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Google"Broadband" refers to high-speed Internet access, as opposed to the dial-up access that introduced most people to the Internet. There are various forms of broadband, including DSL, cable Internet, wireless broadband and satellite broadband. Speeds and prices vary widely.
Bedford County Mayor Eugene Ray has been working with Connected Tennessee, a non-profit agency aimed at accelerating the availability and use of technology in the state, to provide fast internet service to residents in rural areas of Bedford County.
As a result of this effort, Monster Broadband Inc. has announced plans to expand into Bedford County, based at Covered Bridge Estates in Bell Buckle.
"We're proud to have Monster Broadband take this giant step into Bedford County," said Ray in a news release. "I believe access to the best technology is important for the County as a whole. It will help to enhance economic, business and education development."
The Monster Broadband network will use wireless technology to beam a broadband signal to areas up to 10 miles away from the main tower. The company targets communities that do not yet have DSL or cable modem services. A subscriber unit is installed to the home or business and the small antenna is pointed toward one of the towers.
Monster Broadband provides round-the-clock service, according to a news release, and when calling in to the company customers will be connected to a live person. Monster Broadband is currently servicing Lynchburg and surrounding areas.
For additional information visit www.monsterbroadband.com.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon and his colleagues on the Congressional Rural Caucus sent a letter to Michael Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, asking it to ensure that broadband is made available to rural communities.
"The lack of broadband access for ... public and private sectors have far-reaching consequences to our rural communities," states the letter. "...It reduces the opportunities for employment, reduces their quality of life, and stifles their potential for economic development."
A recent survey, according to Gordon, found that 64 percent of Tennessee residents living in urban areas have broadband Internet service, compared to only 37 percent of those living in rural communities.
Congress has provided funds for broadband access and directed the FCC to develop a national broadband plan.
--John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette and covers county government. He is also the author of the self-published novel "Soapstone." His personal web site is lakeneuron.com.
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please 
I had planned on switching to Monster if it came to Covered Bridge, but after reading about their "installation fee", I will have to keep my current service for now. $ is too tight to shell out the $300 fee (or pay the higher $87.95 monthly fee and only pay $100 installation) and the article in the paper did not say either way where that fee was included in the deal. (I am assuming it's additional)
taken from monsterbroadband.com...
Option 1
Monthly charge of $59.95 for months 1 - 12
Montlhy charge of $49.95 for months 13 - 24
Activation/Installation charge of $300.00 due at time of installation
I'm all for bringing broadband into rural communities and I also understand it's not cheap, but people are also out of work and on tight budgets and shelling out $359.95 for the first month right now may be a bust. I've also heard that there was a highspeed line run somewhere down Happy Valley Road to the Covered Bridge area, but no one's wanted to "turn it on"...I don't know how accurate that is, but this is really pitiful. Bellsouth/AT&T has said "there's not enough interest" in your area...I really find that hard to believe.
I live on Wartrace Pike and I have been tying to get a higher speed dial up service for over 2 years. I currently have dial up, which is not work having, but my neighbors have high speed dial up service. These neighbors live only so many feet away. I have contact AT&T by phone on numerous occasions and talked to every AT&T person that I come in contact with. I am being told that the capabilities are in the phone line, but it is an Engineering issue. I have even talked to AT&T workers on my property that could actually view the footage and agreed that I should have fast speed dial up. I was told that the modifications could be made to allow more high speed dial up, but "again" it had to be done on the Engineering end. If the service is there and the capability, you would think that they would go ahead and update the phone box or whatever is needed. I am glad that there are other businesses coming into town that can provide fast dial up, but who wants to pay that much money to get it. In my case, it is just about modifying the telephone box or have the Engineer to update whatever...
I too have been waiting for AT&T to make DSL available on my road (Bugscuffle), but they say there are not enough people who would use it. How do they know! I don't think that providing broadband service at an astronomical start-up cost is the answer to the problem. Even if you have a job this is way too much. I never even heard of Monster Broadband would like to know how good the response time actually is. If AT&T would get their act together and install or active the DSL, then maybe they would get customer to bundle their services and everyone would be happy.
