Good news for AT&T U-verse USENET users as U-verse will be expanded by more than one-third locations and will also receive an upgrade in speed. The U-verse IPDSLAM service which offers high-speed IP Internet access and VoIP will be expanded to 24 million customer locations in its wireline service area by year-end 2013. By expanding its fiber network, AT&T intends to reach an additional one million business customer locations.
Like other phone companies, AT&T is having a hard time competing with cable broadband in much of its service area, because regular ‘‘DSL’’ broadband is now much slower than what cable companies offer. After reviewing its options, AT&T concluded that it won’t sell off phone lines in outlying areas like Verizon Communications Inc. did. Instead, it will pursue a split strategy of upgrading some areas to higher speeds and abandoning phone lines in less dense areas in favor of wireless.
Dallas-based AT&T is the country’s largest wired phone company, serving 33 million traditional phone lines in 22 states.
To compete with cable broadband, phone companies have made expensive upgrades of their lines to replace them with optical fiber for at least part of their run. AT&T calls this upgraded DSL ‘‘U-Verse,’’ and uses it to provide TV services in addition to broadband.
