RTC had to beef up its infrastructure to bring gigabit service to its customers.

Ringgold, Ga., has gotten on the gigabit bandwagon.

Ringgold Telephone Co. now offers one gigabit per second Internet speeds in its fiber-optic service area, which serves about 3,000 people.

"At 10 times faster than our previous fastest offering, fiber optic Internet is more reliable and more consistent than [competitors'] services," said Todd Harless, spokesman for RTC, a privately held, local telecommunications company founded in 1912 with eight telephones.

The one gigabit service, which starts at $89.99 a month, will let users stream more video and music on more connected devices with better speeds for the whole family, Harless said.

"Everyone can be streaming, downloading, uploading, gaming — anything — without experiencing any slowdown," he said.

The upload speed on the one gigabit network is just as fast as the download speed, RTC says. And RTC touts that it doesn't have data caps or bandwidth throttling and each RTC fiber optic iIternet connection is dedicated to one household and not shared with neighbors.

In addition to the one gig service, RTC also offers a 250 Mbps fiber optic service plan.

RTC spent several hundred thousand dollars over the past few years to prepare the launch of its gigabit Internet, Harless said. It's a true fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service, he said, that required that RTC upgrade its core and transport infrastructure and change out equipment at about 350 locations.

About 40 percent of RTC's customers can get the new gigabit Internet service, Harless said. RTC plans to keep expanding until it reaches all of its customers, he said.

RTC follows in the footsteps of Chattanooga's EPB, which created America's first "Gig City" about six years ago with its introduction of citywide gigabit Internet service.

"I really think it's something that Ringgold has the gig service," said Mayor Nick Millwood, who took office in January, replacing Joe Barger, who served for 40 years.

Millwood uses technology to communicate with residents including through an "ourringgold" blog at nickmillwood.com and a Facebook page.

He thinks the Internet is still in its "adolescence" and will become even more a factor in daily lives — even as it becomes less visible and more a part of the background of everyday living.

"Just having that infrastructure in place positions us to be ready for the boom that's coming," Millwood said of RTC's gig service.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/ MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetfor business or 423-757-6651.