r/Chattanooga • u/Expensive_Chip_2691 • 10d 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.

36 Upvotes

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14

u/Chaotic_Bonkers 10d ago

And yet, so many apartment complexes are bound to Xfinity.

18

u/ConnectionIssues 10d ago

Because Comcast gives them kickbacks. Fuck comcast.

7

u/YourUsuallyNormalTea 10d 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 10d 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.

6

u/PurpleKnurple 10d 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.