Google Fiber is coming to Atlanta. And Decatur, Hapeville, Brookhaven, College Park, and...
Nine metro Atlanta cities make the cut for high-speed Internet
- Hey, welcome to Atlanta! Now please stop driving in our park!
One million angels sang to the heavens today at the news that Google Fiber, the super-fast Internet service provided by the tech company that’s winning people’s hearts as it slowly takes over the world, is coming to Atlanta — as well as Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs, and Smyrna.
Here’s the city’s announcement. We’ll update as more information becomes available.
Mayor Kasim Reed announced today that Google Fiber is coming to Atlanta. Google Fiber is ultra-high speed broadband internet access that will be available to residential customers in the City of Atlanta and nine metropolitan Atlanta area cities.
“Google Fiber is the infrastructure for the next generation of innovation in Atlanta,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “High-speed internet access is essential to participate in the 21st century economy. In addition to supporting our thriving tech and startup communities, Google Fiber will bring greater economic opportunities to every quadrant of the City, so that the next great business idea is just as likely to come from Southwest Atlanta as it is from any other neighborhood.”
Today’s average American broadband speed is 11.5 Megabits per second. In contrast, Google Fiber will bring Atlanta residents access to “gigabit” internet connections up to 1,000 Megabits per second.
“We are here because of the hard work, passion and commitment of the city and its leaders,” said Kevin Lo, director of business operations for Google Fiber. “The next chapter of the Internet will be written at gigabit speeds. These new networks will lay the foundation for a wave of innovation and economic growth. Atlanta is the perfect city to show us what’s possible, and we can’t wait to see what Atlanta will do with Fiber.”
The City of Atlanta will work closely with Google on the next steps to build a brand new fiber-optic network capable of delivering gigabit speeds throughout the city. The next stage of work includes designing and planning a new fiber-optic network down to a very detailed level. This process will take several months. After it is complete, Google Fiber and the City of Atlanta will begin constructing the network.
As part of today’s announcement, Google Fiber will also come to nine metropolitan-Atlanta area cities: Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs, and Smyrna.
For more information, visit the Google Fiber press site: https://sites.google.com/site/gfiberresources/.
But as Urvaksh Karkaria of the Atlanta Business Chronicle notes, there’s no telling when the service will actually become available. Or exactly how much it will cost once the network is built and ready to serve customers.