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AT&T Unveils Their 75 Mbps U-Verse Tier
AT&T today announced that the company will begin offering 75 Mbps downstream, 8 Mbps upstream U-Verse connections in select areas. According to an AT&T blog post, AT&T U-verse "High Speed Internet 75" is launching today in "parts of" Monterey and Sacramento, California, Toledo, Ohio; and El Paso, Texas. "In 2015 we plan to expand availability in these markets and across the 21 states where AT&T offers high-speed Internet service today," says AT&T's Bob Bickerstaff of the new tier. AT&T says the new 12-month promotional pricing for the tier starts at $75 per month standalone, or $40 per month when bundled. As with the company's 45 Mbps tier, your copper line quality and length determines whether you'll be able to get this faster offering.
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46436203 (banned)
join:2013-01-03

46436203 (banned)

Member

Time for Time Warner to get off their asses and roll out "Maxx" nationwide.

Looks like 50/5 Mbps as the top speed tier in most of Time Warner's markets isn't going to cut it anymore.

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

neill6705

Member

Re: Time for Time Warner to get off their asses and roll out "Maxx" nationwide.

Yeah, that's pretty sad. Even Comcast's second highest tier is 105mbps down.

trollstumper
join:2014-10-28

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For most people it does

cousintim
join:2004-10-10
Dallas, TX

cousintim to 46436203

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to 46436203
Two important caveats: "in select areas" and "copper line quality and length determines whether you'll be able to get this faster offering." This tier has already been released in Dallas, in a microscopic footprint of very expensive homes.

Until this tier is available market-wide in multiple cities, it is competition by press release.
Joe Siegler
join:2008-10-08
Garland, TX

Joe Siegler

Member

Re: Time for Time Warner to get off their asses and roll out "Maxx" nationwide.

said by cousintim:

This tier has already been released in Dallas, in a microscopic footprint of very expensive homes.

Yeah, I have Uverse and 45/6 in the Dallas area, but I wasn't aware of 75/8 being an option.
dfxmatt
join:2007-08-21
Crystal Lake, IL

dfxmatt to cousintim

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to cousintim
The clearest kicker to how this is basically available nowhere is, they couldn't even say a region.

If it's like "you'll see these new speeds in the midwest" is one thing, but they're saying more like "5% of the homes in xxxxx zip code".

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

1 recommendation

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I'm sure TWC is really shaking in their boots.

spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
·Consolidated Com..

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said by 46436203:

Looks like 50/5 Mbps as the top speed tier in most of Time Warner's markets isn't going to cut it anymore.

How do you think I feel: As a subscriber to CCI (formerly Surewest) we have fiber to the home and all we get is 50/50 as the top speed. Contrast that with Kansas where now they are offering 100/100 and even 1 gig speeds.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to 46436203

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to 46436203
said by 46436203:

Looks like 50/5 Mbps as the top speed tier in most of Time Warner's markets isn't going to cut it anymore.

The difference is that this 50/5 tier is available to everyone, and I mean every single house within the local Time Warner network. No matter the address, no matter where the house is, as long as you are connected to the same Time Warner network in that city, you can get 50/5.

(By the way, I have 300/20, MAXX has finished upgrades in L.A., N.Y., and Austin markets, and is launching in 8 more markets in 2015)

With U-Verse.... it depends. It depends on the link distance, it depends on the quality of copper, it depends on whether bonding of 2 cables is possible, it depends, it depends, it depends. It's very likely that in a given city, only 50% of its inhabitants actually qualify for either the 45 or 75 Mbps plans. Some might not even qualify for 24 Mbps, and are stuck with 18 Mbps or below.
WhatNow
Premium Member
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC

WhatNow

Premium Member

Re: Time for Time Warner to get off their asses and roll out "Maxx" nationwide.

It is better then the non broadband 3 and 6 megs circuits.

They can make announcement two ways. One is to announce what will happen over the next year or two or you can build most of the network and make the announcement near the end of the build. What that gets you is a big yawn and I have had that for two years give me some real news. The other problem is if you build a nation wide project in six months or a year the equipment manufactures spend a fortune to supply the equipment for a year and then they can't sell anything except for repairs when the project is finished.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

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Which cities only have 300 Mb/sec download? L.A. and N.Y.C.?
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103

Member

As always....

As with the company's 45 Mbps tier, your copper line quality and length determines whether you'll be able to get this faster offering.

How many can get this tier ? Less than those that can get the 45Mbps tier.
46436203 (banned)
join:2013-01-03

46436203 (banned)

Member

Re: As always....

I'm sure plenty can. I am 1,000 ft from a VRAD.

