AT&T will expand its ultra-fast GigaPower service to 38 new United States cities during the next year, including Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, San Diego, and San Francisco. The nationwide telecom giant announced on December 7, Monday that it will launch its fiber optics high-speed Internet service nationwide to provide faster home broadband connectivity. It upgrades AT&T's Fiber To The Neighborhood (FTTN) connection, which includes copper cables for roughly the last mile.
AT&T has offered gigabit-speed fiber optics Internet since 2013. However, the pilot version was only available in Austin, Texas, according to Gizmodo.
After the telecommunications company's expansion of its GigaPower service, a total 56 metro areas will have the service. More customers can download and upload at 1 gigabit per second.
The super-fast Internet speed is a game-changer. AT&T customers will be able to download 25 songs in less than one second, a TV show in three seconds, and a high-definition movie in about 35 seconds, according to CNET.
Brad Bentley is an AT&T Chief Marketing Officer. He explained that GigaPower gives homes and small businesses the ability to access more content faster such as streaming video, on more connected devices.
It will take a while until super-fast broadband reaches a large portion of the U.S.'s population of 318 million people. However, most telecom customers do not need the 1-gigabit-per-second speed.
Other tech companies are also racing to provide ultra-fast Internet speeds. Although Google already offers its Google Fiber service in some cities where GigaPower is rolling out, traditional broadband companies like AT&T will provide the vast majority of U.S. gigabit connections.
This video shows how relatively fast 1 gigabit per second is: