Chattanooga Reclaims Crown For Tennessee’s Fastest Internet, With 10-Gigabit Speeds

Call it a battle of internet speeds.

The public utility in Chattanooga is now offering 10-gigabit internet, which is 10 times faster than Google Fiber and AT&T Gigapower and five times faster than Comcast’s speediest option. 

In 2010, when Chattanooga’s power company, EPB, started offering gigabit speed, it touted itself as the first city in the country to have such fast connectivity. But this year, it was dethroned by Comcast, which started rolling out 2-gig Internet to Chattanooga residents. EPB decided to upgrade to 10-gig this month in part to maintain bragging rights.

“I would be lying if I said that wasn’t a factor,” says Danna Bailey, director of communications at EPB. “We certainly wanted to make sure that we could continue to own the fastest internet.”

But that’s not the only reason, she says: Several businesses or institutions, including the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, have expressed interest in ultra-ultra-fast Internet.

The utility isn’t expecting many residential customers to sign up right away, Bailey says. The service costs almost $300 a month, and the utility will have to replace equipment on their houses. But EPB believes there will be increased interest over time.

“Five years ago, we didn’t necessarily know the answer to ‘What will someone do with a gig?’ But today we’re seeing people use it, and we think the same thing will be true with the 10 gigs,” Bailey says. “It doesn’t really matter to us if folks sign up immediately or if it takes some time. Whenever they need it, it will be here.“

About 6,400 customers in EPB’s service area currently use gigabit-speed Internet, Bailey says. The 10-gig service will be available for 170,000 homes and businesses.

Chattanooga is not the first community in the U.S. to offer such speedy internet, although it has the largest potential customer base right now. An Internet provider in Minnesota rolled it out last year to 30,000 customers. Then a telecom company introduced it in rural Vermont in June; another introduced it citywide in Salisbury, N.C., last month. 

Meanwhile, in Middle Tennessee, Nashville Electric Service has stayed out of the realm of internet. But Comcast, AT&T and Google Fiber are all promising speeds of a gigabit or more.