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AT&T's video streaming services have been decidedly "me too" affairs, ranging from a video portal that was effectively a Hulu clone to the U-Verse Screen Pack, which was touted as a "Netflix killer" but suffers from a limited catalog and is only available to U-Verse users for an additional $5 a month. However, a new survey being sent to U-Verse customers indicates AT&T is pondering expanding these options. Variety notes that the survey hints that the service might not be directly run by AT&T: A customer survey sent out March 14 to AT&T’s U-verse subscribers asked whether they would be interested in signing up for, or even inquiring about, a “new video and Internet service” that would: Stream to customers’ own devices without a receiver box; include local broadcast channels and “popular sports and entertainment” cable channels; the option to bundle one streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime; and better picture quality and shorter wait times for streaming, All this would be offered “at a significantly lower price than traditional pay TV services” and without usage charges for streaming. As we noted recently, U-Verse users currently aren't being charged for overages but AT&T DSL users are. AT&T's curiosity in such a project comes after Verizon recently launched a streaming video service in conjunction with RedBox. 11 comments
AT&T appears poised to begin offering new U-Verse speed tiers that should offer a belated speed increase for bandwidth-hungry users. Earlier this year AT&T promised users they'd eventually see 75-100 Mbps using line bonding, though the company was somewhat murky on deployment time -- or upstream speeds.  story continues..96 comments
CenturyLink has confirmed with Broadband Reports that there are usage caps in place for residential users. A thread in our forums contained more than a few users who were confused about the caps; some users saying they'd been warned and even disconnected -- while other heavy users had never been warned. 66 comments
AT&T has started using push polls and astroturf to convince Kentucky residents losing their DSL lines, paying higher prices, and losing all state consumer protections is going to work out really well for them. AT&T is of course going state to state insisting their telecom regulations need "modernizing" for an all IP age. 47 comments
Fear that Canadian regulators were going to do their job has resulted in a welcome -- though likely brief -- return to unlimited broadband in Canada. Our friends to the north are well-known for some of the most predatory and punitive broadband caps and overages anywhere, courtesy of uncompetitive broadband markets and regulatory capture. story continues..41 comments
A few years ago Cox Communications clarified that the company imposes what they call "soft" usage caps, which may or may not be enforced depending on the market. Each market is broken down here, with the caps varying depending on where you live and what the local network can handle. 17 comments
For years the cable industry insisted that they imposed usage caps because network congestion made them necessary. You'll recall that Time Warner Cable insisted that if they weren't allowed to impose caps and overages the Internet would face "brown outs." Cable operators also paid countless think tanks, consultants and fauxcademics to spin scary yarns about a looming network congestion "exaflood," only averted if cable operators were allowed to raise rates, impose caps, eliminate regulation or (insert pretty much anything here). 124 comments
Last summer Time Warner Cable launched a new website named " Time Warner Cable Conversations," purportedly to engage in dialogue with consumers about cable TV prices and the company's efforts to slowly but surely impose usage-based pricing. The "conversation" began after Time Warner Cable's rather disastrous attempt to force caps and overages on subscribers, an effort since replaced with a voluntary cap tier that doesn't offer much value and as a result unsurprisingly hasn't seen much user adoption. 24 comments
In addition to the inevitable (and sometimes bi-annual) increase in Comcast TV prices, the carrier is notifying out-of-contract customers that their broadband service will see a hike starting in the new year. According to user discussion in our forums, the price hikes vary depending on your market -- or more specifically the competition (or lack thereof) seen there. 67 comments
The FCC has hired a new chief economist with a history of cheerleading broadband usage caps for the cable industry. According to the FCC, they've hired Steven Wildman, an economist and professor at Michigan State University, as the agency's new chief economist. story continues..57 comments
Senator Ron Wyden has introduced a new bill taking taking aim at broadband usage caps. According to a description of the bill on Wyden's website, the The Data Cap Integrity Act would attempt to impose industry wide standards not only ensuring that usage meters are accurate, but that caps and overages are actually being used to manage network congestion, not, as a recent NY Times editorial proclaimed, as just "a way for Internet providers to extract monopoly rents." "Internet use is central to our lives and to our economy," said Wyden in a statement. 104 comments
Back in February we noted that AT&T, the company that really started the network neutrality debate to begin with, had come up with yet another awful new idea: charging app makers a fee if they wanted to reach consumers without hitting their usage caps. While AT&T presented the idea as akin to a 1-800 number for data or "free shipping," what it actually is a troll toll imposed by AT&T allowing them to rake in new cash -- and impose their power on a content ecosystem that operates better with AT&T out of the way. 43 comments
A new study by the Open Technology Institute (OTI) will surprise none of our regular readers, OTI finding that limited competition can be thanked for the rise in low caps and high overages on fixed line broadband networks. Carriers have argued (lied, frankly) that such penalties are necessary due to network congestion or financial well being, despite the fact that flat-rate pricing has been perfectly profitable, the costs of delivering broadband continue to plummet, and most well-run fixed-line networks experience limited to no substantive congestion. 16 comments
Wireless upstart FreedomPop today announced that the company has entered the home broadband market with a new service that provides up to 1GB of usage, for free. According to the company, FreedomPop is now taking pre-orders for their $90 FreedomPop Hub Burst (that's an awful lot of popping and bursting, no?) home modem, which they say should start shipping out to customers next month. 19 comments
After Time Warner Cable took a public relations beating for pushing low caps and high per byte overages on consumers back in 2009, the company has been stepping very carefully in what is quite obviously their relentless desire to charge consumers broadband overages. Early this year their metered billing option returned to a few tiny markets as a voluntary option named " Internet Essentials." The company promises users a $5 discount off their bill if they sign up for the plan, which features a 5 GB cap and $1 per gigabyte overages. 67 comments
Canadian Cable operator Cogeco Communications has officially entered the United States broadband market with their completed acquisition of Atlantic Broadband (see our user reviews) for $1.36 billion. According to a company press statement (pdf), their acquisition of the nation's 12th largest cable company gives them a foothold toward future U.S. 23 comments
Canadian Cable operator Rogers has begun testing a 250 Mbps symmetrical broadband offering in limited markets. Users in our Rogers forum noticed that the new speed offering recently popped up on the Rogers website. 26 comments
The Wall Street Journal has realized that ISPs jack up the cost of standalone Internet so users are less likely to ditch bundled television or phone services. This is something most of you have known for years of course, with many carriers charging more for just broadband than they often do for promotional bundles. 48 comments
User in our Rogers forum point out that the Canadian cable company has bumped speeds for most of their usage tiers, but has decided to leave usage caps for those tiers largely the same. An e-mail being sent to users indicates that Rogers customers will start seeing the faster speeds starting December 1. 17 comments
by IONEX Tuesday 23-Oct-2012 I love purchasing new gadgets. I still regret my Apple Newton purchase, but c'est la vie! I put in a pre-order for the new Tivo Stream as soon as I found out it was compatible with my TiVo Premiere. 53 comments
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