AT&T launches fast fiber Internet connection

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Almost all of us are looking for that faster Internet connection and for years have heard promises that it's coming someday soon. Well, today in the heart of the Silicon Valley they made a big step towards speeding things up.

At the Cupertino AT&T store, it feels like a party. That's because across town, the company just launched something big. "We are thrilled to be the first city on the West Coast to help launch Gigapower," Cupertino Mayor Rod Sinks said.

Home Internet speeds of a gigabit per second, which is seven times what customers used to get, thanks to new fiber lines strung throughout the city.

Sinks says AT&T beat Google fiber to the punch. "We reached out to Google with our got fiber campaign for seven years, they chose other places we'd be still delighted to have Google come in," he said.

In part, that's because AT&T has been known to lower its prices in markets where it competes with Google. "You know, competition is good, it makes all of us better, right," AT&T California President Ken McNeely said.

Right now, they advertise a full gigabit for $110 a month, but that price includes a discount you get if you let AT&T track your web browsing. "If the consumer is willing to allow us to have more targeted and more focused advertising directed to them, then that's an opportunity for us to share those savings with the consumer," McNeely said.

Though web companies like Facebook and Google do it all the time, Engadget's Michael Gorman says this may be a first for a home Internet provider. "I would strongly recommend anyone before they do opt in at least read through all of the disclosures and make sure you know what you're giving away," he said.

The new service won't be available everywhere at first and that's because laying fiber is a long process that takes a lot of work. In fact, AT&T says part of the reason they came here first is Cupertino made that work easier.

"We're talking to Bay Area cities now, we're hoping that we can reach arrangements with other municipalities," McNeely said.

It hasn't been easy everywhere. In San Francisco, AT&T faced backlash over green boxes on street corners, the very boxes that could one day hold that fast fiber equipment.

"I mean you're talking about downloading full HD quality movies in less than a minute," Gorman said.