If we’re going to copy Chattanooga about something, how about this:
133 US cities now have their own broadband networks by Nate Anderson in Ars Technica:
Such publicly owned networks can offer services that incumbents don’t,
such as the 1Gbps fiber network in Chattanooga, Tennessee, run by the
government-owned electric power board. And they sometimes have more
incentive to reach every resident, even in surrounding rural areas,
in ways that might not make sense for a profit-focused company.
According to this map of
Community Broadband Networks
by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
quite a few small cities in south Georgia have municipal cable networks:
All three of Moultrie, Thomasville, and Cairo use CNS,
whose brochure for Moultrie says you can get:
| Downstream | Upstream | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Mbps | 1 Mbps | $29.95 |
| 12 Mbps | 2 Mbps | $35.95 |
| 22 Mbps | 3 Mbps | $49.95 |
Now that’s not 1 Gbps, but it’s a darn sight faster than the
allegedly 3Mbps AT&T DSL!
If Moultrie, Thomasville, and Cairo, and yes, Doerun can do this,
why can’t Valdosta and Hahira?
And then how about add on a wireless network to reach the rest of us
rural folk?
Maybe then we wouldn’t be the
Internet backwoods.
-jsq