If the city of Fort Collins made a sound while examining the possibility at offering its own Internet service, it'd be the chirps and whirrs of a 56K modem — Almost connected but with no guarantee of success.

City officials have discussed pursuing a municipal broadband offering for several years, but the effort hasn't moved beyond the discussion phase until this year. City officials set aside $300,000 in the 2015-16 budget to create a strategic plan for providing community broadband, with a recommendation planned to go before city council by the end of the year.

Establishing the city's Broadband Strategic Plan will also be a topic at a Tuesday work session.

"Talking about it from an economic development perspective, having super-fast Internet and ubiquitous WiFi, that can help people and businesses to access the Internet for all sorts of things," said City Councilman Wade Troxell, who's been working on the issue.