Spotlighting Chattanooga for remote work & minority business
During a year when “remote work” became a national necessity, EPB’s gig-speed internet helped Chattanooga earn several national accolades. EPB also played a major role in drawing national media attention for Chattanooga's support for minority and women-owned businesses. These articles enhanced our community’s appeal to both investors and people considering where to relocate.
Business Insider featured Chattanooga (and EPB’s internet) as one of four top markets in the country supporting minority and women-owned businesses, joining Atlanta, New Orleans and Tulsa.
Chattanooga was named “America’s Best City to Work from Home” by Zillow. We also topped the list for Forbes in an article entitled, “10 Best Work-From-Home Cities in the U.S. (The Top Place Will Surprise You),” won designation by PC Magazine as the “#1 Metro for Remote Work” and earned inclusion on similar lists by MakeMyMove.com and others.
These placements included references to Chattanooga as Gig City® and pointed to our internet speeds as a major factor for the recognition.
The media buzz had a real impact on moving decisions as Chattanooga also helped Tennessee rank as the #1 U-Haul move destination because “Chattanooga’s [EPB’s] high-speed internet service allows employees to work remotely and live where they want.”
EPB partnered with the Chattanooga Chamber to capitalize on the media attention by launching, ChattanoogaCalling.com, a website that presents our Gig City as the best place to live and remote work in the Southeast.
In addition, Chattanooga was named the #1 most resilient medium sized city in the U.S. by Worth because EPB delivers “the fastest internet service in the Western Hemisphere.”
Helping local companies succeed during COVID-19
In the first days of the COVID crisis, as many of our business customers scrambled to transition their employees to remote work, the capacity of Chattanooga’s community-wide fiber optic network allowed us to rapidly respond to requests by several major employers to double or even triple their internet circuits.
EPB’s scalable fiber optic business products also offered commercial customers the flexibility they needed to operate remotely. “We provided businesses with teleworker products like VLAN point-to-point data connections, Hosted Phone which allowed people to answer phones from home as if they were in the office, secondary internet, and Smart Network wired/wireless routers for commercial use in home,” said Kennard Yamada, EPB Director of Sales.
In effect, many companies (and schools) “outsourced” their internal network traffic to Chattanooga’s community-wide network. Fortunately, EPB’s in-place infrastructure had ample capacity to handle the demand as remote work, online education, and telehealth drove a 75% increase in the total volume of internet bandwidth used over the course of an average day during the crisis.
In addition, Dr. Lobo’s study of the community impact of EPB’s fiber optic network and smart grid found that that this advanced infrastructure has helped reduce local unemployment since it was deployed. This effect was magnified during the COVID crisis when remote work became primary for many companies. During November 2020 when the COVID crisis was in full effect, Hamilton County’s unemployment rate was 4.7%; Tennessee’s statewide rate was 5.3%; the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.7% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Delivering new business solutions
To keep local business customers competitive and provide a comprehensive suite of business solutions, EPB Fiber Optics launched several new business solutions this year.
- EPB Hosted Camera℠ is a scalable, secure camera solution delivered over the world’s fastest internet. EPB Hosted Camera offers a leased camera solution with no upfront equipment costs that is scalable as businesses grow. Professionally installed and maintained by our experts, who also deliver round-the-clock technical support, EPB Hosted Camera can be managed from anywhere via computer or with the mobile app for Android and iOS tablets and smartphones.
- EPB Max UC is a cloud-based video conference solution that’s powered by Zoom and the world’s fastest internet. Max UC enables business customers to conduct high-quality, highly-secure professional meetings anywhere to boost collaboration – virtually.
- EPB Smart Network for Business is a fast, secure WiFi solution for small businesses that may not have IT support of their own. WiFi 6 technology and a mesh network eliminate dead zones for optimal speed and performance to all users, all the time. EPB Tech Pros professionally install the right equipment, set up SSIDs, connect devices, install antivirus software and optimize coverage for peak performance.
- Small Business Bundles are designed to make world-class connectivity solutions for small business more affordable. These new offerings combine basic internet, WiFi and phone services into money-saving bundles that serve as a turn-key solution with EPB’s award winning customers service and technical support 24/7/365.
