AT&T recently announced plans to expand its speedy fiber Internet service offering to 38 additional markets (on top of the 18 markets it already serves). If you happen to live in an area where your only choice is a slow Uverse connection or worse, a crummy competitor, this certainly may be worth checking into.
AT&T said it plans to offer its GigaPower service to homes, apartments and small businesses in parts of the following metro areas:
- Alabama: Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery
- Arkansas: Fort Smith/Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock
- California: Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose4
- Florida: Pensacola and West Palm Beach
- Georgia: Augusta
- Indiana: Indianapolis
- Kansas: Wichita
- Kentucky: Louisville
- Louisiana: Baton Rouge, Shreveport-Bossier, Jefferson Parish region and the Northshore
- Mississippi: Jackson
- Missouri: St. Louis5
- Michigan: Detroit
- Nevada: Reno
- North Carolina: Asheville
- Ohio: Cleveland and Columbus
- Oklahoma: Oklahoma City and Tulsa
- South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia and Greenville
- Tennessee: Memphis
- Texas: El Paso and Lubbock
- Wisconsin: Milwaukee
GigaPower offers speeds of up to 1Gbps, the same speed that Google Fiber offers in select areas. At that rate, AT&T says customers can download 25 songs in less than a second, an HD movie in under 36 seconds and a standard TV show in about three seconds. In this day and age of streaming, downloading media like that isn't as relevant as it once was although there are still many benefits to having a screaming fast connection.
AT&T launched its fiber service nearly two years ago in Austin, Texas. The company paused its rollout briefly late last year over uncertainty surrounding net neutrality rules although it quickly backpedaled on that decision.
Those interested in learning more about when GigaPower will arrive in their area can check out AT&T's coverage map.