It started out to build a smart power grid, and I can say it did that pretty well. The network was able to automatically re-routr power to decrease outages substantially during storms without requiring crews to fix it.
Most people I know converted pretty quickly to EPB from Comcast, but apartments and HOAs still make contracts for exclusive Comcast wiring, even brand new HOAs that are being built.
My understanding is Comcast significantly improved in the Chattanooga area to compete, but I never went back and will never move to an area where I have to use Comcast again.
The best part about EPB was that they will service any house within their service area - for no crazy cost. I think initial setup was sometimes either completely waived or less than $100, no matter the house.
Also, the billing is nice - when they say $70 - it's $70 - no extra taxes or fees on top of that like most telecoms and utilities do.
As for actual changes - the city failed to truly capitalize on having a gig network. We wasted millions of dollars on a city-wide wifi system that was never turned on, due to political reasons (thr decision maker saw poor performance and shut it down after $300 million was already wasted putting up routers across the city.
The push I expected was smarter stoplights and traffic management, but that never happened. If anything it got worse.
I'm still stunned there isn't a unified service that can tell you WHERE FIBER IS AVAILABLE BY ADDRESS throughout the country or just in specific cities. Even Google Fiber's dedicated map is horrible and incredibly annoying to grok.
Literally, has anyone at this address had a FTTH connection installed? I'd even pay $12/mo or a one time fee to check. So it sounds like Chattanooga apts likely won't have support anytime soon?
Most people I know converted pretty quickly to EPB from Comcast, but apartments and HOAs still make contracts for exclusive Comcast wiring, even brand new HOAs that are being built.
My understanding is Comcast significantly improved in the Chattanooga area to compete, but I never went back and will never move to an area where I have to use Comcast again.
The best part about EPB was that they will service any house within their service area - for no crazy cost. I think initial setup was sometimes either completely waived or less than $100, no matter the house.
Also, the billing is nice - when they say $70 - it's $70 - no extra taxes or fees on top of that like most telecoms and utilities do.
As for actual changes - the city failed to truly capitalize on having a gig network. We wasted millions of dollars on a city-wide wifi system that was never turned on, due to political reasons (thr decision maker saw poor performance and shut it down after $300 million was already wasted putting up routers across the city.
The push I expected was smarter stoplights and traffic management, but that never happened. If anything it got worse.