When I last tried out U-verse my lines sync'd up to 65 Mbps down / 12 Mbps up and with AT&T using pair bonding that would allow for a theoretical speed tier of 120 / 20 Mbps or so.

I just wish AT&T would start offering speed tiers that allow us to utilize the maximum capacity our lines can sync at because even with this new speed tier of 75/8 Mbps it's still only half the speed I could potentially get.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

2 recommendations

mixdup

Member

Re: As always....

said by 46436203:

I'm sure plenty can. I am

There's more to it than just how fast your copper loop syncs. There's a finite amount of bandwidth to the VRAD that must be shared among all customers served from it.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: As always....

VRADs are fiber-fed. AT&T has gigabit in some places. Bandwidth going into the VRAD isn't going to be the issue.

atcotr
@65.60.163.x

1 recommendation

atcotr

Anon

Re: As always....

This is a question of economics not technology. AT&T's anti-CAPEX approach leads to lower cost but also absurd situations such as running out of ports to hook up a new customer. I wonder how much cheaper FTTN is when you factor in all of truck rolls to deal with modems losing connection. AT&T rather low node density means lines are too long to support speeds competitive with cable.
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103

Member

Re: As always....

I agree. Its relatively quick to deploy (vs. FTTH), but what is the cost of running FTTN and maintaining the last mile.
Eventually, 'if' companies had enough bandwidth, they'd be able to put up cellular based fixed wireless at those VRADs and have ~20x the density of existing cellular in suburban areas.
asysadmin
join:2013-02-24
North Richland Hills, TX

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asysadmin

Member

Re: As always....

said by en103:

I agree. Its relatively quick to deploy (vs. FTTH), but what is the cost of running FTTN and maintaining the last mile.
Eventually, 'if' companies had enough bandwidth, they'd be able to put up cellular based fixed wireless at those VRADs and have ~20x the density of existing cellular in suburban areas.

Verizon already does that in Flower Mound,TX in their FiOS territory (EDIT: They use the nodes for extending cellular coverage, not for serving homes, obviously). Driving around you can see at least one nodule per street on the telephone poles.

ilikeme
Premium Member
join:2002-08-27
Stafford, TX

ilikeme

Premium Member

Re: As always....

Those are not for FIOS. Those are probably for utility metering. Maybe cellular also.
asysadmin
join:2013-02-24
North Richland Hills, TX

asysadmin

Member

Re: As always....

They are cell nodes that use Verizon's FiOS backbone (which is what I was talking about).

Rereading the comment I replied to I see that he means using the cellular for home connections (did't see that at first).
ohreally
join:2014-11-21

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So true. I live in a country with a marginally less backward telco, but even they are offering 80/20 on a single pair (and any VDSL2 modem works fine, AND you can choose from 20 or 30 ISPs that run on their network). The nodes/cabinets are designed to be within a few hundred metres of homes, usually co-sited with the existing copper distribution cabinets.

Where they offer FTTP, then they'll sell you 330Mbit at a reasonable price
txfeinbergs
join:2009-03-10
Allen, TX

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I can only get 18 Mbps and I live in a newer neighborhood. AT&T is all marketing fluff. My TWC connection is at 100 down, 5 up.
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin

Member

Re: As always....

said by txfeinbergs:

I can only get 18 Mbps and I live in a newer neighborhood. AT&T is all marketing fluff. My TWC connection is at 100 down, 5 up.

and with this att 'awesome announcement' probably it will go up to 300/20.

KennyWest
@98.28.97.x

KennyWest

Anon

Re: As always....

TWC is in no hurry in upgrading. Their pending merger/buy out right now. They're not sinking any money into their sinking ship. And weren't even putting any money into the network before the buyout/merger announcement. TWC needs to give up.

ev
@74.140.91.x

ev

Anon

Re: As always....

Yeah but they've been busy upgrading their Ohio plants to 8x4 channel DOCSIS so maybe maybe not...?
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin

Member

Re: As always....

Yep, they are upgrading (adding bonding channels) in a lot of markets... I wonder why is that? If they are not going to use the bonding channels why the hurry in adding them?

KennyWest
@98.28.97.x

KennyWest to ev

Anon

to ev
And much of Ohio needs to be rebuilt before it can even handle the 8x4 channels. And upgrading now means nothing. But its more like turning on what was already put in before. Hell even the Adelphia network was Doc2 and was treated as 1.0 and 1.1 when TWC took over. TWC is in no hurry to do anything.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

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TWC is in no hurry in upgrading. Their pending merger/buy out right now. They're not sinking any money into their sinking ship. And weren't even putting any money into the network before the buyout/merger announcement. TWC needs to give up.

