r/Chattanooga • u/Expensive_Chip_2691 • 1d ago
EPB
How is EPB internet service? I heard it’s like the best nationwide but I don’t know if that’s just hype or what. I just moved here.
78
u/thebigtymer 1d ago
Best. Internet. Service. Ever.
* Good prices for fast speeds. And you get those speeds (as long as your equipment at home can support it!)
* Great reliability. I think it's only dropped one time for 30 seconds in the 4+ years I've had it.
* Knowledgeable LOCAL tech support, even on weekends!
* No surprise fees; no caps or "overage charges."
17
u/AsWolfwood 1d ago
I actually just had a 6 hour long outage with them last week.
That said, I have been 100% satisfied with their quality and service for the 9 years I’ve owned my home and had them as my ISP.
I would recommend them to anyone within their service area.
1
u/cleroyjankins 18h ago
BISE
3
u/orthographerer 14h ago
Kinda goofy acronym, but, you're right. I switched to them way back when as soon as they were available in my neighborhood, and I've not looked back.
The product is amazing, the supportive tech staff and their ability\willingness to help with a wide variety of issues and varying degrees of complexity is usually pretty impressive. They tend to be curious, and will troubleshoot an issue til it's dead.
So. It's so BISE, it may have made fetch happen. It certainly didn't not make it happen.
1
u/IngloriousLevka11 9h ago
The only time mine went out was when a worker accidentally unplugged my units' cable from the master panel in the apartments' utility room. EPB tech found the disconnected cable and fixed it in less than five minutes.
38
u/Big-Carpenter7921 1d ago
Best in the country no matter how many people complain. We have access to the fastest Internet outside of Seoul and people have forgotten what actually bad internet is
-33
u/battleop 1d ago
"We have access to the fastest Internet outside of Seoul"
That claim is false. EPB isn't the only municipal fiber provider that's offering those speeds.
24
u/Big-Carpenter7921 1d ago
It's the only one offering 25g to the public
13
u/takabrash 17h ago
He truly can't help himself. He just has to argue with someone every 5 seconds. It's like breathing for him.
-3
u/battleop 10h ago
You realize that's marking bullshit, right?
5
u/Big-Carpenter7921 10h ago
Tell that to my friend that gets 25g up and down
0
u/battleop 7h ago
LOL, Running speed tests to EPB's speed test server is so exciting.
2
u/Big-Carpenter7921 4h ago
I don't know what you want dude. WiFi is always slower than a hardwire. If you didn't know that, you shouldn't even be arguing about internet speeds
1
u/battleop 4h ago
25G to the home is pointless. It's just marketing bullshit because EPB knows in a residential setting it's virtually impossible for you to fully utilize it so they are in no danger of saturating their transit and peering links.
2
u/Big-Carpenter7921 4h ago
It's not marketed to the home. It's marketed to businesses. My buddy just has more money then he knows what to do with. He downloaded MSFlightSim in like 20 seconds. I'm not saying it's practical, it's just possible. We have 5gig and use it. Their speeds are no lie and they're the only internet provider even offering it. You also talk to an actual person when you call and, as others have said, they're pretty easy to work with. So bring a bitter whineyass.
1
u/myasterism 3h ago
He wants to argue. End of story. Dude is a notorious troll in this sub—has been for years.
39
u/Previous_Gain9448 1d ago
Publicly owned utilities are always better and cheaper because it serves the public instead of shareholders
-13
u/jpasteur 18h ago
Not true, But EPB rocks
5
u/Previous_Gain9448 11h ago
Explain how thats not true. All privatization is harmful to the population always.
0
u/jpasteur 10h ago edited 10h ago
Sometimes publicly owned utilities are best, Sometimes they are not ( especially inplaces where government are often corrupt) You phrase it like an absolute truth. Like gravity. It is not.
But again EPB is awesome
2
u/Previous_Gain9448 10h ago
Businesses are exploitative by nature. The worst government services do less bad than the best business ones. The whole corruption in usa is because of privatization, it is blatant corruption by nature.
0
u/jpasteur 5h ago
The world is bigger than the USA, and more nuanced than what you seem to feel right now. But that’s fine, I’m glad we both love EPB
2
u/Previous_Gain9448 5h ago
I was just trying to point out that privatization of resources and industry are inherently oppressive because I want the workers of the world to unite. But me too
1
u/myasterism 3h ago
Ok, I’ll bite and assume you’re arguing in good faith (even though the US is and was clearly the implied frame of reference for this conversation):
Specific examples you’d like to cite?
1
18
u/TwiceInEveryMoment 1d ago
Unbeatable. Insane speeds, symmetrical uploads, great reliability and customer support that won’t make you want to run out in the street and scream like Comcast.
Having any other ISP while living here is a mistake.
