The Lawrence City Commission was right Tuesday to delay a decision on guaranteeing a $1 million loan that Wicked Broadband would use to bring higher speed Internet access to Lawrence.

The city pledged to get a decision to Wicked by Nov. 11. Barring unforeseen changes in Wicked’s proposal, we continue to believe the answer should be “no.”

Wicked has proposed a pilot project to make gigabit Internet service available to about 1,200 households in downtown and East Lawrence. Wicked has sought a $1 million loan to finance the project. Wicked officials said the bank is requiring that the city of Lawrence guarantee the loan, meaning the city is on the hook if Wicked defaults.

We agree with Commissioner Bob Schumm that the bank’s loan terms are a “red flag.”

“If the bank thinks this is a viable business plan, the bank should be taking some of the risk on this project,” Schumm said Tuesday. “If the bank isn’t willing to take any of the risk, then it seems like a bad deal.”

When it comes to broadband Internet service, speed is certainly an important factor. Gigabit service would be about 20 times faster than the top end of what local providers currently offer. We agree that improving speeds has benefits for the business community and future economic development.

But who’s to say that another provider isn’t better equipped to provide high-speed service in the future? Competitors WOW and AT&T expressed opposition Tuesday to Wicked’s proposal. We share their concerns about fairness in the marketplace. If they are not interested in bidding for a high-speed service, does this send a message about the viability of such a venture at this time?

As we have said before, there are just too many “ifs” with Wicked’s proposal. The biggest if — how many of those 1,200 households are willing to pay a higher price point for premium Internet service? We can’t help but think that if the bank had confidence in Wicked’s plan, it wouldn’t be requiring the city to back Wicked’s loan.

City Commissioner Jeremy Farmer said Tuesday that if the city backs the Wicked plan and it works out, “we’re going to look like geniuses, and if it doesn’t work out, we’re going to look like idiots.”

In our assessment, there is far too much risk of the latter. The city shouldn’t gamble $1 million on Wicked Broadband’s plan.