"From day one, we knew how critical of a priority it was for Jasper Highlands' residents to have access to the Internet to be able to keep up with the demands of modern-day living." "Over the past few years, I've had very little confidence in the majority of our state legislators supporting rural broadband expansion which, in essence, is stifling our children in getting a quality education and creating an unfair disadvantage for existing business growth along with our overall economic development efforts," he said. Thornton said high-speed Internet "is not a luxury, it is a critical necessity" that many home buyers now expect to be available at their residences. Thornton decided to build his own high-speed Internet service after trying unsuccessfully to convince Tennessee lawmakers to back a bill that would have allowed EPB Fiber Optics to expand its ultra-fast Internet service - capable of up to 10 Gigs - to neighboring territories outside of its power service region. Fiber is the future."Īlabama is one of 31 states whose legislation does not restrict municipalities or power cooperatives from offering broadband service. "We would welcome the opportunity to work with more partners in bordering states. "Recognizing that regional economic development support is a win-win for everyone, we were more than eager to help Jasper Highlands with their connectivity," said Bruce Purdy, the chief executive of North Alabama Electric Coop. Fiber optic lines for the last 2,000 feet up the mountain for the new Gig service were laid by Hi-Tech Data to allow homeowners in the development to enjoy some of the fastest Internet speeds in the country.
Thornton said he invested more than $400,000 of his own money to build the new Internet provider known as Hi-Tech Data LLC and connect it to the North Alabama Electric Cooperative five miles away with assistance from Tennessee-based Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative. "With the band of clouds around Jasper Mountain today, we literally are now a digital island in the sky." "Welcome to 'Gig Mountain,'" Thornton told enthusiastic supporters Thursday at the new offices for his Jasper Mountain development. Using the fiber optic system that the North Alabama Electric Coop created to help set up a Google data site at the shuttered Widows Creek coal plant, Thornton announced Thursday his Jasper Highlands near Kimball, Tenn., is now able to offer high-speed, gigabit-per-second Internet service for all home sites in his 3,000-acre complex. The private developer spent more than $400,000 to build his own fiber network and link it with a power cooperative in Stevenson, Ala., where fast broadband is available. Unable to gain high-speed broadband at what he deemed an affordable price from AT&T or Charter Communications and limited from service extensions from EPB's ultra-fast Internet in Chattanooga, Thornton created his own Internet service provider last year.
John "Thunder" Thornton is a lifelong Tennessee fan, but when the Chattanooga developer needed high-speed Internet service for his mountaintop residential development in Marion County he headed south into Alabama to roll with the tide of a different set of regulations. A stone wall marks the entrance to Jasper Highlands.
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