Speed check: What you could do with new fast Internet connection

My colleague Matt Kempner, who covers high-tech for the AJC, wrote this story yesterday about super-fast gigabit connections AT&T is planning for some parts of metro Atlanta.

Other cable companies, including Atlanta-based Cox Communications, are making similar moves elsewhere. (Cox cable, corporate cousin to the AJC, is starting in Phoenix. But I digress.)

Wondering exactly what you can you do with a gigabit-per-second Internet connection?

AT&T this week committed to bring the super-fast network to homes in the cities of Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Decatur and Newnan. It didn’t say when the system will be in place or how much it will charge. Google is also contemplating building such a system locally. And AT&T said it may expand to other local communities. It would be designed for speeds 100 times faster than what the average American home has.

Here’s what that kind of speed looks like compared to what Georgians have now and what they had five years ago:

Time it takes to download a two-hour HD movie (based on average use speeds).

2007: About 144 minutes*

2014: About 36 minutes**

Soon: About 30 second***

*at 2.8 megabits per second

**at 9.6 megabits per second

** at a gigabit per second (equivalent to 1,000 megabits)

Source: Akamai Technologies

About the Author

Charles Gay

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