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AT&T U-verse gets Cartoon Network HD, MSNBC HD, 3 more HD

December 14th, 2009, 9:30 am by

AT&T U-verseNoted: For those in Orange County who can order TV service from AT&T, a few more high-definition channels of interest are launching. The company said today it added 5 new HD channels for its U-verse TV customers. Those channels are:

  • Cartoon Network HD
  • MSNBC HD
  • TV One HD
  • TBN HD (begins Dec. 15).
  • WFN: World Fishing Network HD

The new channels join existing U-verse HD service, except for the World Fishing Network, which is part of the HD Premium Tier.

“Customers don’t think of HD as bonus content anymore. HD is now the norm,” said Dan York, executive vice president of content and programming, AT&T Converged Services.

AT&T also added two foreign-language, non-HD channels:

  • VivaTV, a 24-hour Filipino-language channel that joins the Filipino Package.
  • TVBe, a Cantonese-language channel, which is $17 a month.

U-verse is only available in certain parts of Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda. For more details and an archive of older U-verse stories, please visit the Gadgetress Guide to U-verse, at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/uverse.

Recent new channel announcements:

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • | 9 Comments »

AT&T U-verse hits 2 million users today, no O.C. updates

December 9th, 2009, 3:26 pm by

AT&T U-verseNoted: AT&T U-verse service expects to sign up its 2 millionth customer today.

That means the company, which launched its alternative TV service in Orange County in 2007, has doubled the number of subscribers this year.

U-verse is still one of the smaller TV services available nationwide. Verizon FiOS, another Internet-based TV service, had 2.7 million by the end of September. Time Warner Cable has about 13 million customers while DirecTV has 18 million.

Currently in Orange County, U-verse is available in parts of Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.

Earlier this year, AT&T halted expansion in 7 cities in Orange County because of difficulties getting permits approved. A spokesperson from AT&T confirmed today that there are no updates on the U-verse status of these cities. Read the original series: “The AT&T U-verse impasse in O.C.”

Recent U-verse stories:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • | 2 Comments »

AT&T U-verse Internet speeding up to 24 Mbps

December 9th, 2009, 12:17 pm by

AT&T U-verseAT&T U-verse’s Internet service is ramping up to 24 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps up.

The faster “Max Turbo” service is rolling out first in St. Louis, Mo., and Austin and San Antonio in Texas, but it should reach other markets “in the coming months,” according to AT&T. With special promotions and bundle discounts, the upgrade is $65 a month. Otherwise, according to U-verse’s price page, it starts at $75. Small business customers can order it for $95 a month.

While not quite Verizon FiOS fast, the new U-verse speed is faster than what AT&T offers in Orange County, which tops out at 18 Mbps. Comparably, Verizon FiOS offers 50 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up. The local cable companies are in the 10 to 15 Mbps range.

Interestingly, in cable news today, DSL Reports writes that Cox Communications is launching 50 Mbps Internet service in Las Vegas. It offers faster service via DOCSIS 3.0 technology and has rolled out similar services in Rhode Island, Arizona, Northern Virginia and Lafayette, LA.

Time Warner Cable has also launched 50 Mbps Internet using DOCSIS 3.0 in other parts of the country, most notably in New York.

Recent AT&T U-verse stories:

Posted in: Internet • Video & TV • • • • • • | Comments Off

Forget snail mail, text Santa your wishlist this year

November 21st, 2009, 8:03 am by

Track Santa Claus this Christmas Eve.Noted: With this week’s earlier hubbub about the North Pole not accepting “Dear Santa” letters this year (apparently, this just got cleared up), AT&T customers offers another method: Texting.

If children, um, parents text SANTA to 1224 between now and Dec. 24, they will get an invite from the jolly man himself to send their wish lists. Thanks to a “special agreement” between AT&T and the North Pole, the texts will be free. More details HERE.

Those AT&T customers who also subscribe to AT&T U-verse TV service can track Santa’s movements on Christmas Eve with the Santa Tracker service on Channel 98. The channel should have enough arts and crafts ideas, music sing-alongs and holiday games to keep the kids occupied.

More stories on mobile service:

Posted in: Cell phones • Video & TV • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Movie coupons, caller ID, ESPN are latest U-verse TV apps

November 17th, 2009, 12:58 pm by

AT&T U-verse adds coupons on demandThere are three more things AT&T U-verse customers can do on their TV: See who’s calling on the phone, watch four ESPN channels at the same time (for ESPN Full Court customers only) and get instant discounts on movies on demand.

None of these “apps” are that new for the industry. But all are useful. This brings the U-verse TV apps count to 20.

To get an instant $2 discount, U-verse customers just turn to channel 200, get the code, and redeem the coupon instantly on channel 199. Customers can also go to U-verse’s customer Web site and get the discount code. The first coupon will be available on Monday, Nov. 23. If you’re also an AT&T Wireless customer, you can get coupon alerts send to your phone by texting “On Demand” to 9696.

The discount movie coupon is something I hope cable providers will soon add. Time Warner, for example, does offer local coupons on demand (they’re actually sent by snail mail), but to get discounts on its on-demand movie library, customers have to snail-mail back a paper coupon with their monthly bill.

AT&T U-verse adds caller ID for TV users.The onscreen Caller ID feature is, of course, only for customers who get home phone and TV service from AT&T. The feature also notifies TV viewers of new voicemails. The messages pop up in a small box on the TV screen for six seconds. This feature is coming soon and right now, only available in Austin, Tex. (AT&T, after all, is based in Texas.)