I guess "bringing it to rural areas" does not equal making it "affordable" to rural areas. I shelled out the bucks several years ago for the satellite "startup" fees when my job required it. Now my job isn't paying what it used to and I cannot afford more "startup" fees and will stick with the crappy satellite. (And according to their "automated phone system" when I called to inquire why my download speed was slow at night, there is something wrong with my satellite and they want $125 to just come "check it out". Whatever. I will suffer the slower speed and not shell out the $125. Makes me wonder tho because my receiver hasn't been moved, wires running to house/under look fine and my inside equipment is only a year or so old. They can check most things "remotely" and yet they can't "diagnose" whatever the problem is? Company need some "extra" business/fees?
p.s. I'm with you Textileartist...how does At&t "know"...they say to keep calling back...gee, are they paying attention to the people calling?
I live off of Bell Buckle Wartrace Road in Wartrace and I have DSL through AT&T and I pay $37.95 a month for the Fast Access DSL Extreme which performs 3 Mbps downstream and 384 Kbps upstream and I am very satisfied with it. My connection is always fast and downloading is a breeze and plus I have my Xbox 360 hooked up to it for Xbox live and never have a connection issue.
I can't imagine paying the prices that Monster Broadband is offering . . . it seems extremely high and especially compared to what I am paying now for what I currently have. The only setup fee I had to pay really was the modem I had to buy for the DSL which cost me $70 I think and that was it but I think I got most of that back also through a cash rebate for doing a bundle.
As a former AT&T employee that worked in the call centers to answer calls that you all made, inquiring about DSL services. Unfortunately, DSL services are only available up to 18,000 ft from a central office location (a substation for AT&T in your neighborhood). So, the further away you are from it, the less likely you will be eligible for services, or the faster speeds. Also, the other limitations is... how many people are already on the system... there are only so many twisted pairs of connections in a cable, and if they are filled to capacity, then you're out of luck there. Then you have to wait until there are enough requests for new services to warrant having Engineering authorize a new, bigger cable to accommodate the expanded service, which could take years (typical mindset of a huge corporation that doesn't care about the individual, but rather, the bottom line of the company).
I have requested DSL many times with AT&T and no luck. I live in Wheel there are two home businesses on my road and a third would move there if we could get high speed internet.The person already owns the property and works from home but can't move without the internet access. CRAZY!
I agree with the above comments. Most of Tennessee does need access to high speed internet services. It is apalling though, that this company, which has little information about them, on the web, is willing to fleece us as much as, if not more than Hughes or Blue Dish. I do have Hughes now, and the "no limits" offered by Monster is tempting, since I seem to go over my alotted bandwidth every other day.
It seems to me though, as many people that are in our areas, that Bedford county, and the state could do better than a company who is going to charge us so much. I have a job that would allow me to work from home, if high speed was available, however the savings would be minimal to me, with the prices that Monster is wanting to charge (www.monsterbroadband.com)
Since AT&T already provides our homes with the telephone services, would it be to much to ask for them to provide us with DSL? I am not one to accept "distance" excuses, as Ben Lomand who is based out of McMinnville, offers high speed services in Beechgrove...
If nothing else, the state/county should offer a tax break to AT&T/Cable to offer services to rural areas.. I have seen the prices for the cable and dsl services, and can say that there is a significant savings between what I pay now, and what Monster is wanting from me when and IF they decide to offer services to more than just Covered bridge...
Even though there is a dire need for the services, I think it would be in all of our best interests to shop around and make an offer to all of the avenues and see who is willing to expand their business base, as well as their bottom Dollar....
My quote -> Price isn't an issue, if you are getting what you pay for......
In addition to my last comment, let me just state that AT&T, Comcast, Monster, and Charter are all receiving funding from the state to provide services to under served areas.. more information at www.connectedtn.org