
Why a Tennessee town has the fastest internet - jseliger
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-29038650
======
davidblair
Last month the network CEO and Mayor of Chattanooga did an AMA where they
discussed setting up the fiber network and how they overcame cable operators
attempts to block the network.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2ccgs2/we_are_the_gig...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2ccgs2/we_are_the_gig_city_chattanooga_tn_the_city_that/)

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Xcelerate
As a grad student doing entirely computational work, it's quite nice living in
Tennessee (I'm in Knoxville). Eventually I want to live in SF for a few years
just to experience it, but the relaxed pace here is enjoyable. Any kind of
outdoor activity is nearby (Smoky Mountains), and I like the fact that we
actually have trees here compared to the west coast.

I'd like to live in a variety of places throughout my life, but when I finally
pick a more permanent place of residence, it will probably be something like
Chattanooga. The low cost of living is one advantage over the bigger cities.
While Oak Ridge is very cutting-edge in terms of science, the south isn't near
the forefront of technology like California is, so it would be nice to see at
least one city around here make a push in that direction, and it seems like
Chattanooga is certainly working towards it. I suppose Atlanta is working on
it as well, but both have a ways to go.

~~~
hayksaakian
RE: trees

That applies exclusively to California. Oregon and Washington are abundant
with trees.

~~~
vidarh
There's plenty of trees in Northern California as well. Certainly you don't
need to travel _that_ long out of SF to be able to get nice leafy areas.

And a little bit further and you have big forest areas. I used to work for a
guy that lived in a house in the middle of the forest near Santa Cruz,
surrounded by redwood. And the Santa Cruz mountains have large portions that
are classified as temperate rain forest.

~~~
justizin
"Certainly you don't need to travel that long out of SF to be able to get nice
leafy areas."

You don't. Under an hour on bicycle or bus will do it.

SF also leads the nation in greenspaces, park area per capita, and has the
largest urban park in the US, if not the world. Get out of SOMA once in a
while, people.

EDIT: BTW, this is an example of why SFians are terrified of the onslaught of
tech folks. People new to SF tend to have a very narrow view of things, taking
over a year to really get even a basic feel for the city, while typically
financially supporting the sort of businesses that dilute what the draw is in
the first place. Anyway go on enjoying TN and come visit sometime. Book a few
days extra before or after a conference and see the redwoods, they are the
largest and oldest living organisms on earth.

~~~
smutticus
I'm not sure how you measure which park in the USA is "the largest urban
park". I immediately thought of Forest Park in Portland Oregon, which is
larger than anything in SF.

I found this list of largest city parks:
[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933260.html](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933260.html)

I'm not sure what counts as 'urban' in your definition.

Also, redwoods might be the largest trees on earth, but not the largest
organisms. And they're not the oldest trees on earth either.

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wbracken
I get why people here are jazzed about government offering the service (yeah!
government cures all ills!). Let me offer another look.

Small town in GA does the same. Cable is offered through CNS. Here is the
About CNS:

In 1995, the City of Thomasville began building a fiber optic network to serve
local schools, libraries, businesses and hospitals with telecommunications and
Internet services. After seeing success in this limited offering, it was
identified that the community at large would be able to benefit from access to
high-speed Internet. So, in 1998, in order to better serve the community, the
City of Thomasville began construction of a new high-speed, fiber-optic
network and in 1999, CNS, or Community Network Services, was created. In 1997,
the Cities of Cairo, Camilla, Moultrie and Thomasville joined forces in order
to better serve the citizens of each community. This multi-city partnership,
titled the South Georgia Governmental Services Authority (SGGSA), enabled CNS
to further expand its services to communities that were in need of high-speed
Internet, television and telecommunications services, and, in 2001, these
services were provided to all SGGSA cities. The best part about CNS is that it
is funded locally, by the cities which it serves. This means if you are a CNS
customer, you are investing in your own communities, not a corporation
headquartered across the country.

The problem is, we are stuck with dated hardware and software and NO
competition from Comcast/AT&T, etc. I wish I could show screenshots of the
cable TV on demand interface - it looks like DOS. The cable box itself is the
size of those old school VCRs that took up the entire cabinet. The internet
has reported speeds up to 35 MBS, but the service is totally unreliable. Tons
of dropped packets, etc. I have never seen past about 20 MBS even though we
pay for 35 ($59/month).

The big cable companies won't enter the market because CNS has the monopoly
and CNS isn't motivated to keep up to date because there is no competition and
because it probably doesn't have the money to truly invest. Mediacom does
offer service in the area, but reported 3-4 weeks before they could install
and reviews of the service are terrible too.

I guess the point is, any monopoly sucks, whether a government run one or a
corporate run one.

~~~
tux1968
But is there any reason Comcast or AT&T is prohibited from entering the market
and competing? If there is a demand for improved services, shouldn't they be
able to do well regardless? Likely there are other reasons that make the
market less attractive and not likely to be a hotbed of competition even if
the CNS didn't exist.

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qwerta
Gigabit networks are not that rare. There is a community network in Czech city
Plzen with 22K members. It was build by volunteers over past ten years and
still growing strong.

[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fe-
svet.e15.cz%2Finternet%2Fjak-si-komunita-v-plzni-postavila-nejrychlejsi-
internet-na-svete-1114189&edit-text=)

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gourneau
This is one of the many reasons that the Ambition (YC) team is in Chattanooga.
I am from Tennessee myself. Chattanooga is a nice place. You can literally buy
a home ([http://bit.ly/1tvb9ta](http://bit.ly/1tvb9ta)) for what folks in SF
send on rent for one year (~24k). That being said I still choose to live in
SF.

~~~
talmand
That house is likely going to cost someone much more than 24k.

Look at all the flags: for sale at 1/3 the estimated value, estimated mortgage
is 1/10 the estimated rent value, 3 year listing, listing removed at least
once, numerous price drops, no cooling, and 94 years old.

That is what we call a fixer-upper with problems.

Not saying it couldn't be fixed and could be a good home for the right person,
but let's be realistic about the house.

~~~
w4
Well, sure, but the mere fact that _any_ real estate is available for such a
pittance is incredible as compared to prices in traditional tech hubs (San
Fran, Boston, NYC, etc).

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jskonhovd
Chattanooga is beyond beautiful. It's probably the prettiest part of the state
outside of Franklin.

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pyvpx
I'm by no means an economic expert, but more of these discussions need more
discussion about "natural monopoly"

anyone here against the idea that the last-mile/access network is a natural
monopoly?

~~~
josu
_The theory of natural monopoly is an economic fiction. No such thing as a
'natural' monopoly has ever existed_

[http://mises.org/daily/5266/](http://mises.org/daily/5266/)

~~~
_delirium
Thomas DiLorenzo is indeed an economist who holds that view, but my impression
is that the view is relatively unusual and not widely shared in the
profession.

~~~
josu
Yes, you are right, not many economists share this view.

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jonifico
I'd be great to live in a place with such fast internet speeds. Here, 10MB/s
is considered way above average, so imagine.

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paulojreis
Why? Because "no telco", that's why. :)

