That's the challenge that the new company, Upcountry Fiber, believes it has cracked. Jim Lovinggood, president and CEO of Blue Ridge Electric Co-Op, said the economic model is working and has worked in a pilot program. The program was in the Stillwood neighborhood in Oconee County, and 85 of 130 homes participated in the pilot, which was finished in February. The next expansions would be in parts of Seneca and Central and would continue outward this year. The new broadband offers speeds up to 1 gigabyte of both upload and download speed, lower speed packages start at $40 a month. There is a federal program that can give students up to $50 a month to pay for broadband in many cases and that would cover the cost to get the new service into a large number of homes in the Upstate, company officials said.