TheGigCity

One other thought: if you have enough bandwidth, there's no need to ration it...

Support what is being asked of the FCC currently by supporting municipal broadband!

They are currently considering an application from us to allow us to expand beyond our current boundaries and work with our neighbors.

u/distanceovertime - totally - we'll connect with him offline but here are some answers to those specific questions:

Challenges: researching the right technologies, timing, internal cultural, willingness to be very innovative, forward thinking, and willing to take risks. People (and giant corporations) are going to take shots at you.

Tips: Don't hire a consultant to come in and build it for you. Once they leave, its tough. Make sure you've got people on the ground who know how to build and operate it. Make your people the experts.

Gov't: Local and State here were great, and continue to be great. Their cooperation was crucial.

Financials: If they didn't make sense, there's no way we would have done it. We had a conservative plan, and we're seeing results beyond what we had hoped.

Benefits: Other than faster speed and a much better electric grid - an enthusiasm, energy, and community movement to make Chattanooga kick even more ass

YES. We strongly support it.

There were two main interactions. Our last mayor asked big telecom if they would bring gigabit to Chattanooga - and they said NO.

Lawsuits followed.

We won.