They've been in pending merger mode for most of the year, and yet they completed the herculean task of upgrading the LA and NY areas. While a couple of cities may seem minuscule on paper, the number of customers in those areas is pretty massive. Between the LA, Orange County, and Ventura County areas that they consider the "Los Angeles" market, there's probably some 10-15 million people upgraded to MAXX on the left coast.

There was also a recent post by a TWC customer with an offer to join a trial of a next-gen DVR. It seems they're also trying to get their TV experience up to snuff. There are also quite a few reports of expanded channel bonding. 8 channels down would let them bump up to the intermediate step of 100/5 before MAXX hits like they did in LA/NY.

I can't say I really understand why, but the merger seems to be motivating them to do more, not less.
en103
join:2011-05-02

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According to Google Maps, I'm at 1238' (walking). Its roughly that from when AT&T dug up the street due to a power short and melted wires. The large bundle is ~2 houses away, and goes straight back to the vrad.
I'm happy enough on TWC 100/10 package.
asysadmin
join:2013-02-24
North Richland Hills, TX

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Lucky! My other option is Charter (max offering is 60/10), and the neighbors complain about it cutting out every other day.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

Re: As always....

said by asysadmin:

Lucky! My other option is Charter (max offering is 60/10), and the neighbors complain about it cutting out every other day.

That could also be due to their own wiring, or the drop to their house. Issues like that could be very localized and fixable.
asysadmin
join:2013-02-24
North Richland Hills, TX

asysadmin

Member

Re: As always....

This is true. I've been thinking about testing it due to being fed up with AT&T; maybe I'll get lucky.
The line drop hypothesis might actually be it; most of the people don't even know what "coax" means let alone interference and signal quality.
Every customer that got Charter on my street had some people trenching, so I think the drop is fresh. Probably the wiring in their house.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: As always....

Mmmm.. New 3GHz Coax.. Nom Nom Nom..

At least I hope what they're dropping is that good.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

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to txfeinbergs
said by txfeinbergs:

I can only get 18 Mbps and I live in a newer neighborhood. AT&T is all marketing fluff. My TWC connection is at 100 down, 5 up.

I still get AT&T solicitors at my door....

AT&T: "Hello, and good evening! We are going door to door to inform people about AT&T's fiber based networks! What internet provider are you currently using:

Me: "TWC MAXX, 300 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up"

AT&T: (who actually said this) "Oh. I see. And is the speed a deal breaker for you?"

AT&T: (quickly moving on) "Have you heard about our television service, we are the cheapest provider in this area and can most certainly give you a deal"

Me: "No thanks, the roof antenna and Netflix serve me just fine. Unless you can beat the Netflix price of $8 a month and the $0 a month I pay for that antenna, I don't think you can help me."

AT&T: "Have a great evening sir!

At least they were polite and not pushy
46436203 (banned)
join:2013-01-03

46436203 (banned)

Member

Re: As always....

I just tell them to go away and come back when they've rolled out their GigaPower service to my neighborhood.
asysadmin
join:2013-02-24
North Richland Hills, TX

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As @iansltx said, they already have fibre to the VRAD. They already have conduit run, so they don't even have to dig to upgrade (although 1G and 40G use the same type of fibre in most cases).

They have been doing plenty of "upgrading" in my area, but still refuse to upgrade my line. I have a 60mbps sync rate at ~1800 feet, but they keep me at 18/2. And I could get pair bonding too, but "nope we don't do that anymore".
mmay149q
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join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

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Yep, and Video is top priority behind phone service in QoS, so you have to be provisioned for 75Mbps, but each HD stream uses around 6Mbps (unless it's changed since I was U-verse Tier 2) so 24Mbps total pulled from your 75Mbps for HD streams (51Mbps total while 4 devices are streaming HD)

The VRAD should have a 10Gbps connection, however they hold over 200 customers, so get 100 customers running 75Mbps and you can kiss your "smooth experience" goodbye for the whole neighborhood, of course like I said, unless it's changed since I worked Tier 2 for U-verse
46436203 (banned)
join:2013-01-03

46436203 (banned)

Member

Re: As always....

>implying the grannies that use AT&T will ever use 75 Mbps

This service is for the 1%. The power user. The elite.

They could provision us at 1 Gbps with a 10 Gbps connection feeding all 200+ subscribers on the VRAD and us power users would still never bump into each other.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

mmay149q

Premium Member

Re: As always....

