UTOPIA customers now have access to the nation's fastest Internet connection with its new 50Mbps residential product. Before the change, Mstar offered a 15Mbps product.

The connection is available through Mstar, one of the Internet, TV and phone providers on UTOPIA, or the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, a fiber-optic network in 14 Utah cities. The network includes Cedar Hills, Lindon, Orem and Payson.

The Utah-based service provider announced on Thursday that it began offering a 50Mbps connection to the Internet over the UTOPIA network Oct. 22.

"With this connection, the Web sites you visit or your PC will now be the limiting factors to the speed you experience, but you'll absolutely have the fastest connection to the Internet available in the United States today," said Ben Gould, Mstar's president and chief executive officer, in a news release.

According to Mstar, the new 50Mbps connection is at least four times faster than the fastest cable connections on download speeds, and more than 10 times faster on uploads. Mstar also offers service on the iProvo fiber-optic network.

Matt Clayton, director of marketing for Mstar, said UTOPIA offered the new product to the company, but Provo isn't offering it yet. If Provo offers the change to its users, approximately 30,000 available customers could benefit.

"It's something I think that can be done rather quickly," he said.

Kevin Garlick, acting telecom manager for Provo, said the city has only recently heard about the offer and has not had a chance to make a decision.

Before any changes can be made, he said, city administrators must know all the details of the product and how it will affect the consumers. At this point, officials have not gone through the necessary steps to make a decision.

"We're in discussions," Garlick said. "We think there are a lot of issues that need to be worked out before we make the change."

Gould said in the news release that Mstar's 50Mbps Internet connection lays the groundwork for more convergence.

"In the near future we will be adding the ability for users to control their phone, TV, home security, even home appliances from the Web," he said. "The problem has always been where to find the bandwidth to do that. That's not a problem in a fiber-optics to the home network."