Chamber Series: Meet Our Members Windstream

                During a socially distanced phone interview this morning, I looked out the window and realized the leaves had fallen off the trees and the crisp morning air had taken its place. Pondering over how quickly 2020 has flown by and what the future of Toccoa-Stephens County would look like in 2021.

                I was chatting with Nicole Payne, Regional Marketing Director for Georgia at Windstream. Windstream has been a member of our Chamber of Commerce since 1958 and Nicole has worked for them for 15 years. With our society moving towards a work from anywhere platform, Nicole has noticed an increase in customers migrating to rural areas like our community. She was excited to talk about the fiber expansion that is happening in 2021. Currently, their fiber footprint serves 12,000 customers in our community with 25 Mbps and 1, 225 customers with 1GIG. If you are like me, those acronyms required a quick Google search. Mbps stand for megabytes per second. 25 Mbps is great download speed for the casual internet surfer. 1 gigabyte download speed is what streamers and gamers dream about.  

                While we were talking about what 2021 would look like for internet users in our area Nicole opened-up about her thoughts on working with Toccoa-Stephens County. She stated, “I love when work brings me to Toccoa. It is just beautiful there. The lakes, Currahee Mountain, Toccoa Falls, and other outdoor activities. The economic growth opportunities are unparalleled and the cost of living in such a picturesque community, you cannot beat it.” She also mentioned our rich military history and how Windstream has received the Gold Hire Vets Medallion Program Award for three years running. Nicole stated, “Windstream is a great place to work and we are continually offering new products and services to our customers to make their lives easier like Kinetic Secure Products and our MyWIN App. These products keep your information safe and secure online and allow users to manage your services online.”

     As the seasons change and we roll into the next, I cannot help but get excited. What is the next new business coming to our community? What is the next new restaurant where we will share a meal with our family and friends? The opportunity for more users to be connected through high-speed internet and what it means for economic development makes 2021 a year to look forward to for Toccoa-Stephen County.

Would you like to upgrade your service? Call 706-778-2500 today.