Imagine downloading a HD movie in less than 36 seconds. AT&T has announced that they will be expanding their gigabit-speed fiber Internet service, called GigaPower, to 38 more cities.
Starting from December 7, such areas like LA, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Cleveland will get AT&T's GigaPower service installed in the coming months. Ars Technica noted, "On average AT&T takes less than a year to install service after announcing plans to move into a metro area."
The GigaPower network is a fiber-optic network that promises data transfer speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, about 100 times faster than the speed of a broadband connection. However, this speed is only a maximum; the actual speed will vary depending on the device used and the amount of traffic to the website or service you're attempting to connect to.
Gizmodo explained the some of the technical details. The network is a fiber-to-the-premises network (FTTP), which means connecting the fiber-optic cables to the home directly instead of the previous method of fiber-to-the-neighborhood (FTTN) where the traditional use of copper cables is implemented in areas.
As CNN Money wrote, there is a bit of a race going on within the US to get their super high-speed services out. With streaming video and audio creating 70% of data downloads, there has been a growing demand for these faster services.
Comcast has their Gigabit Pro service, which can reach speeds of 2 gigabits per second, but is only currently available in a dozen states. Verizon is testing new broadband technology that can run at 10 gigabits per second. Google also has a bid in the race with their Google Fiber service, also a FTTP service, and is only currently available in three cities, with six more planned. It can run at 1 gigabit per second. However, Verizon FiOS is still in the lead its fiber network in 20 million locations.
The service originally debuted in 2013 in Austin, TX and is currently available to 18 markets. The costs for the GigaPower service will be an internet-only monthly fee between $70 to $110, depending on the package offered and if Google Fiber is a competitor in the city or not.
AT&T will also demand customers give the company permission, through their "Internet Preferences", to examine their Web traffic for personalized ads. Data will be capped at 1TB per month, with each additional 50 GB $10 each. There will be no contract.
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