A year ago, Garlick and Billings told the City Council the $2.1 million loan this year would be enough if iProvo generated 60 new subscribers a week.

So far, so good.

The city met that standard through the first half of the fiscal year, through Dec. 31. The rate has slowed since then.

"We're beholden to our two service providers," Garlick said.

The city does not provide the Internet access, television and phone service over the iProvo network. Those come from MStar and Veracity, which lease the network space.

"Veracity tends to gear up with summer sales," Garlick said. "They add the college population to their sales force and aggressively sell. They were great last summer. Right now, MStar is currently better at sales."

Garlick said Veracity is making a $1 million investment in its phone service. MStar added a new phone switch in November.

Those investments are welcomed by the city because the companies have weathered complaints.

"Phone service is still not to the level we'd be excited about, but it is still improving," Garlick told the City Council.

Garlick hopes the improvements lead to a new bundle of subscribers.

"I know many have said they are waiting to sign up until the kinks are out. I'm hoping that is the next big wave of subscribers, those people who have said they want to support the community network but have waited because of the stories that are out there."

The iProvo network hit another glitch recently when some fiber cables began to fail in cold weather. Garlick said the city is meeting again this week with the manufacturers of the fiber and other equipment, and with the contractor who installed the pieces.

The problem is isolated but could cost $100,000 to $200,000. Garlick said the cost could be paid for by the manufacturers or the contractor.

Subscribers to iProvo break down into three groups. Apartment complexes make up 5,000 of the subscriptions. Nearly 4,100 are residential customers. The city has almost 400 commercial accounts.

The real untapped vein are those business accounts, but Garlick said tapping them requires Veracity and MStar to create specialized sales forces.

"If we just take that number from 400 to 4,000 business customers," Billings told the City Council, "that would make this system rock. I think the future is bright."

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com