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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > Chattanooga municipal fiber service unveils 10Gbps connections

Chattanooga municipal fiber service unveils 10Gbps connections
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Oct 16, 2015, 01:53 PM
 
A municipal broadband service operating in one Tennessee city is offering its subscribers a 10Gbps Internet connection. The Electric Power Board (EPB) of Chattanooga is taking a stance against its main competition, Comcast, by providing all home and business customers in a 600 square mile area the high-speed data connection, which is five times higher than what Comcast announced it would offer in the market earlier this year.

EPB's consumer service costs $300 per month, similar to what Comcast charges for its 2Gbps connection, except EPB also does not charge for installation, doesn't have a cancellation fee, and doesn't have a minimum contract term. EPB is also offering other new connections for small businesses, running at 5Gbps and 10Gbps, as well as enterprise-level "Professional" services with 3, 5, and 10Gbps connections.



The new high-speed connection comes in spite of Comcast's efforts to dominate the area, keeping out its competition via legal challenges. Comcast sued EPB in 2008, claiming its fiber network was illegally subsidized by ratepayers, but the case was dismissed. EPB went on to construct its fiber network, offering Internet, TV, and phone services to residents, and forcing existing cable services in the area to improve their services or risk losing customers.

Such tactics have been highlighted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as part of its discussions concerning Net Neutrality. Chairman Tom Wheeler said in May "A fully competitive marketplace would bring with it intense and constant pressure to continue to improve – just as it did in the days of cable-DSL competition."

Since constructing the fiber network, a study by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga claims its construction has generated at least 2,800 new jobs in the area, and produced at least $865.3 million in economic and social benefits. The EPB smart grid, an application used on the network to help reroute power and prevent outages across the grid, is estimated to have avoided 124.7 million minutes of electrical service interruptions since its implementation.
     
climacs
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Oct 16, 2015, 02:12 PM
 
OMGSOSHULISM!
     
prl99
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Oct 16, 2015, 06:40 PM
 
I have no problem with cities installing their own internet network, I just question the cost. I'd really like to see an itemized breakdown of the installation and hardware costs. You can say it's a 10Gbps line but what is the real world speed? I've been away from switched networks for a few years but the last I saw the backbone interconnect speed between gigabit switches was 10Gbps. Now they're saying they can run this from their main internet connection through several hubs all the way to the house? There's no way they can run that speed to the computer is there? I bet 99% of the computers in people's home today couldn't make use of this speed or even a true 1Gbps network.
     
Charles Martin
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Oct 16, 2015, 10:28 PM
 
prl99: I can't comment on the specifics of the Chattanooga setup, but I can say that outside the United States, there are a number of countries where vastly faster Internet speeds than what is typically seen by most Americans is the norm.
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prl99
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Oct 17, 2015, 09:02 AM
 
Charles: I understand that and I've always felt the reason for this has to do with the stockholders wanting all the profits instead of the company putting the money back into improving service. Internet companies really have no reason to improve because there isn't competition, at least not the type of competition that drives costs down. Economics 101 talks about supply and demand, well that theory has been wiped out years ago in the US. The only thing that matters is how much money a company can make before they are forced to reduce prices or forced to break up.
     
RobOnTheCape
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Oct 18, 2015, 09:16 AM
 
If you do get that speed into your home, what can you do with it? I watch movies through wif, download another while watching, check email etc... and never get hiccups. I actually think I use more bandwidth than anyone I know, and again never have an issue. I hear so many talking about how great Google Fiber is, but what do they actually do with blazing download connections which warrant the expense of the service or the installation of the lines. I'm not against it, just would like to know the benefits to the vast majority of internet users, and what residential consumer would benefit from it.
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Oct 18, 2015, 10:20 AM
 
I pay Verizon $70 a month for 150/150 service. About four miles away, the market isn't so competitive, and the price for 150/150 is $200 a month. Google Fiber and municipal broadband is more than about delivered speed - it's about shaking up the status quo with the other big guys.

In part, I agree with prl99. Ten-Gigabit broadband to most people's houses is overkill. Gigabit for $70-$100 though? That isn't.
     
chimaera
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Oct 18, 2015, 01:58 PM
 
Offsite backup is a good idea, since a fire/flood/burglar/meteor will wipe out your local Time Machine backup. Just use good encryption to keep the NSA guessing.

Assume a 5 TB backup. 512 GB SSD @ 50% full, and a 6 TB media drive @ 75% full.

Initial backup:
Chattanooga @ 10 Gbps: 1 hour, 7 minutes.
Google Fiber @ 1 Gbps: 11+ hours.
Verizon Fios @ 150 Mbps: 74 hours.
Generic Cable @ 10 Mbps: 46+ days.
Lame Cable @ 4 Mbps: almost 4 months.

4K video is in limited use today, and some people work with large disk images. Some people already require largish daily backups. We'll all be there in a few years.

ISPs dogging it on upgrades means much of the world has better backups than we do. And more rubust online services. Disasters happen, and better services attract customers. In the long run, these advantages become more business for them, and more costs for us.

Universal fiber can't come fast enough.
     
   
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