When Loveland’s city-run broadband utility flipped the switch in June 2020, Pulse Manager Brieana Reed‑Harmel wasn’t sure what to expect. Launching a multi-million dollar fiber optic network presented enough challenges, but launching during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic changed Pulse’s game plan entirely.
“We had been planning to do a big celebration and bring the community out and we had to pivot to doing online,” she recalled. “Instead of doing balloons and party planning, we were designing Zoom backgrounds and sending out packages in the mail to folks, rather than packing gift bags for dignitaries.”
As it turned out, the timing couldn’t have been better. With thousands of residents suddenly working and learning from home, demand for high-speed, reliable internet was peaking.
“It really brought into stark contrast the need to have strong, reliable connections,” Reed‑Harmel said. “Prior to that, there was still a lot of discussion about broadband being a luxury — something for watching YouTube videos or playing games. But when everyone had to be at home, had to be connected, it really changed things.”
It was a turning point that helped Pulse gain early traction in the community. Now, the homegrown internet utility is marking a major milestone — five years of delivering high-speed, city-run broadband to thousands of Loveland homes and businesses.
After a stronger than expected start, Pulse began connecting homes neighborhood by neighborhood, and, by the end of 2023, had fiber connections available to nearly every address in Loveland. Five years after its rollout, the percentage of potential customers who signed up, known as the “take rate,” is 42%, far above the initial projection in the low 30s.
In the meantime, the municipal broadband service has also earned a long list of national and local accolades, including from PCMag as one of the fastest and most reliable internet providers in the country.
Beyond the numbers, Pulse has expanded its footprint outside of Loveland’s boundaries. The utility is now building out service in the town of Timnath through an intergovernmental partnership and has worked to bring broadband access to underserved rural areas in the foothills west of Loveland. It also supplies internet to the Thompson School District, supporting connectivity for schools across the region.
But most importantly to Reed-Harmel, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Les Cherry, the 27th customer to sign up with Pulse after its launch, said he made the switch because he was frustrated with his former provider’s cost and performance.
“I had horrible service,” he said. “And, working from home, it was important for me to have reliable service.”
After considering his options, the software and information technology consultant decided to take a chance on Pulse, lured by its promises of faster service at a lower cost. Five years on, he said that Pulse has not only delivered on those promises, but gone far above and beyond his expectations.
“I’m still on the least expensive service, and still very, very happy with it,” he said.
Pulse also has big fans in Loveland’s business community. Andrew Hardin, an IT systems specialist who supports several Loveland businesses, including downtown co-working space Desk Chair, said the arrival of the city-run network was transformative.
Like Cherry, Hardin said Desk Chair’s former internet provider had struggled with outages, long downtimes and questionable customer service, and switching to Pulse has been a “game changer.”
“We’ve been thrilled,” Hardin said. “The uptime has been fantastic. …They do maintenance in the night time, not during the day and we just have no issues.”
But what really sets Pulse apart, he continued, is the local support.
“You’re not calling a massive corporation with headquarters in another state,” Hardin said. “You’re talking to people who are local, who can drop by and talk through things in person. That’s been invaluable.”
Hardin now recommends Pulse to his clients whenever it’s available, saying it “just makes sense” for small businesses in Loveland.
Reed‑Harmel said the kind of feedback shared by customers like Cherry and Hardin reflects what Pulse set out to build, namely a utility built on “commitment to the community, hyper local customer service and reliability.”
“Our team is fully committed to the cause,” Reed-Harmel said. “We live and work here in Loveland, our children go to school here. We shop at local businesses and eat out here. We want Loveland to be successful, and we know that by doing the best job we can every day, we’re contributing to that.”
Still, she’s quick to point out that Pulse’s success didn’t come without setbacks.
Building out a new utility during a global pandemic meant figuring out how to enter people’s homes safely while still delivering service, which caused some delays. And after the pandemic peaked, supply chain disruptions and inflation drove up the cost of materials, prompting Pulse in 2022 to seek a $15 million inter-city loan from the power utility to keep the build-out going.
And Loveland’s rapid pace of new residential development has added another layer of complexity.
“It’s a good problem to have, but it’s still a challenge,” she said. “Just as we’re finishing the initial buildout, we’re also working to keep up with growth.”
But not all neighborhoods have been reached equally. Residents at a mobile home park on the city’s east side have expressed frustration that their community still isn’t connected, especially as Pulse expands into places like Timnath.
Fred Jacobs, Pulse public relations and brand engagement manager, acknowledged those concerns and said the organization is working on finishing up those final connections.
“I know we are working and scheduling as fast as we can,” Jacobs said in an email. “We do try to put maps up on the website that talk about roughly where we are working and future sites but we don’t get more specific as competition would target our specificity before we could “go live” there. So we’ll get there!”
He went on to say that the Timnath project is not interfering with more local construction.
“(It’s an) entirely separate buildout, separate crew allocation — not taking resources of any kind away from Loveland projects,” he said. “Our contract with Timnath is funded by the town of Timnath so they pay for their own Pulse resources as they build out.”
As for what to expect in Pulse’s next five years, Reed‑Harmel said the focus will be on deepening community ties and expanding access beyond Loveland’s borders.
“We’re so proud of what we’ve been able to offer Loveland, and we feel that it should be shared with other communities,” she said. “We feel very strongly that community broadband is unique and special, and what Loveland has, others should have it too.”
That means continuing the buildout in Timnath, pursuing additional regional partnerships and keeping a close watch on federal broadband funding programs that could help support further expansion. At the same time, she said, Pulse will stay focused on reliability, customer service, and adapting to new technology as bandwidth demands continue to grow.
“This has been the most challenging and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my career,” Reed‑Harmel said. “To actually see it come together and be more successful than I was even anticipating has been hugely satisfying.”
Pulse plans to celebrate its five-year anniversary over the coming months at events throughout Loveland and is giving away five “free internet for a year” prizes. It is also offering a five-year price lock of their 2 gigabyte service plans.
For more information about Pulse broadband services and the anniversary prices, visit Pulsefiber.org.