This week on the show, Christopher is joined by Stacy Evans, Chief Broadband and Technology Officer at BrightRidge, the municipal network for Johnson City, Tennessee. They talk an accelerating build timeline, returning millions to local government, keeping electric prices low, and working with nearby communities to build a more resilient eastern Tennessee that serves as a hotbed for new investment and innovation. 

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Joan Engebretson, Managing Editor at Telecompetitor. They chat about writing for different kinds of audiences, separating hype from fact, and what the confusion that reigned over the mapping challenge process this past winter.

This week on the podcast and on the most Valentines-iest of days, Christopher is joined by Katie Espeseth, Vice President of New Products EPB Fiber, at the municipal network in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After catching up on the release of the network’s 25 gigabit service and the latest progress of the HCS EdConnect initiative (which has connected almost 10,000 homes), Katie shares with Christopher how its SmartNet Plus program expands the managed Wi-Fi framework to take advantage of the many devices we all have in our homes that connect to the Internet. The show ends with Katie and Christopher reflecting on how – thanks not only to Chattanooga, but the other cities as well as telephone and electric cooperatives in the state – Tennessee is among the best-connected across the country, with some of the fastest speeds and most affordable rates available.

This show is 29 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or the tool of your choice using this feed. 

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Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.