This is completely inaccurate, AT&T could NOT provision you at 1Gbps out of 10Gbps and not cause issues on the VRAD, I'd know, I supported U-verse for 3 years as a Tier 2 agent, and specifically as almost Tier 3 on these forums for U-verse (Check out my reviews) AT&T pipes all your services through the VRAD, TV/Phone/Internet, unless things have changed 1 HD stream uses 6Mbps, so 24Mbps for TV per home, or 6Gbps per VRAD with 250 customers on that VRAD, (Average holds 248 so I rounded) that doesn't even include SD streams, VoIP, and other people's internet bandwidth.

QoS for AT&T U-verse goes like this VoIP #1 priority, TV #2 priority, Internet #3 priority... So with that being said, EVEN IF you could get 1Gbps at your house, AND your line could handle it because the VRAD was in your front yard, what would be the point? As soon as your neighbors started watching HD streams you'd start seeing slower speeds... And if you were somehow actually utilizing at least 90% of that bandwidth, you would be the one losing speed, plus causing issues for the rest of the neighborhood (See people's issues in these forums with glitchy fast moving videos while downloading huge files)

Plain and simple, if you want that kind of service at home, then AT&T needs to stop with the lolly gagging and start building FTTP throughout 100% of their footprint, just like every other ISP available, playing around with copper just isn't the way of the future anymore, and with the current speeds most ISP's offer these days this could be done over the next few years with moderate investment and upgrades while people are still not even utilizing 300Mbps...

See I see the copper networks just like some people here see wireless spectrum, there needs to be "use it or lose it" laws in effect, not willing to upgrade to fiber? Keeping the same speeds for years? Cool, you just lost your infrastructure, file for bankruptcy and have a nice day, because we don't want you around anymore since you refuse to compete or let others offer services on the infrastructure....
CplEstesUSMC
join:2005-02-16
Douglasville, GA

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Would it be that hard to take the VRAD from 1 gig to 10 gig ?

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

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Re: As always....

said by CplEstesUSMC:

Would it be that hard to take the VRAD from 1 gig to 10 gig ?

If it's fiber-fed, it's as easy as swapping out a card and/or GBIC. They could stick a 40GigE card in it, but they're still a bit pricy.
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

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said by 46436203:

I'm sure plenty can. I am

Not everybody is 1Kft from a vrad, i've seen some subs at 5Kft even 6Kft.

Edit: there is one site that discloses this information »adslm.dohrenburg.net/too ··· ults.php... there is a lot of 'unknown' distance but you get the idea.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

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I don't think you'd get 120/20, since they set aside some amount for TV, even if you don't sub to it.

What I'd like to see happen is for these new tiers to push down the cost of the older ones. Cable is eating AT&T's lunch in terms of HSI subs, but it seems like all AT&T is doing when they launch a new tier is pricing it higher than the existing ones, despite cable increasing speed while also either slightly lowering the prices of the older slower tiers or giving subs on their existing tiers speed bumps.

KennyWest
@98.28.97.x

KennyWest to 46436203

Anon

to 46436203
With 1,000ft from the VARD, yes you will be able to get this. I am 1,000 feet from the VARD and can get 300/300 if I wanted it.
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin

Member

Re: As always....

said by KennyWest :

With 1,000ft from the VARD, yes you will be able to get this. I am 1,000 feet from the VARD and can get 300/300 if I wanted it.

What happens when somebody wants the 300/300 and he/she is too far and can only get 3/1?

See the problem?

KennyWest
@98.28.97.x

KennyWest

Anon

Re: As always....

at that point its aDSL or IPDSL. and what's the problem? The service is up to and not all speeds are available to everyone. Everyone knows how DSL works who actually cares to understand its not dedicated and its distance limited.

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

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At least AT&T does bonded DSL. I've been begging Centurylink to give me 40/2 (I've got 20/1 on a single pair) on my residential account. They'll give it to me, but I need a business account and it will cost me $155 a month. F*ck that.

•••

rolande
Certifiable
MVM,
join:2002-05-24
Dallas, TX
ARRIS BGW210-700
Cisco Meraki MR42

rolande to en103

MVM,

to en103
said by en103:

How many can get this tier ? Less than those that can get the 45Mbps tier.

Maybe. Maybe Not. They are using pair-bonding with Vectoring to achieve the higher speed. The vectoring feature will actually increase the number of people who could quality for 45Mbps or any of the lower speed tiers, as well. They are also supposed to introduce Phantom-mode for virtual pair-bonding to add a 3rd virtual pair. All of those features together will open up many more higher speed options for customers who were previously limited by distance.



