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AT&T bonds two phone lines to extend U-verse's reach, ensure it is the 98th caller
Like your average teenager, AT&T has recognized the power in using two phone lines to cheaply extend its reach and influence. Pair bonding technology expands U-verse's reach by sending the signal over two copper phone lines at once and was supposed to roll out back in '08. No word what caused the delay, but that it's a cheaper option than putting more "shovels in the ground" should keep costs down and Randall Stephenson happy. According to AT&T, that extra distance (about 1,000 to 2,000 extra feet from neighborhood nodes) will help expand availability to 30 million households by the end of next year, so if you've been waiting for some Total Home DVR / Xbox 360 Mediaroom / mobile U-verse (once the latter two actually launch, of course) action but live a block or two too far outside the radius then things are looking up. The bad news? It won't add bandwidth for the compression issues or lack of additional HD streams Home Theater Review noted, and definitely won't help you score concert tickets during the top 8 at 8.
AT&T defends HDTV via FTTN networks
AT&T is finally ready to add HD to its much-delayed Project Lightspeed (U-verse) but the project is still dogged by questions and controversy. Unlike Verizon's FiOS service which runs fiber directly to the house, AT&T is using old-school VDSL for the last mile to most of its customers' homes, and claim it will have the bandwidth to deliver high speed internet and up to two streams of HDTV. Unfortunately, some analysts disagree, seeing either a change in plans switching to Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), or following DirecTV's lead and offering some sort of HDLite reduced-quality high definition. So far, AT&T is writing this off as just speculation, saying its current plan makes sense, and it is already testing HD to some customers in Houston. There's already some benefit over cable co's, with features like quad-tuner SD PVRs, but we're hoping that if things get tight they don't choose the cheap route and squeeze the HD figuring no one will notice.Read - AT&T and the Infamous Second HD StreamRead - AT&T: We're Sticking With FTTN
AT&T's U-verse adds Showtime HD, The Movie Channel HD
AT&T's U-verse continues building steam towards its HD launch by adding the Showtime family of channels to the service. This includes both Showtime HD and The Movie Channel HD. Of course, HD over Project Lightspeed has been coming soon for quite a while now, but hopefully we are only a few months away. They've recently signed up channels like Starz HDTV, Wealth TV, Discovery HD, MTV Networks' MHD and others. That could be a very compelling package...whenever it's actually available.
AT&T's U-verse TV signs up Starz HDTV
AT&T's U-verse FTTN & FTTP service may not actually offer high definition yet, that hasn't stopped them from adding additional programming for HDTV owners. The Starz package, including Starz HDTV and video-on-demand is the latest station to sign up with the service, which we expect will roll out HD in September or so.
