]. 

SenaWave plans to have fiber in front of 500 residents’ doors by the time of this publication run. Their target is to have fiber throughout the city within two years. Cottonwood Heights residents who wish to learn more about SenaWave and/or pre-sign-up for fiber can visit their website at: www.senawave.com/cottonwoodheights.

To view recaps of the previous presentations from UTOPIA, Google Fiber, Century Link, and Comcast, search for “fiber” on the Cottonwood Heights City Journals website at: www.cottonwoodheightsjournal.com.

The Cottonwood Heights City Council wanted to iterate to residents that even though SenaWave is currently developing their fiber infrastructure, that doesn’t mean they were the preferred company for fiber throughout the city by all current members of the city council, as the conversation deliberating on which fiber company would be best for the city are ongoing. Councilmember Suzanne Hyland plans to write more in her feature in the May edition of the Cottonwood Heights City Newsletter. λ