AT&T has been offering gigabit-speed fiber internet since 2013, but unless you got very lucky with the internet genie, you probably haven’t been in the service area. Starting today, 38 cities will have the chance to download their Steam games really quite fast.


The pilot version started in Austin two years ago, and is currently available in 18 metro areas. Starting today, parts of LA and West Palm can get the GigaPower plan, with AT&T planning to bring the service to 36 more areas, including San Fransisco and Detroit, in the coming months. The complete list is here, while you can see a map of existing and projected coverage here.

GigaPower is a complete fiber-to-the-premises network, which involves rolling fiber-optic cables to everyone’s home. It’s a step up from AT&T’s previous fiber offering, which was mostly fiber-to-the-neighbourhood (FTTN): fiber-optic cables run for most of the network, but the last mile or so is still old-school copper cables.


Of course, AT&T isn’t the first company to do FTTP; Google Fiber has been in the game just as long, and its prices are a little friendlier. But it’s still good to see AT&T continuing the rollout of high-speed internet to the rest of the country. Who knows, in a few years we might even catch up with Latvia.

[AT&T]