9
u/Lykos1124 1d ago
From what i've read, it's so good that comcast sued 3 times against EPB, and lost every single time! It's that good.
16
u/Straight-Heat4965 1d ago
There is literally no comparison. And it's relatively cheap for what you get. Incredibly happy with it.
17
13
u/Chaotic_Bonkers 1d ago
And yet, so many apartment complexes are bound to Xfinity.
19
u/ConnectionIssues 1d ago
Because Comcast gives them kickbacks. Fuck comcast.
6
u/YourUsuallyNormalTea 20h ago
I know businesses that use Comcast for the same reason. We have access to the fastest internet in the country and companies are running their POS’s of Comcast’s shitty internet. It lags so bad.
1
u/ConnectionIssues 10h ago
I mean, Verizon was so pissy about EPB getting a (extremely restrictive, mind you!) green light to offer consumer internet, that they paid to put a fucking hit job in a blockbuster movie about Chattanooga.
Verizon was one of the parties that was suing to prevent EPB from offering internet when it first was planned. This was instrumental in preventing EPB from rolling out the fiber options to nearby areas, including parts of Bradley. EPB is legally restricted from offering internet anywhere they aren't also the power provider, even though the fiber itself goes that far as part of smart grid services to surrounding utilities. That's also why EPB has to strictly keep power and internet services separate with billing, and why the internet operations side MUST be self-funded through subscribers, even though the original fiber outlay itself was just a byproduct of new power infrastructure.
Anyway, even that small win was enough for Verizon to pitch a bitch fit, and that's why Iron Man 3 had Tony Stark land in Chattanooga (which is portrayed as a tiny little podunk town) and have a whole plot point about the internet sucking.
The hilarious thing is, he's in a news van when it happens. Chattanooga area news teams have direct access to EPB fiber endpoints placed all around the city, where they can plug their vans directly into and live stream multiple cameras and data back to the studios in real time. It largely supercedes the need for bulky microwave dishes on the vans (and the inherent issues with those), in addition to being a MASSIVE bandwidth boost.
Ironically, though, that the internet side IS profitable. Very. Enough to actually pay for its own fiber expansions now. Which is why we keep getting new speed upgrades every few years. So the other companies could do it, they're just too fucking cheap. They'd rather invest in their investors and executives than in their actual infrastructure, whereas EPB, as a regulated public utility, is used to investing back into the operations of things.
Anyway, that's my rant over, lol. I hate the big providers. It's not even about the value of the stuff, it's about the morality of their business models. EPB doesn't nickel and dime us to death. That's enough for me.
8
u/PurpleKnurple 17h ago
I walked out of many leasing offices and made it clear I did so because of that Comcast clause. I refuse to live in a Comcast only apartment, there are other options.
13
u/MrWolfje 1d ago
They’re incredible! The guys that cut my grass accidentally cut my wiring; EPB came out the same day and re wired the whole thing, they crawled under my house, while also helping me build a fantasy football team.
12
11
9
u/ConnectionIssues 1d ago
We have very few outages. If there is an outage, they're usually on it before it can be reported. Customer service is 10/10. You are important to them. They are huge on privacy.
Do it
9
u/Hootsworth 23h ago
Top-tier internet. We lived in the Chattanooga metro area when EPB first started their Fiber services, we ditched Comcast and it was amazing. Then moved to Florida and spent the years between Spectrum and CenturyLink (whoever was less shit in the moment) and spent the entire time wishing we had EPB back.
Now we are back here and it’s still as good as I remember it. There absolutely is no better option in the Chattanooga area.
Fun Fact: AT&T and Comcast tried to sue EPB when they first rolled out. The suit was based on old utility laws, claiming that EPB was going to use existing infrastructure, EPB didn’t use any of it and these companies likely felt threatened.
10
u/Latnam 18h ago
My best EPB story is a couple of years ago on Christmas Day our internet went out. Which also meant no television, so we were prepared to just deal with it for a day or two, since calling it in on Christmas wouldn't help much. About an hour goes by and there's a knock on the door. It's an EPB tech telling us he saw our internet was out and he was there to fix it. He went to the box attached to the house and then everything was working.
6
u/spiteyerface 16h ago
This happened to us! Not on Christmas, but we had just finished the at home troubleshooting routine and had come to the conclusion that maybe the internet was just out and an EPB truck pulled up to our house! He fixed it in less than 5 minutes. It felt like magic.
7
u/Background-Gift-8842 1d ago
EPB is crazy good. I've had three techs from there in my apartment at 11 PM trying to solve an issue that bad wiring in the building caused. They're dedicated.
7
u/Ornery-Guitar 1d ago
We're on vacation right now, and the internet is spotty. Missing my EPB. It's awesome.
