AT&T's second quarter earnings are out, and despite "antennagate" and network coverage criticism -- the company still managed to activate a whopping 3.2 million iPhones during the quarter. Overall, the company added 1.6 million wireless subscribers (896,000 of those were not phones but embedded devices like e-Readers) for the quarter, to reach 90.1 million total wireless connections. AT&T saw a 27.2 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up $936 million from last year -- and their new data pricing only really just kicked in.

AT&T added a net 209,000 U-verse TV subscribers for the quarter, totaling 2.5 million. That said, AT&T overall lost about 92,000 total broadband customers, given they lost 347,000 traditional DSL customers, some to U-Verse upgrades, some to competitors. AT&T's broadband quarter wasn't a particularly great one, something AT&T attributes to "seasonal" slowdown, but also because competitors in non U-Verse markets are becoming "more aggressive with promotions."

In other words, users tired of slow and expensive DSL service are upgrading to cable. AT&T hopes to counter this with bonded VDSL, which will extend U-Verse's reach to 30 million potential users. But the fact that cable is kicking AT&T around in legacy DSL markets is kind of amusing -- given all the investor pressure on AT&T to skimp on network upgrades.

AT&T's decision to run FTTN instead of FTTH has remained a sticking point, with AT&T's top U-Verse speed (after video) sitting at 24Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream for customers within range. While that speed is (at least downstream) nothing to laugh at, it's quickly being overshadowed by Comcast deployment of 50Mbps DOCSIS 3.0, which is now available in more than 80% of Comcast markets (with 100 Mbps to come).

Satellite and telcoTV providers have long been annoyed with the fact that some cable companies withhold access to cable-company owned regional sports channels. In New York, Cablevision withholds access to the channel from competitors like U-Verse, Dish and FiOSTV in order to prevent sports fans from migrating.

According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is threatening to slow U-Verse investment if the FCC moves forward with their plans to partially reclassify broadband ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act. Of course threats of slowed investment are the norm for carriers trying to get Uncle Sam to do what they want -- so this certainly isn't particularly surprising.

Some users have found luck firing e-mails at higher level executives should the company they're trying to reach prove incapable of resolving problems. AT&T customers apparently aren't among them. According to Engadget, one user who e-mailed AT&T about bumping his iPhone upgrade eligibility date was told to stop e-mailing the CEO -- or he'd face cease and desist letters and possible legal action. After AT&T unveiled new 200 MB and 2 GB caps with per GB overages up to $10 per gigabyte -- you get the feeling that CEO Randall Stephenson's legal team might be busy this week. Of course stories of AT&T's dislike of people e-mailing their CEO -- will result in a flood of people finding Stephenson's e-mail address and saying hello.

Users in our AT&T U-Verse forum note -- and AT&T confirms -- that the company has suffered from a national U-Verse voice outage for much of the day so far. AT&T isn't being specific about what's wrong outside of saying they're having an "equipment problem" and they're working hard to fix it.

As part of their quest to ease congestion on the NYC 3G network, AT&T has announced that they've launched free Wi-Fi service in New York City's Times Square -- if you're an AT&T customer. According to AT&T, the test is "a pilot deployment to explore the use of Wi-Fi to provide an additional mobile broadband option in areas with consistently high 3G traffic and mobile data use." AT&T says that depending on the results of the pilot, they may build out service in additional cities where congestion warrants. Of course AT&T already operates a significant hotspot network at more than 20,000 locations nationwide.

Cable triple play bundles have been batting the telcos around a bit -- especially when it comes to losing landline voice customers. While Comcast used to downplay the idea of the "quadruple play" (home phone, wireless, broadband and TV), they've recently started offering it anyway -- adding their High-Speed 2 Go Mobile WiMax service into the mix.

Buried in a Reuters report -- focusing largely on wireless broadband and smartphones -- is an interesting note. According to Reuters, AT&T "plans a residential broadband trial in June to allow Web surfing at speeds of 80 megabits per second." That's of course much faster than AT&T's top speed of 24 Mbps for their U-Verse service; however, it's not clear those speeds are even possible for most AT&T users given the company's decision to save money and use fiber to the node instead of fiber to the home.

