NextLight — Longmont’s community owned fiber-optic internet service provider — has been named the second fastest ISP in the nation by PC Magazine. This marks the fifth straight year NextLight has been in the top four nationally.
The designation drives home the point that NextLight’s speed, consistency and community ownership grew even more vital during the two years of working-at-home edicts, Scott Rochat, NextLight spokesman said via email.
The ease by which Longmont residents can work from their living rooms, was noted earlier this year when Longmont was named one of the top 20 work-from-home cities in the nation, Rochat said.
Also, at a time when the nation’s upstream traffic has exploded — growing 2.6 times since 2018 — NextLight customers are perfectly positioned to handle video conferences, streaming television, remote learning and more, Rochat said.
“That regardless of income, Longmont households can have access to some of the fastest speeds in the nation through NextLight’s income-qualified discounts, as noted this year on Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid,” Rochat said.
NextLight notched a first-place ranking in 2018 from PC Magazine. NextLight doubled its score from last year, finishing behind only California-based Sonic, a NextLight news release states.
“Local ISP’s … really shine as you can see,” PC Magazine wrote as quoted in the news release. “If Sonic’s boost this year is a blip, NextLight’s consistency could put it on top in 2023.”
This year’s rankings listed three of the five fastest ISP’s being wholly or mostly Colorado-focused. In addition to NextLight’s second-place finish, the top contenders included Fort Collins Connexion at no. 4 and Allo Communications at no.5, the news release states.
NextLight also finished first in the seven-state Northwest region with Connexion in second place, the news release states.
PC Magazine bases its scores on a combination of upload and download speeds. A provider must log at least 100 speed tests with the magazine to qualify, according to the news release.
“We truly appreciate all the NextLight customers whose continuing support has helped NextLight, and Longmont flourish and grow,” said Valerie Dodd, NextLight’s executive director, in the news release.”We’re thrilled to once more have the country recognize NextLight and our consistent commitment to providing the highest-quality internet service to the residents and businesses of our community.”