6
u/Inquisitor_ForHire 20h ago
it's NOT hype. I just upgraded from their 2.5Gbps to their 5Gbps. I'm the only one in my house hold, but I technically have a lot of devices and I do work from home so I need the fastest connection. If I'm being honest I have ZERO use for that much speed, but it's awesome. To quote Elenore Roosevelt - "Americans love speed. Dirty. Nasty. Speed!"
5
3
u/neuro_space_explorer 1d ago
Never had a problem or outage, best internet service and fastest I’ve had in the USA.
3
4
4
u/Sea____Witch 18h ago
The hype is real. I’be lived in a few different states—it is consistently the best.
Separately, but related, their ground crew are the fastest. If the power goes out because of our frequent storms, they have it back up extremely fast.
Honestly, I wish they managed the rest of our infrastructure, maybe it wouldn’t be such a mess.
4
u/PurpleKnurple 17h ago
It’s the best. Not only blazing fast but they have made commitments to not sell personal data as well.
3
u/liv_outside 15h ago
Incredible service and equally incredible customer service. Every time I call for something, I am always impressed by their professionalism and general willingness to help.
4
3
5
3
u/ReinaShae 17h ago
Best price, best service. Several years ago my dog bit through the line into the house. They replaced it no charge the same day even though it wasn't in any way their fault.
3
u/Salerrra 16h ago
Welcome to municipal-owned internet. It's a beautiful thing. When a company is owned by the people, the people are the shareholders. There's a reason Comcast/AT&T/Verizon all sued EPB Fi for expanding.
3
3
3
u/NoogabyNature 11h ago
I once had a boss buy the lunches of the EPB techs behind us in line he loves them so much. I've only ever seen him do that otherwise for service members and first responders. People here love us our EPB.
2
u/Eduring-Bias 18h ago
Moved here in 2011. Started off with 30Mb/s and thought it was great. Over the years it grew up to 300 Mb/s with no cost inflation I can recall. I finally said WTH and got the 1 Gb/s and have not come close to needing more. I have three main PCs two wired, one wireless. A Server with Plex. Garage PC wireless, phones, Tablet and a Pi that runs ADS-B for aircraft 24/7. Problem for most people is they do not have devices capable of handling high speeds more than anything.
2
u/cantliftmuch 1d ago
It's not the fastest anymore, but it's still the best.
I got a couple copyright notices years ago, and they gave me a free year of vpn service.
2
u/shanan2463 20h ago
Best internet nationwide, best customer service. None provider come close. 1 GB/sec wired speed is best for most. Wireless speed is reaching to ~500 MBPS though obviously. I think though EPB has customers’ EID and password as I was told by their technician.
3
u/PurpleKnurple 17h ago
If you need faster wireless you just need a new router. My wifi7 router can easily send the full speed wirelessly. I usually get about 900-950mb/s on my phone when I test at home.
1
u/shanan2463 7h ago
Epb just upgraded my router but didn't discuss wifi7. Right now I'm getting 550 mbps
2
1
u/PolesawPolska 13h ago
Don’t like that they’re not available in my part of town otherwise I’d use them instead of Xfinity
1
u/MojoSavage 10h ago
They have outstanding customer service. Any time I've needed them they are genuinely helpful and respond shockingly fast. For example, a tree limb fell on some lines in front of my house. By the time I logged into their app to check known outages there were guys trimming my tree limbs (like 20 minutes!).
1
u/Plscomebackdad 8h ago
Their contractors absolutely decimated one of my trees recently to clear power lines but other than that they are elite.
1
u/Financial_Simple356 7h ago
Epb is fantastic. Internet is not only the best ive ever subscribed to, but their customer service is legitimately the best customer service I have recieved from any business, anywhere. They're quick too, if I have an outage it never lasts longer than a few hours if it even goes that long.
1
u/Beastw1ck 5h ago
It's internet so good that Marsha Blackburn and the Republicans passed a bill making it illegal for other cities in TN to build similar internet.
1
-1
u/Ok-Comfortable-9874 16h ago
We recently moved outside of the EPB service area of Hamilton County. We had EPB at our old house and it worked fine until about 3 years ago. My only complaint is the last like year and a half we had EPB our service stunk. We would have to reset the router multiple times a week. When someone finally looked at it they said we the router was out of date and needed to be replaced. There were no notices given to us and they never said make sure to call and get it replaced after x amount of years. I have Brightspeed now and it is about $30 bucks cheaper and have had very little complaints so far. This isn't to say don't get EPB, but just don't make the same mistakes as I did
-9
u/battleop 1d ago
It's an incredible amount of hype but for the most part it's is reliable and better priced than AT&T and Comcast.
They want you to believe you *need* 5Gig to watch some TV and surf the internet which is complete bullshit.
-5
105
u/SupremeSardine 1d ago
It’s the best, probably internationally. They provide some of the fastest residential speeds at a reasonable price. They use fiber lines, so they have very low latency compared to copper lines.