TechKnow Q&A: Kosta Grammatis on making the internet accessible

On this week's episode of TechKnow, Kosta Grammatis heads to Chattanooga, Tennessee, a mid sized city that struck out ahead of the major cable companies to create their very own, locally controlled high speed internet. The network, launched by the city's Electric Power Board (EPB) in 2008, is one of the most successful and well-known municipal broadband deployments in the country, offering residents 1 Gbps (gigabit) internet speeds for $70 a month. 

Chattanooga is a great case study of how cities can provide affordable, high speed broadband to its citizens. But it didn't come without a fight. EPB had to fend off lawsuitsfrom major internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast, who tried to block municipal broadband expansion. Limited access and lack of competition created a "digital divide" in Tennessee, where some residents benefit from EPB's affordable network, while others, just a mere 3/4s of the mile outside of the zone, are stuck paying higher fees for slower service. 

The FCC recently ruled in favor of municipal fiber networks, pre-empting laws that protect private cable companies from public-sector competition like EPB. This ruling will allow entities like EPB to expand beyond their networks and is good news for residents who want more affordable options. With municipal networks and Google Fiber stepping into the broadband game, Comcast and the other major telecos have finally decided to roll out gigabit speed packages to compete. Coincidence? Hardly. 

Kosta touched down in Tennessee to see exactly what a municipal fiber network looks like, and how those just outside the lines fare in contrast. 

TechKnow: Tell us about Chattanooga, why does a town in the south have the fastest internet speed in the country? 

Kosta Grammatis, TechKnow Contributor: Chattanooga TN, home to about 168,000 people is the proud owner of 'the gig.' A one gigabit per household fiber link that gets each of their citizens online at blazing fast speeds.  It's the future of infrastructure, and its all thank to some smart policy making that allows for the public utlility EPB to bring Internet to the home.

TechKnow: Now, how fast is fast? 

KG: What does it mean to be 'fast' on the internet?  Imagine a garden hose with water coming out the end of it: the pressure of the water is how fast water travels through the hose (like when you open the tap all the way), and the diameter of the hose determines the volume of water that comes out the end of it (like the difference between a garden hose and a fire hose).  If you have a tiny hose with really high pressure water you can move thousands of gallons every minute, but it's the same thing for a large hose with slow moving water.

The internet works in a similar way. The fiber optic cables that power Chattanooga's gig carry internet data at nearly the speed of light, but traditional wire cable can sometimes carry data just as fast.

So what does it mean to be fast when we're talking about Internet speeds in Chattanooga?  It's how big the 'hose' is and the volume of data that they can carry.  

Chattanooga's fiber optic cables can carry so much data that you can download a movie in minutes, live stream ultra high definition 4k video across the country, and surf the web at fast speeds.  You can cram ten times more data through an internet connection in Chattanooga than your average home internet connection.  It's incredible!

TechKnow: What were some cool applications of the gig that you saw? 

KG: I watched some students control a high definition microscope from across the country.  That would be impossible without high speed Internet.

TechKnow: Not everyone benefits from high speed internet. You met with the Van Hook's, a family in Tennessee, why don't they get service? 

KG: Just outside the city limits of Chattanooga there are families that have to rely on super slow satellite internet to get online.  It's unfortunate because young students can barely use the Internet to do their homework.  A lack of reliable high speed Internet is impacting their education, which is a terrible thing to do to a child.

TechKnow: Where are the major cable companies in all this? 

KG: Cable companies have spent a considerable amount of money lobbying to ensure that public utilities, like the one in Chattanooga, can't provide Internet services. The fact is that many telcos don't have competition in the areas they serve and don't have any incentive to upgrade their aging infrastructure.  Hopefully more city governments, and the federal government will challenges the practice of outlawing competition from public utilities.  I think it's time to challenge telecommunication companies on their home turf. 

TechKnow: How has having access to internet impacted your life? 

KG: Today billions of people around the world don't have Internet access.  For years I've been running a non-profit called A Human Right to ensure that every person can achieve their right to get online.  Internet impacts everything from allowing self expression, participating in democracy, to education.  It's an issue that's near and dear to my heart and I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to tell the story of why Internet matters on TechKnow.