United recently spoke with Lisa Hamilton, one of three lucky Middle Tennessee residents who received a MacBook Pro, AirPods Pro, a mouse pad with a wireless charger, and a custom United-branded laptop bag as part of our “Home for Gig-mas” holiday giveaway.
Lisa Hamilton lives in a unique pocket straddling urban and rural living in Williamson County: just a little over two miles from bustling downtown Franklin, but far enough out that the basics of modern infrastructure didn’t reliably reach her road.
“It’s actually a little more country,” Lisa explained. “We’re out of the city limits just barely… We have like five acres, so it’s kind of spaced out, out there.”
That spacing is lovely for breathing room and beautiful sunsets, but not quite as convenient when you’re trying to work, learn, and live on an internet connection that wasn’t built for today.
“Comcast was available across the road from us—Columbia Avenue,” she recalled. “But they wouldn’t come down to our area because there wasn’t enough housing. It wasn’t dense enough on our road.”
Close to town. Far from reliable internet.
Before United expanded service in her area, Lisa’s household relied on mobile hotspots. It was a constant scramble: watching data limits, dropping connections, and making tradeoffs no family should have to make.
“Terrible,” Lisa said. “We’d run out of minutes all the time. We couldn’t stream anything on the TV. We couldn’t do any of that stuff.”
The stakes got even higher starting in 2020, when school and work went remote for most Tennesseans and daily life suddenly depended on internet access.
“Thank goodness we got it, or I don’t know that we could have done virtual school very easily,” Lisa shared. “It was definitely a lifesaver with the kids.”
The day the trucks showed up
Lisa remembers exactly when she realized things were about to change: she saw crews working and—like any reasonable person who’s been living in hotspot survival mode—she practically chased them down.
“I ran down to the cop who was directing the traffic, and I said, ‘What are they putting in? What are they putting in?’” she recalled. “And luckily it was United putting in internet. I was so excited, we could finally stream!” (Watch Lisa share the moment in her own words here.)
But the bigger win was what that reliability unlocked for her family. When Lisa’s brother, an IT professional, needed a change of scenery, he was able to stay at their home for months—and keep working remotely while he was there.
And after the switch, the day-to-day stability became the new normal.
“It hasn’t ever glitched or anything,” Lisa said. “We’ve had a great time.”
Local service that shows up fast
For Lisa, the experience wasn’t just about speed. It was also about support.
“Everybody I’ve talked to at United has been great,” she said.
When something did go wrong, she was impressed by how quickly United responded. “The tech came out within… an hour or two… and it was back up running in two hours or so from the time that we called.”
Her verdict is straightforward: “I would highly recommend United to anyone who asks,” said Lisa.
Reliable fiber shouldn’t be a “lucky break” based on where your street happens to fall on a map. Lisa’s story is a reminder of why expanding broadband in Middle Tennessee matters—and how life changes when the speed of connection finally matches the way we live today.
If you’re ready to experience the same reliability and peace of mind Lisa found with United, see if United’s fiber internet is available in your neighborhood.
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