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AT&T has cut the ribbon on its fiber internet service, now available in LaGrange.

The not-so-typical ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, where Colin Martin, Area Manager for External Affairs for AT&T, announced that  AT&T Fiber is available for more than 7,500 residential and business locations in LaGrange. The new locations are in addition to the more than 10,500 customer locations across Troup County that currently have access to AT&T Fiber. 

The expanded network will provide customers with access to super-fast internet speeds of up to five gigabytes. AT&T offers speeds up to 100 megabytes per second at $30 a month, Martin said. 

“AT&T invested more than $16.9 billion in its wireless and wireline networks in Georgia. That investment has increased the reliability coverage and overall performance for residents and businesses. Access to high-speed, reliable internet is a critical driver for attracting new businesses, supporting existing companies and fostering innovation throughout the LaGrange region,” Martin said.

Martin praised LaGrange for its economic development, saying the city’s efforts are known throughout the state.

“Y’all are leading edge. You do a great job here, and we’re happy to provide that support,” Martin said. “We’re proud to invest in the LaGrange community and to build modern, high-speed network infrastructure essential to today’s economy.”

“We are proud to see AT&T’s continued investment in LaGrange with this expansion of fiber internet services. Reliable, high-speed connectivity is essential in today’s world – every family, student and individual in our community,” said LaGrange Mayor Jim Arrington. “This investment will help open doors to new educational opportunities, enhance access to community resources, and improve everyday life for residents. Together, we are helping ensure LaGrange remains a vibrant, connected city where everyone can thrive.”

Martin said bringing faster, high-speed internet to LaGrange was an obvious move with its growing economy.

“This is an important community. It’s growing. It’s leading the way in economic development. So it was a great community for us to expand our fiber network,” Martin said. “We learned coming out of the pandemic just how important connectivity is.”

For communities that might be struggling to get high-speed internet, AT&T is hoping to bring it to places like Hogansville with federal help through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

“The federal government has a program that is going to extend internet to every house, every living unit across the country, through BEAD,” Martin said. “The goal of that was to have everyone living in the United States connected to high-speed internet.” 

Fiber optic internet is faster than traditional lines because it uses light. It’s faster than copper, which is the more traditional network. 

“It’s still faster than satellite, which is still pretty good, but has lag issues and is affected by weather,” Martin said. “Fiber doesn’t have any lag time. You don’t have to worry if five houses in a row are on fiber. All five houses can experience the highest level of speed available, even if all of them are streaming Netflix at the same time or playing a video game at the same time. They all will have the same speed.”

Residents can find out if fiber is available at their location, or when it will be available, at att.com/notifyme or by visiting the AT&T store on Lafayette Parkway in LaGrange.