America's Fastest Internet Service

The midsized city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, will soon be able to claim it has the fastest Internet service in the country, as the city-owned utility, EPB, will offer ultra-high speed Internet service, as fast as a gigabit a second, by the end of the year. The average broadband speed in the U.S. is 200 times slower. Such service is offered only in a couple international cities, like Hong Kong, and Chattanooga will be the first to offer it in America. The super-fast service will be available to all the city's homes and businesses, though few may be willing to pay the $350 a month price tag. "We don't know how to price a gig," the EPB chief says. "We're experimenting. We'll learn." Chattanooga has been aggressively pushing economic development in the high-tech field for several years. Many tech experts say that America's flagging broadband speeds are a major part of a potential "innovation deficit" that could cause the country to fall behind in the digital arms race. In less than two years, South Korea will offer one-gigabit-a-second service nationally.