ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The City of Albuquerque is giving residents more options when it comes to internet providers, contracting three private companies to install fiber. 

“Think of this as the Olympics of fiber production, companies are going to want to come to our beautiful city and compete. They are welcome to do so, but they are going to find a very competitive high bar that they are going to have to meet,” said Catherine Nicolaou, the city’s Broadband Program manager.

But residents KOB 4 spoke to say the city’s goal is easier said than done, and all they’ve run into is a marathon of problems.

“We came home a week ago Saturday to find the fire department here and the ground dug up. Ezee Fiber apparently ruptured the gas line,” said Joan Newman, an Albuquerque homeowner. 

“They came in on a Saturday and started drilling through the easement, they hit our waterline,” said Scott Conger, another Albuquerque homeowner. 

Conger says he sees the city’s perspective in wanting to improve infrastructure, but says working out the issue when things do go wrong has been nearly impossible. 

“They closed the ticket prior to resolutions. I have not seen a licensed plumber on their part, I have not received reimbursement, and I am on several iterations of the initial ticket due to them closings their tickets prematurely,” Conger said. 

We turned to the city to ask about these complaints. They have issued stop-work orders to Gigapower and Vexus since work started. The issues with Ezee Fiber are more recent. 

“We will not hesitate to do that with the third company or again if we have to,” said Nicolaou.

This allows the private companies time to catch up on repairs before installing more fiber. Homeowners we spoke to hope by bringing attention to the issue, accountability will follow. 

“This is my home, this is my property, and they’re destroying it,” said Newman.  

The city has provided contact information for each of the fiber companies in case people have issues and need to reach them:

• Ezee Fiber, (505) 539-4848
• Gigapower, (505) 420-5195
• Vexus Fiber, (844) 512-5022