City that fought Comcast and won, now bringing 10Gbps Internet to its residents

For those otherwise unaware of the court battle, here it is in super-brief form: the city of Chattanooga (Tennessee) established its own high-speed gigabit internet service, but was temporarily barred from expanding to neighboring communities due to state laws that prevented municipalities from sharing locally run broadband networks. (The argument for the law is that public broadband does not have a proven record and could be harmful to taxpayers. As such, courts and legislators often side in favor of companies like Time Warner Cable, Comcast, et al, deals and kickbacks notwithstanding, who bring cases against these local start-ups to keep them from actually establishing their services.)

Referring specifically to the instance here, Comcast went to the FCC and asked it to kill Chattanooga’s petition to the Commission that it be allowed to expand the city’s local broadband networks. 

For just the second time, (Salisbury, NC already won a similar case), the FCC opted to side with the municipality service and in doing so, overturned the local laws barring municipalities from setting up their own telecom service.

“There are a few irrefutable truths about broadband,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler ahead of the vote, which went 3-2 in favor of Chattanooga. “One is you can’t say you’re for broadband, and then turn around and endorse limits.”

Following Comcast’s loss, the company began offering its own 2Gbps service in the city in hopes of securing as many customers as possible prior to Chattanooga offering its own service.

Well, that day has come — EPB Fiber Optics has officially begun offering 10Gbps internet for $299 month with free installation, no contracts, and no cancellation fees.

Worth pointing out is the difference between what EPB is doing, as compared to Comcast. While EPB is focused on faster speeds and less fees, just two hours away, Comcast is testing out a 300GB broadband cap on its Knoxville residents. 

The hope of many customers is that, the FCC’s decision in favor of Chattanooga won’t be the last one of its type, and a trend will develop that is in favor of smaller telecom companies that will eventually force major ISPs to begin increasing their broadband speeds and cutting fees too.

Via The Verge