CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Expanding high-speed Internet service is a hot idea in Huntsville and Madison County. Public officials are studying it, voters in AL.Com online polls want it, and participants in AL.Com's first "Regionalism: What Works?" forum called it a top priority.

Just 100 miles away, Chattanooga has already taken the leap with fiber-optic Internet service capable of 1 Gigabit-per-second uploads and downloads. Here's a quick Q&A on that city's experience from a visit on Wednesday. More reporting on Chattanooga is coming in the next days. Meanwhile, help us focus the story with your comments and questions, and follow this link to sign up for weekly emails on the progress of our regionalism reporting.

Q: Why did Chattanooga build a regional fiber-optic network and start selling TV, phone and Internet?

A: Chattanooga's utility company epb (named for the old Electric Power Board) wanted a 21st century electrical grid based on high-speed fiber optic cables that could route power around outages faster, reduce outages, eliminate meter reading, reduce power theft and improve service. Along the way, epb realized it was building a smart communications system. Taking the next step to extend that system seemed logical. When epb took the idea to the public, the power grid upgrade caused "eyes to glaze over" but faster TV and Internet caused eyes to light up.

Q: How did Chattanooga do it?

A: After the public bought into the idea, for the most part, the company issued $169 million in bonds and began running fiber optic cable beginning with the most densely populated areas first. Expensive suburb subdivisions got high-speed Internet after downtown apartment complexes did. Another $111 million came from a federal recovery grant.

Q: What was the biggest obstacle to making it happen?

A: The biggest fight came from companies already providing Internet services. Chattanooga was sued unsuccessfully twice by cable providers, and there was strong push-back from small Internet services companies. Hundreds of public meetings were held with this bottom line: Tell us and tell the City Council if you want us to do this. Tell us and tell the council if you don't. Public support carried the day.

Q: What does it cost, and how many people get the service?

A: Epb serves parts of multiple counties and cities in the area because of the way the company grew. To date, 58,000 commercial customers are connected, but only 4,000 get the full GIG per second. In the business community, 5,000 are customers. Details on how many businesses are getting what level service weren't immediately available. Service costs can drop by bundling TV, telephone and Internet, but basic 1 Gigabit Internet service costs $69.99 a month. The slower, but still fast, 100 Megabits per second service (which most residential users buy) costs $57.99 per month.

Q: What do businesses say?

A: Hunter Lindsay, regional director of the cloud computing and managed-IT services company Claris Networks, is a fan. His company is based in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved part of its operation to a Chattanooga office "because of the cost and efficiency of the GIG network." More businesses are using Claris's cloud data services because of the faster backup and data recovery speeds. Lindsay sums up the system's reliability this way: "If (epb) has a fiber failure, that means power for the city is down." It's a pretty good bet that's a high priority, he says.

Q: What do residential users say?

A: Mike Beckwith is a logistics coordinator with a Chattanooga transport company. Speaking outside a coffee shop Wednesday, Beckwith praised the system. "I used to live in Brentwood," Beckwith said, referring to the exclusive Nashville suburb, "and I was paying almost three times as much for a quarter of the quality of the Internet we get here."

"I've built computers since I was 12 and I've also been gaming for a long time and I live in a house with four other guys," Beckwith said. "We all have X-Boxes or (PlayStation4s). In my old house when we did that, we'd be kicked off the server, would have to restart the game. Here, we can all be playing at the same time without any issues at all. It makes it a lot easier. I use the basic (service) and it seems to be four times faster than anything that's out there."

BONUS QUESTION: Is municipally owned high-speed Internet the only way to go?

A: No. Chattanooga epb managers point out there are many options ranging from a private company upgrading local service to various public-private partnerships where, for example, the utility owns the cable and leases access to private companies.