u-verse
Networks
AT&T Boosts Up U-Verse Top Speed to 18Mbps
5:15AM Matt Buchanan | While AT&T U-Verse lags far, far behind Verizon FIOS in the insane bandwidth race, the boost to 18Mbps downstream for the top tier U-Verse package that starts Nov. 9 nearly doubles the relatively pokey 10Mbps they offered. To put it in perspective though, Verizon has an upstream package that still goes faster than that. And they don’t have those pesky caps looming, either. More »
Gadgets
Walmart: Would You Like a Side of AT&T U-Verse With That Vizio TV?
12:40AM Matt Buchanan | AT&T is going to sell its U-Verse TV and internet service at Wally World and Circuit City in areas where it’s available, hoping to juice adoption rates. Which means that Walmart’s odd metamorphosis into a place you can legitimately go gadget shopping (at 3AM while completely hammered, which, let’s be honest, is the real appeal here) is nearly complete. More »
Software
AT&T Looking for New Ways to Meld iPhone with U-Verse
5:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | AT&T is figuring out options for linking U-Verse to the iPhone, and plans on eventually introducing services that’ll meld the two into an all encompassing home theatre system. Features being developed include using the phone as a remote control, listening to voicemail on TV, downloading shows from DVRs onto iPhones and virtually hurling tomatoes at the screen. Is it weird that the last feature is the one I’m most excited about? [Reuters] More »
Networks
AT&T Changes Terms of Service, Will Start Slowing Rebel Downloaders Next Month
5:42AM Matt Buchanan | AT&T’s just updated its terms of service for broadband customers, and starting next month, if you’re a heavy downloader, get ready to have your connection squeezed to a trickle. While they haven’t implemented usage caps a la Comcast (yet) they are using a similar traffic management technique starting on Oct. 18 that will slow down your whole connection if you’re “using other U-verse services in a manner that requires high bandwidth.” More »
Networks
AT&T U-Verse Update Now Allowing DVR on 8 TV Sets At Once
2:53PM Gizmodo US Edition | In an attempt to one-up Verizon’s FiOS, AT&T has finally rolled out a new software update for its U-verse service that’ll let subscribers watch recorded shows on up to eight different TV sets. FiOS only offers multiroom DVR for seven different televisions currently. The feature is already available in San Francisco an nearby subscriber cities, but ought to be rolled out to the rest of the Bay Area this week. While I’m sure this is a welcome change for anyone who’s been using U-Verse, I doubt being able to DVR on one extra set will help AT&T gain the ground it so desperately craves. [Wall Street Journal] More »
Networks
Verizon FiOS: How They’re Futurising TV Faster Than AT&T and Big Cable
7:30AM Matt Buchanan | Verizon’s New Jersey headquarters is a complicated place. Part bunker, part weirdly Buddhist sanctuary, it housed the original AT&T before the government cut it up into little pieces, half of which became Verizon, and half of which have congealed back together, T-1000 style, into Verizon’s biggest competitor. I’m told when Verizon moved in, the exorcism cost millions. That’s partly the reason they brought me out: To exorcise the notion that AT&T is winning the race to change the way you watch television. Verizon showed me a new version of FiOS TV that will start rolling out to customers any day now, and hitting everyone by end of the year, with a feature set rivals that AT&T’s U-Verse, including interactive content, PC connectivity, RSS feeds, even the ability to see what your neighbours are watching in realtime. galleryPost('vzfiosnew', 3, ''); More »
Entertainment
The Future of TV According to AT&T
5:00AM Matt Buchanan | The video labs at AT&T’s Atlanta HQ are not located on the higher floors of its 47-story Midtown Centre where, between demos, you can casually scrape a view of the city through giant windows. You know, where you might expect to see the future of TV. Instead, they’re buried down on the second floor in a building a few doors down, in a plain grey room, whose only exceptional attribute is a wall of TVs–eight total including two 60-inchers–which are hooked up to experimental U-verse IPTV DVR boxes. In this room, sitting on the single blue-green couch, you can stare up and see the future–TV-to-phone video calling, iPhones as remote controls, on-screen visual voicemail, MST3K-style chat while viewing and more–TV as you will hopefully know it in the next couple of years.
Entertainment
AT&T Dumping Dish TV (Is Satellite Screwed?)
1:55AM Matt Buchanan | AT&T is nixing the agreement they’ve had with Dish TV since 2003 to sell their satellite TV service as part of a triple play bundle with internet and voice. Some are speculating it’s because AT&T is simply down on satellite TV (it’s got its own U-verse IPTV thing after all), but more likely it’s pitting Dish and DirecTV against each other in a bidding war, since U-verse deployment ain’t exactly a runaway train speed-wise. So, realistically, you could see AT&T hawking DirecTV instead of Dish next year, which would be a blow to to the latter, since they’re already little number two. But maybe AT&T will be super ballsy and push off satellite altogether. [Info Week] More »
Regulars
