On the heels of a handful of new launches for its gigabit U-verse service, AT&T has released a new map highlighting markets where gigabit service is currently available, where it's under construction, and where it's planned. Note that while a city may be marked "available," AT&T's deployments in those cities are highly selective -- usually focusing on high-end development communities.
"Service is now available in 15 markets across the United States, and we’ve announced plans to bring the service to parts of the Jacksonville, St. Louis and San Antonio markets," notes AT&T in a
blog post.
While the service starts at $70 in markets where the threat of Google Fiber is creating competition (Austin, Raleigh), promotional pricing for gigabit service in all other markets usually begins between $110 and $120 a month. AT&T charges users a premium if they want to opt out of AT&T's deep packet inspection behavioral advertising systems (read: being snooped on).
According to AT&T, they've now launched gigabit service in small portions of fifteen major markets, with plans to expand residential fiber to portions of 25 overall markets. Ultimately, AT&T says this gigabit fiber service will be expanded to "reach" (which can sometimes mean "pass," but not necessarily "serve") 14 million residential and commercial locations.
