AT&T dropped us a line to note the baby bell is updating their terms of service for vanilla DSL and U-Verse customers, and unifying, for the first time, the TOS across their entire 22-state BellSouth acquisition footprint. Buried within the new TOS (available here) is refined language concerning customer free speech (you might remember the pseudo-controversy from last fall, when vague language in the TOS was incorrectly construed to mean AT&T was censoring critical opinion). More interesting is the first official reference to AT&T's more clearly defined broadband tiers, which we first discussed back in July. First, from the TOS:"We want to help our customers understand the capability of their broadband service," AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom tells me. "We're taking a proactive step to better define and explain speeds to our customers."

It's likely, after looking at the debate across the pond over "up to" marketing language, AT&T lawyers figured they might minimize legal troubles if they more realistically managed customer expectations -- by making it clear that line conditions may mean you won't get the advertised speed. Previously, speeds were advertised via their maximum potential data rate. This had a tendency to confuse less technical customers who found their aging copper, thousands of miles from the CO, couldn't achieve the DSL speeds they signed up for.

According to AT&T, the new TOS goes into effect starting October 18.