The problem with AT&T's U-verse

There's been a burst of AT&T U-verse announcements lately, so a little splash of cold water is probably an order, and this one comes courtesy of Multichannel News. They point out that despite the welcome increases in HD offerings and AT&T's plans to bring the roster to a million customers in 2008, there are some significant problems with the service, first and foremost being the dreaded "last mile," which AT&T has left (ham)strung by its existing copper network as compared to Verizon's FTTH solution. Adding insult to injury, U-verse FTTN structure limits each home to one HD signal at a time currently -- a huge limitation in today's homes accustomed to using more than one HDTV or a DVR with more than one HD tuner. And then there's U-verse internet speeds, which aren't going to have any easy go when it comes to keeping up with cable's dramatic bandwidth growth (courtesy of DOCSIS 3.0), as well as fiber's potential. (To be fair though, the bandwidth offered by U-verse is enough for many households, and still more than your average janky ADSL jobbie.) The DRM on U-verse programming is still irritating, but at least it's status quo; the same shenanigans go on with just about any digital content these days. But there may also be issues with reliability -- although we're sure everybody has experienced programming interruptions, no matter what kind of service they use. Are you a U-verse user? Sound off in comments, let us know what you think.

Note: content revised