Hey, that was going to be my next post but you beat me to it. I got an e-mail from a Rockwood resident about it, and checked out the company. I came to the same conclusion as you that they are small but seem to have pretty impressive qualifications and a good track record. Their Minnesota operation looks pretty cool. Hope they can do the same thing for you folks out there in Roane County.

Feel free to add anything I missed.

I've been involved in helping them get off the ground and I like the guys way of doing things. When they were invited into town, the first thing they wanted to know was who the tech folks were around here. I was worried they would come in, cherry pick and move on, but no! They want local partners.

We'll see how much of a road block the local authorities become.

Steve

So is there any reason for people outside of the proposed area to sign up? I am in northern Loudon County without any broadband access.

You are not necessarily without broadband. If you can see open sky in the south southwest, Direct TV offers satellite service through HughesNet. Download speeds are only "up to 768 kbps" and it may be pricey - I haven't checked - but it has to be better than dial up.

_____________

Come See Us at

The Hill Online

The United States should establish specific goals and timelines for building out a high capacity broadband network within a reasonable time frame; targets for speed (up & down) and penetration (percentages of population served) with a special focus on closing the digital divide caused by barriers of income, geography, literacy and disability.

You can get more information and test you Internet access speed at (link...)

Satellite broadband is pretty weak. Download speed is ok but upload is lame. It simply isn't sufficient for anyone who actually uses the internet as a business tool.

As for Loudon or other areas, once we see what can be done in Roane County, the model can be expanded to other counties. For now, the hold up seems to be the slow response of Bellsouth in installing the T1 lines.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Steve

Not only do you need the T1's you need fiber to the premise for truly high speeds, not fiber to the node like att's new U-verse.

you need fiber to the premise for truly high speeds

Step one first, then Step Two. Right now some of us don't even have ISDN.

Several years ago I looked at one of them-there satellites for the internets. I was trying to read the fine print and it looked to me like the carrier ("Hughes" (hah), DirectTV or whoever--can't remember) was claiming they owned everything. No privacy at all. I took it to include that if you e-mailed someone with an idea, they could claim it as their IP! I'm no lawyer, so maybe I misinterpreted.

Does that sound possible? Anyway, there were far too many drawbacks to consider it further.