Neighbors serving neighbors

NEIGHBORS SERVING NEIGHBORS

Ben Lomand Connect expanding in Crossville

BY LISA SAVAGE

The people who handle day-to-day operations in Ben Lomand Connect’s Crossville office actually live in Cumberland County, and that’s a big plus for customers, says David Vaughn, district operations manager.

“We’re local folks serving local folks, and that’s a big selling point,” he says. “Our customers see us in the grocery store and around town, and they know us. We’re giving people in Crossville another choice.”

Crossville isn’t in Ben Lomand Connect’s cooperative membership area. Instead, Ben Lomand partnered with Volunteer Energy Cooperative in 2003 to provide services to that community. In 2006, Ben Lomand Connect continued services in Crossville on its own, but the operations primarily were known under the Vol First brand. Since 2015, the company has done business as Ben Lomand Connect in the Crossville area.

The Ben Lomand Crossville team includes Abby Wood, left, Eric Bradberry, David Vaughn and Ashley Case.

And Ben Lomand’s fiber expansion in the area is giving customers an option for faster, more reliable internet speeds up to 1 Gbps. The company provides service in some other parts of Cumberland County, but mostly stays in the city of Crossville. It has expanded fiber to the Fairfield Glade area outside Crossville and recently received a Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Grant to expand to the Sunset Ridge development, Vaughn says.

Many of the customers are businesses, and the upgraded services are ideal for their needs, Vaughn says. Many businesses use Ben Lomand’s voice, internet, security and TV services. The Managed Internet Technology service is becoming more popular with customers because it covers everything from standard troubleshooting to training to ensuring customers are getting everything they can from their internet service.

The Crossville location is a full-service office where customers can take care of any business they might have, such as paying a bill or signing up for new service. Ashley Case and Abby Wood are customer service representatives. They take care of any customer needs inside the office.

Eric Bradberry is a combination technician and handles service calls. He can do the work necessary to connect a new customer without having to wait on a crew to come from McMinnville. “He can take care of just about any day-to-day operations or service,” Vaughn says.

Rosa Smith is a competitive services representative and works with existing and new customers in outside sales.

Rosa Smith is a competitive services representative in the Ben Lomand Connect Crossville office.