UKIAH, CA., 10/16/26 — Eeeee-AWWWW. Bong-bong. Ksshhhhhhhhhh. That was the sound of getting online over a phone line. A 56K modem topped out at 56 kilobits per second coming in and 33.6 going out.
We’ve come a long way since those noisy phone modems. Ukiah’s new city-owned fiber network supports symmetrical speeds of up to 2.3 gigabits per second, the same in both directions, according to the city. That’s about 41,000 times a 56K modem’s best download and about 68,000 times its best upload.
The city and Vero Fiber, the company that operates the network, will celebrate the project Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 4 p.m. at the Civic Center, 300 Seminary Ave. Their invitation says the project “has already delivered fiber internet infrastructure to over 2,000 homes and businesses.” City officials, the Vero team and a representative of the California Public Utilities Commission, which awarded the project’s grant, are expected to attend. The invitation also promises to explain “how to save on your utility bill each month.” Appetizers and treats will be served.
The 2,000 figure is up from 1,600 in mid-August, when the city and Vero announced that homes and businesses were “live and ready for fiber internet service activation,” including along South State Street between East Gobbi Street and Talmage Road. Neither the August announcement nor the invitation says how many homes and businesses have signed up.
Who owns it, who pays
The city owns the fiber. Vero runs it under a 35-year lease the City Council approved in August 2025, after the city’s first private partner withdrew that April. The public utility commission’s grant of up to $5,587,154 pays for most of the first phase, and a June city staff report put Vero’s investment at about $1 million. That report said construction began in March 2026, and that the project had paid for about $1.7 million in electric utility improvements, including pole inspections and pole replacements.
The grant required service to at least 375 locations the state counts as unserved. Another 3,385 locations that already have a wired internet provider get a second choice, according to the city. Vero will also serve 14 city facilities free, including the Ukiah Police Department and the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, which staff estimates will save the city about $60,000 a year.
Under the lease, Vero starts paying the city a $12,000 annual fee once it reaches 800 subscribers in Ukiah, plus $1,500 for each additional 100.
What it costs
Vero’s standard plans start at $49.95 a month for 300 megabits per second and run to $129.95 for 2.3 gigabits, according to the August 2025 staff report. Income-qualified plans start at about $39.95, according to the city, and prices are fixed for five years, as the grant requires.
The grant application, filed before Vero came on, listed lower prices: $29.99 a month for low-income customers at 10 gigabits per second, and $39.99 for a 50-megabit plan open to anyone, according to the commission’s resolution awarding the grant. The resolution requires grant recipients to charge no more than the application’s prices for five years after the project is finished. It also lets them ask the commission to modify that requirement.
The deadline
When the council approved the Vero partnership, staff warned that the grant required construction to be finished by Oct. 28, 2026, “regardless of the reasons preventing timely completion,” and that if it wasn’t, the commission “can withhold any grant funds not yet disbursed and can seek to recover some or all of the disbursed funds.”
An Oct. 7 staff report cites a “Broadband grant deadline of February.” That report asked the council to approve plans and seek bids for an underground bore beneath U.S. Highway 101 at North State Street. The fiber needs to cross the highway there “to access unserved locations on the north side of the highway,” the report says. Staff wanted to seek bids while still working with Caltrans and the county on permits.
Once the grant-funded phase is done, a second phase, privately funded by Vero, is expected to extend service citywide, according to the city.
Fiber now reaches more than 2,000 of the 3,000 homes and businesses in the first phase. The city expects the rest, including unserved locations north of Highway 101, to have access by early 2027. Fiber reaching a home doesn’t mean the home has service. Customers have to sign up with Vero.
Can tiny towns do this too?
Who is following the Vero’s construction crews around making sure they clean up after them selves? I’m guessing no one because they leave a mess where ever they go. They created trip hazards in the Oak Manor area months ago and have not been seen since. They did drop cones last month but nothing after that.