AT&T's large U-Verse cabinets have been a frequent sore spot for many communities, who don't like the large metal boxes being plunked down in front of their homes. This user in our forums is having even less fun in trying to get his U-Verse services repaired -- after an outage resulted in lost service that began more than a week ago.

Last year we noted how AT&T had launched "AT&T Entertainment," a video portal offering limited free TV shows and films. It wasn't initially clear why they bothered, given the portal was simply a re-branded version of Hulu -- offering all the exact programs as Hulu -- but with an AT&T logo slapped on.

AT&T's decision to run FTTN instead of FTTH has remained a sticking point, with AT&T's top U-Verse speed (after video) sitting at 24Mbps downstream for customers within range. While that speed's nothing to laugh at, it's quickly being overshadowed by Comcast deployment of 50Mbps DOCSIS 3.0, which is now available in more than 80% of Comcast markets (with 100 Mbps to come).

As part of an effort to get past the company's fight with Verizon last year and to better position themselves as a "lifestyle company," AT&T tells Advertising Age they're launching a huge new rebranding effort. AT&T will ditch the "Your World Delivered" (to the NSA, many joke) slogan, and will be replacing it with "Rethink Possible." AT&T is the nation's fourth biggest spender on advertising, and the campaign is the first for former Coca Cola executive Esther Lee.

In July of last year, Broadband Reports was the first to report that AT&T was cooking up a new 24 Mbps down 3 Mbps up tier for U-Verse users, and in December of last year the product launched under the "Max Turbo" brand. The tier, which costs $65 a month but requires you bundle other AT&T U-Verse products, was originally launched in Austin, San Antonio and St.

We recently noted how AT&T has decided to scrap their two metered billing trials in Reno, Nevada and Beaumont, Texas starting in April -- an insider telling Broadband Reports that the projects may not have been cost efficient. But is AT&T still working on a consumption meter? A user over at Stop The Cap noted over the weekend that AT&T's U-Verse account overview website now includes a section called "Usage & Recent Activity," which in turn has a placeholder for what appears to be a monthly usage meter.

According to the Chicago Tribune, an AT&T technician installing phone service tripped and fell on the customers premises, breaking his leg. Now normally, a carrier technician should be fully insured and bonded, but in this instance AT&T -- for whatever reason -- decided to try to make the customer pay the bill -- and sent them a letter informing them they owed $2,761.07.

Fresh off their wireless ad dispute over Verizon's 3G coverage maps, AT&T's now taking aim at advertisements by Time Warner Cable. According to a complaint with the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau, AT&T isn't happy about a new Time Warner Cable ad campaign running in several of their markets, which suggests that the AT&T network (and AT&T's VDSL-based U-Verse service) isn't up to the task of delivering both HD signals and quality broadband.

Back in January, we leaked word that AT&T would be starting 2010 off with a suite of rate hikes for both their regular DSL and U-Verse VDSL customers. Users write in to tell us they're now officially getting the announcement from AT&T that starting with their March bill, the monthly rate for their Express (1.5 Mbps), Pro (3 Mbps) or Elite (6 Mbps) plans will be increased $3 per month.

Last April Time Warner Cable shelved their plans to impose metered billing on their customers, after a user, media and political backlash caused them to reconsider the consumer value of charging up to $5 per gigabyte (as in: not much). While Time Warner Cable took a media beating, AT&T quietly continued to experiment with metered billing in two markets: Beaumont, Texas and Reno, Nevada.

Incumbent phone and cable companies have spent years successfully lobbying state lawmakers to pass laws banning towns and cities from wiring themselves -- even in cases where incumbents wouldn't. The laws, usually written by incumbent lawyers, were passed in more than a dozen states without much public debate -- though momentum slowed in recent years due to media attention and consumer advocacy opposition.