Free, High-Speed Internet Service

The city of South Pittsburg Tennessee makes history as the first in the state to provide wireless high-speed internet service in all neighborhoods free of charge.

And free is many people's favorite four-letter word!

So how did they do that, since high-speed internet service over phone or cable-tv lines can cost $30 to $60 or more a month?

You might say it's a matter of give a little, take a little.

We took a laptop computer to South Pittsburg to test the service; a place we'd never expect to be so high-tech.

The city is known for it's landmark blue suspension bridge over the Tennessee River. It's known for it's vibrant and revitalized downtown that kept it's small-town feel.

And of course the Cornbread Festival, that draws thousands of people every year.

But Mayor Mike Killian said "in a town like ours, a town with a lot of poor folks, we want them on the internet."

Killian is proud to say his town is the first in Tennessee to offer high-speed, WiFi service free to anyone who wants to use it. He says 400 cities nationwide offer WiFi, but South Pittsburg is among only three to offer it free of charge.

The city teamed up with Trinity Communications, the local cable company, to get the job done after the mayor turned down a grant for the project. Killian said the grant had "too many strings attached," and the process would have been too slow.

Trinity already has the city wired for cable-tv and high-speed internet service on utility poles. Their crews installed wireless transmitters right on the utility lines.

Trinity Communications general manager Jim Hunter said "to date, I believe it's about 110 transmitters and that covers South Pittsburg, everywhere we have cable plant built."

As we walked around downtown with a laptop computer we got a good signal in almost all places. Remember this is a wireless service, and just as with your cell phone, you will find a dead spot or two.

The connection speeds and web-surfing are as fast as DSL or what you'd get with cable internet. Our Apple laptop showed 11 mbps speeds.

So by now you have to wonder, how does South Pittsburg and Trinity install and maintain so many wireless transmitters and provide free service?

Basically, the mayor worked a deal with Trinity and put some tax payer money up front.

"It was $10,000. And we are paying $2,000 a month. And we are forgiving them of $7,500 a year in taxes," Killian said.

Trinity also keeps the right to provide upgraded service for video and music downloads or to add hard lines into homes.

Killian said the service will allow police officers with laptops to file reports, send secure messages and access crime and data files. He said the city now pays almost $1,000 a month to access national crime files, which he said can be accessed through other sources on the internet.

He adds everyone in South Pittsburg gets free high-speed wireless internet service, which closes a huge gap between those who can and can not afford broadband internet service.

"So far the residents in our poorer neighborhoods seem to be the heaviest users of the service, and of course that's music to our ears, that's what we want," Killian said.

The mayor said there's a plan to extend wireless high-speed service in two more phases. The next will be in the other Marion County cities of Jasper, Kimball, Whitwell, Powell's Crossroads and Monteagle. Killian said the last phase calls for free wireless internet service throughout all of Marion County.