internet connections in TN

[yarddawg]

Originally Posted by cncguy2000

still not sure who Ben lomand is...

I know that one. The original office was in Warren county (think the parent still is) where Ben Lomond Mountain is just south of McMinnville. There are a number of local businesses named either 'Ben Lomand' or 'Ben Lomond'. The original Ben Lomond is in Scotland next to Loch Lomond.

[TnHilltopper]

I happen to live in VERY remote and rural Overton County and happen to have DSL access up to 1.5 meg down/256 up speeds. Twin Lakes telephone Co-Op uses info ave for their internet services and to be frank they suck bog water, but as far as outside plant goes, Twin Lakes is great. (physical structure)

[Robbied]

Your responses indicate obtaining cable/dsl access is not as much of a problem as it was in the past.

Most likely I will be working from a home office in the future and would need high speed access. Thank-you.

[Pam Beall]

This is hitting a little bit on a topic I've wanted to post about Charter in Paris. I was told by Charter that the city or town council votes on whether to allow competition in their area or not. In this case, it is NOT. Charter told me they welcome competition. The problem with no choices is the town council. I was also told by a resident in this area that members of the town council are owners of Charter(I guess in this area). I'm sure if enough people complain and bring this to light we can get some choices. Many that I've spoken with are fed up with Charter. This is including those in low and high income brackets. Do any of you know anything about this? What are our choices for Internet Connection other than Charter in this area? Thanks for your input.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by alleycat

Am I just dreaming . . . or don't we pay an extra phone surcharge that was suppose to go to making digital service available everywhere? Didn't Al Gore push for and get this when he was vice-president? (He invented the Internet, by the way.)

See this one all the time. Here's the skinny:

Despite the derisive references that continue even today, Al Gore did not claim he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs were misleading, out-of-context distortions of something he said during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition" program on 9 March 1999. When asked to describe what distinguished him from his challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, Gore replied (in part):

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.

Clearly, although Gore's phrasing was clumsy (and perhaps self-serving), he was not claiming that he "invented" the Internet (in the sense of having designed or implemented it), but that he was responsible, in an economic and legislative sense, for fostering the development the Al Gore technology that we now know as the Internet. To claim that Gore was seriously trying to take credit for the "invention" of the Internet is, frankly, just silly political posturing that arose out of a close presidential campaign. Gore never used the word "invent," and the words "create" and "invent" have distinctly different meanings — the former is used in the sense of "to bring about" or "to bring into existence" while the latter is generally used to signify the first instance of someone's thinking up or implementing an idea. (To those who say the words "create" and "invent" mean exactly the same thing, we have to ask why, then, the media overwhelmingly and consistently cited Gore as having claimed he "invented" the Internet, even though he never used that word, and transcripts of what he actually said were readily available.)

If President Eisenhower had said in the mid-1960s that he, while President, "created" the Interstate Highway System, we would not have seen dozens and dozens of editorials lampooning him for claiming he "invented" the concept of highways or implying that he personally went out and dug ditches across the country to help build the roadway. Everyone would have understood that Ike meant he was a driving force behind the legislation that created the highway system, and this was the very same concept Al Gore was expressing about himself with his Internet statement.

Whether Gore's statement that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet" is justified is a subject of debate. Any statement about the "creation" or "beginning" of the Internet is difficult to evaluate, because the Internet is not a homogenous entity (it's a collection of computers, networks, protocols, standards, and application programs), nor did it all spring into being at once (the components that comprise the Internet were developed in various places at different times and are continuously being modified, improved, and expanded). Despite a spirited defense of Gore's claim by Vint Cerf (often referred to as the "father of the Internet") in which he stated "that as a Senator and now as Vice President, Gore has made it a point to be as well-informed as possible on technology and issues that surround it," many of the components of today's Internet came into being well before Gore's first term in Congress began in 1977.

[alleycat]

Uh, well, thanks, but my litte jibe was mean as a joke.

If you really want to explain something, explain his dancing. ;-)

[Grizzlybear34]

Head spinning...

Gore took the "initiative"

Sorry this just says "I take credit for..."

Democrat or Republican...look at me!!!!

Anyone that says "I" or "me" is self sentered. I am sure he was not there "writing code" or whatever. He is only giving credit to himself for being so forward thinking. Sorry, he is taking credit for "creating the internet". I I I...

[hrminer92]

Originally Posted by alleycat

Am I just dreaming . . . or don't we pay an extra phone surcharge that was suppose to go to making digital service available everywhere? Didn't Al Gore push for and get this when he was vice-president? (He invented the Internet, by the way.)

ISDN is cheap in TN, but I wouldn't consider it broadband.

[Grizzlybear34]

Apologize for my rant a post above. I am not really educated on whether or not Gore made that statement or what he was implying, I guess he just bugs me. I do think he is a little full of himself in his statement.