••••••••••••
rolande

rolande to en103

MVM,

to en103
said by mmay149q:

or 6Gbps per VRAD with 250 customers on that VRAD, (Average holds 248 so I rounded) that doesn't even include SD streams, VoIP, and other people's internet bandwidth.

All carrier access nodes are designed to be oversubscribed on purpose. They build based on the 95 percentile usage pattern. The standard U-verse VRAD is only provisioned with 3x1Gbps uplinks anyway. You are forgetting to factor in multicast efficiency for all those video streams, as only one video stream has to be forwarded per active channel being watched/recorded, no matter how many customers are watching simultaneously off the same VRAD. Additionally you did not account for the fact not all customers are streaming and watching all 4 streams simultaneously.

But, in reality, Gigapower uses an upgraded VRAD design with (10G/WDM)PON cards anyway. Off hand I am not aware of the standard uplink bandwidth for a Gigapower enabled VRAD but my guess is that it jumps to a pair of 10Gig uplinks for resiliency, reduced uplink port capacity and reduced long haul fiber requirements. Each (10G/WDM)PON card is subscribed at 16:1. I assume they have to be doing WDM on the uplink to the VRAD to be able to provision 1Gig upstream to each customer while everyone on the same card just shares the aggregate 10Gig port bandwidth downstream. I still haven't gathered all the details on the particular cards/optical technology they are using.
innoman
-
Premium Member
join:2002-05-07
Seattle, WA

innoman

Premium Member

MDU's...

Forgot to mention that this isn't available to most who live in an MDU :/

•••
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Pathetic

Cable has been doing 100/20 or faster for a while. They need to start laying fiber!

AnonDude
@97.95.147.x

AnonDude

Anon

yawn

meanwhile in my area at&t sells 768 kbps "u-verse". gee wonder why those people have Charter and it's 60 Mbps internet. Here's an idea instead of giving haves even more give the have not more. Oh wait that's logical and might result in more profit.

•••

caster
@198.41.85.x

caster

Anon

I can get that rate with att directv?

I can get that rate with att directv?
techman01
join:2010-10-19
Palm Coast, FL

techman01

Member

re

I Can only get 18mbps speed from u-verse according to them so no chance I'll switch until they figure out a way to fix that. Brighthouse just bumped their tiers up in my area 30 to 35, 60 to 75 and 90 to 150 with no price increase(yet anyway)
asysadmin
join:2013-02-24
North Richland Hills, TX

asysadmin

Member

Meh. This won't reach a useful percentage of AT&T's customers.

Currently stuck on 18/2. They gave me the runaround general ignorant responses when I needed a higher speed even though I KNOW my line is fine.
Technically I could get 45/5, but nope, they don't want my money.

dru
join:2000-09-14
Ogden, UT

dru

Member

These "Upgrades" are marketing fluff

18M is the max service I can qualify for however it rarely does better than 10M x 512k. I really hate to do it, but I'm going back to cable.

Contract is up, just called yesterday and asked them to check on possible upgrades.
After a long time on hold and getting transferred around, a supervisor said these faster speeds being talked about in our city are for the FTTH customers. A lot of people here have complained that they moved to a house that has fiber expecting FIOS like speeds, only to be capped at 24M - AT&T offers the same product whether copper or fiber.

According to them, upgrades via pair bonding are not feasible in our area. Apparently our tract is too old to have fiber (new neighborhoods including one 4 blocks away are all fiber) but new enough where cell phones and broadband had diminished the need for second "teen" phones and dialup lines so they cut back on the pairs allocated/buried and that was before Uverse. They guy told me "federal and local regulators" require them to reserve so many pairs for 911/landline and also in the event some go bad, they have extras.

Thecomedian
join:2013-12-09

Thecomedian

Member

Gigapower has launched in Raleigh, NC

Gigapower is now available to residential customers in Raleigh, NC
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

heh

Basically this is non existent i'd think.. I mean if you live in the damn VRAD sure, but copper lines is what att seems to be interested in and even that they are not upgrading anyone any more .

I honestly wish they would just sell off unupgraded areas.. Fact, being they are holding many hostage as far as i'm concerned, we may have to as for some form of regulation to be developed to force just that...

Red Hazard
Premium Member
join:2012-07-21
O Fallon, IL

Red Hazard

Premium Member

Internet Only Price

An 88% price increase (penalty) for internet only service is absolutely outrageous. I'll stick with Charter, their penalty ($10/mo) is certainly more reasonable.

Gilitar
join:2012-02-01
Mobile, AL

Gilitar

Member

Pitiful

When 75 Mbps is your top offering in the shortest loop lengths you're in trouble. DOCSIS 3.1 will be the nail in the coffin.