Andrew Heinzman
Back in January, AT&T started offering crazy-fast 5-Gigabit fiber connections for select homes. But AT&T’s latest achievement makes 5-Gigabit internet look like child’s play—it’s the first company to reach 20-Gigabit symmetric speeds in a lab test. And it could offer 20-Gigabit service in 2023.
It took several years for AT&T to create a strong fiber infrastructure. But now that a large number of people can access AT&T fiber, the company is ready to make massive technological strides. Multi-gig fiber was already impressive, but 20-Gigabit is just crazy.
And these are symmetrical speeds, meaning that you could get 20Gbps downloads and uploads. For reference, fetching a game like Fortnite from the Epic Games Store would take less than a minute with 20Gbps down.
Eddie Barker, AT&T’s assistant VP of mobility and access architecture (what a long title), explained the game plan to CNET. He says that AT&T plans to launch 20-Gigabit fiber by late 2023 or early 2024, an impressive prospect that would cement AT&T as the fastest consumer ISP.
Most people don’t need 20-Gigabit fiber, though. And considering that the 5-Gig plan costs $180 a month, I’d hate to see the cost of 20-Gig. For what it’s worth, Barker says that the 20-Gig rollout will include a few slower tiers, such as 10-Gig and 15-Gig fiber.
Source: AT&T