Lastly, ESPN Full Court package subscribers can watch four basketball games on the same screen on channels 4500 and 621. The package is priced at $105 through Nov. 28.

Here’s AT&T’s official video about how the new apps work: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

AT&T adds 240k U-verse customers, millions of iPhone users

October 22nd, 2009, 12:33 pm by

AT&TAT&T offered another update on the health of its U-verse TV and Internet service in this morning’s quarterly earnings report. It’s still growing!

The company added 240,000 net new TV customers, which brings the number of U-verse subscribers to 1.8 million nationwide. That’s up 1 million customers from the same time last year.

More than three-fourths of U-verse TV subscribers also purchase Internet, home phone or wireless phone service from AT&T. See the chart on the lower right for the growth of U-verse customers in the past year.

U-verse is offered in several Orange County cities. But as many residents know, that doesn’t mean you can order service. In some cities, the company has been unable to get permits to place large utility boxes in neighborhoods. For more details, see my earlier series of stories about AT&T’s struggles in seven Orange County cities – Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin.

AT&T's U-verse subscriber growth, third quarter 2009Still, in the 225 cities where service is available, 20 million households nationwide can order service. With around 1.8 million paying customers, the U-verse penetration is approximately 12 percent. In California, U-verse is available to 3 million homes and businesses.

Combined with customers who order satellite TV service, AT&T had 4 million video customers.

As for high-speed U-verse Internet, AT&T added 252,000 net new subscribers during the third quarter. That helped the loss of at least 162,000 DSL customers. Combining its U-verse, DSL and 3G wireless Internet customers, AT&T had 17.1 million broadband customers by the end of the quarter, up 138,000 customers during the quarter.

For those keeping track of Apple iPhone users, AT&T activated a whopping 3.2 million iPhones during the quarter. About 40 percent of the iPhone activations were customers new to AT&T. Overall, the company added 2 million wireless subscribers. While this makes it AT&T’s best third-quarter in five years, the company apparently lost a big chunk of customers. Still, AT&T ended the quarter with 81.6 million wireless customers.

The company made $3.2 billion (attributed to AT&T operations) on $30.9 billion in revenues. That was about the same as third-quarter last year, when AT&T made $3.2 billion on revenues of $31.3 billion.

More earnings news:

Posted in: iPhone • Video & TV • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

AT&T U-verse TV available to 3 million California homes

October 21st, 2009, 9:12 am by

AT&T U-verse

Thanks everyone who left a comment about AT&T U-verse availability in your neighborhood. I’m going to update my map. Stay tuned for a link… For everyone else, please continue to let me know by commenting below if you can order U-verse.
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Slowly but surely, AT&T’s TV service called U-verse is popping up in cities across the state. The company says the service, an alternative to cable TV, is now available to 3 million homes in California.

Service, however, is not available to everyone living in the 225 cities and counties where U-verse is offered statewide. This is because AT&T relies on local city governments to allow facility upgrades within neighborhoods and not all cities have obliged, saying they don’t want more ugly boxes decorating city streets.

In Orange County, U-verse is available in certain parts of  Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.

Originally, AT&T had targeted more cities but dropped its pursuit after running into roadblocks with the cities. Those cities include Irvine, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin. (See earlier coverage on the slowdown in Orange County on this page: “The AT&T U-verse impasse in O.C.”

Question of the day: Can you order AT&T U-verse TV at your house? Help me track the service and tell me where you are by leaving a comment below. Leaving your zip code would be informative. Thanks!

But as part of this week’s announcement, the company says it invested nearly $7.9 billion in wireless and wireline (which includes U-verse) networks in the state between 2006 and 2008. It even quotes Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, who applauds AT&T’s move:

“I have always believed that choice and competition in the marketplace benefits consumers,” said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. “AT&T’s commitment to deliver a choice for video and high-speed Internet to the residents of Anaheim, and to hundreds of other cities across the state, has only reinforced this belief. Consumers win when businesses compete.”

There’s no mention of how many of those 3 million potential customers actually subscribe. Those numbers could possibly come out Thursday during the company’s next earnings report.

At last count, AT&T U-verse’s TV service had 1.6 million subscribers nationwide in June (see earlier: “AT&T’s U-verse TV jumps to 1.6 million subscribers“). Comparably, Verizon FiOS, another new cable TV alternative, had 2.5 million customers. Both services continue to grow while cable TV companies reported a decline in subscribers.

Recent TV service news:


Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • | 54 Comments »

Cable scores lowest in paid TV customer satisfaction survey

October 7th, 2009, 6:00 am by

J.D. Power and AssociatesIn a report out this morning, traditional TV service providers continued to get pounded by consumers. Ratings company J.D. Power and Associates ranked cable companies the lowest out of all available TV services in the company’s 2009 TV Service Satisfaction report.

Here in the West, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications scored the lowest out of the six TV services available in Orange County. Newer TV alternatives AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS took the lead, with satellite TV services  DirecTV and Dish Networks tied for third place.

The annual report said overall scores improved from 2008, indicating that TV providers really are paying attention to their customers, said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power.

Consumers said they didn’t have to wait on hold for as long as last year — falling 13 percent to 9 minutes, 5 seconds. Customers also experienced fewer outages — 11 percent this year, compared to 15 percent last year.

Overall scores were at 632 on a 1,000-point scale, up 23 points from last year. This year’s study was based on 28,118 U.S. households who were surveyed in January, March and July 2009.

Still, 632 out of 1,000 doesn’t sound too hot. Here’s where the local companies landed: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 44 Comments »

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