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Tampa affordable housing residents get free ultra-high-speed internet

5,800 people on Tempo's move-in waiting list
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TAMPA, Fla. — Kareen “Chef Coco” Linton is a culinary force of nature.

The Tampa talent merges style and delicious substance, teaching and inspiring budding entrepreneurs on her website A Dash of Coco.

Thanks to Tampa Bay area tech firm PBX-Change, Chef Coco’s inspirational reach is faster and farther than ever before.

“Africa, Alaska, Europe!” she says. “When the ideas come, now the technology spreads it out there.”

Chef Coco lives in the Tempo at ENCORE.

Tempo-at-ENCORE

The mixed-income building on Ray Charles Boulevard is run by the Tampa Housing Authority. It is a beautiful place to live — now more than ever.

Many residents were unable to obtain quality internet connections before. That issue was compounded by the pandemic, as more work and school was done from home.

Slow or non-existent internet is no longer a problem inside the Tempo.

PBX-Change is embarking on a $30,000-plus project installing ultra-high-speed internet for hundreds of residents there — all free of charge.

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“We really feel like we found the right place,” says PBX-Change’s Rebekah Nault about the donation.

According to the company’s fancy jargon, “This includes a 5 Gigabits/sec primary internet feed to the building, 1Gbps delivered to each of the 203 units, as well as multiple outdoor wireless access points to cover the common areas.”

The Tempo is already one of the hottest places to live in Tampa. There is a move-in waiting list of more than 5,800 people.

But for those waiting, there is good news on the horizon. The Tampa Housing Authority is building two more buildings just like it in the ENCORE project.