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Archive for the 'permits' Tag

San Clemente’s 16 questions for AT&T U-verse TV

August 14th, 2009, 9:45 am by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service? Readers: This is part of an ongoing series of updates on what happened to the AT&T U-verse rollout in Orange County. The company said in July that it was halting expansion in seven O.C. cities. I’m talking to each city so keep checking back for updates!

  1. Will every house in San Clemente be able to order AT&T U-verse? If not, why not?
  2. What is the proposed timeline for TV service?
  3. Where does AT&T already offer DSL service in the city? Show me, on a map.

All good questions that I’d like answers to myself. These questions — the above three summarized by me — were part of a 16-question questionnaire the city of San Clemente gave AT&T in February 2007 after AT&T inquired about offering its new U-verse TV service to residents.

“We sent them a questionnaire when they submitted a permit and they never responded back,” said Bill Cameron, San Clemente’s city engineer told me in an interview last month. “We want to know what the impacts are.”

Consumers in Orange County and elsewhere seem desperate for an alternative TV service. And traditional telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon began offering a full cable-TV like option two years ago with U-verse and FiOS. But roll out has been slow, leaving consumers frustrated. But do consumers really want the service? Verizon pulled back earlier this year, blaming competitors who started offering cheaper deals. 

Read the rest of this entry »

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

AT&T’s U-verse TV was ‘pen strokes’ away in Lake Forest

August 13th, 2009, 7:30 am by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service? Readers: This is part of an ongoing series of updates on what happened to the AT&T U-verse rollout in Orange County. The company said last month that it was halting further expansion in seven O.C. cities. I’m talking to each city so keep checking back for updates!

If you live in Lake Forest and can’t get AT&T’s TV service,  sorry folks. It’s not coming anytime soon.

“I thought we had some very productive meetings with AT&T’s staff,” Robert L. Woodings, the city’s public works director said during an interview earlier last month. “I think there are some (permits) that are just pen strokes away after they refresh their deposit.”

But after checking city records, Woodings discovered out that on July 14, 2009, AT&T told the city it was pulling its four permit applications until further notice. Those four permits were submitted on March 4, 2009, and AT&T’s outstanding balance was $1,719.25 for plan check fees. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Tustin’s turn: Why AT&T U-verse isn’t happening here yet

July 13th, 2009, 11:38 am by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service? Readers: This is part of an ongoing series of updates on what happened to the AT&T U-verse rollout in Orange County. The company recently said that it was halting new activity in seven O.C. cities. So keep checking back for updates!

UPDATE, 7/24/09: Added comment from AT&T’s H. Gordon Diamond regarding U-verse utility boxes and defective batteries. See below.

Efforts to offer Tustin residents AT&T’s U-verse TV service remain in limbo as the city and AT&T sort out their differences. But limbo could become eternity because the city believes it’s waiting for AT&T’s responses to ordinance requests, while AT&T has decided to stop its pursuit of 93 permits after more than a year of effort. Tustin, like five other cities I’ve interviewed, offered one primary reason it wasn’t keen on the project:  The city wants the boxes built underground. 

But underground isn’t the only issue for Tustin and below-ground utility boxes aren’t mandatory. Some of these utility cabinets have already been built above ground, including one in front of C. E. Utt Middle School on Browning Avenue. The city has other issues it wants resolved before greenlighting the rest of the project, said Elizabeth Binsack, Tustin’s communicty development director, who invited me to view the presentation given to AT&T about AT&T and given to the Planning Commission and City Council.  

“I gotta tell you, the sites we looked at in our walk, some were conflicting with line of sight, some were in the spot of trees and fire hydrants. I don’t think they looked at those sites at all. We did,” Binsack said.

 Other issues:

AT&T's application to install 93 U-verse TV utility cabinets around the city included locations like underneath this tree. City officials stand with a mock U-verse utility box. Photo courtesy of Tustin.

AT&T's plan to install 93 utility cabinets in Tustin included underneath this tree. City officials stand next to mock AT&T box. Photo from city of Tustin.

1. AT&T’s unwillingness to move these boxes to less obtrusive areas, such as the back of the park instead of smack dab in the middle, or off the edge of the sidewalk and into the landscaping (see photo on right and below). ”We haven’t heard back from AT&T,” she said.  

2. U-verse isn’t as advanced as Verizon FiOS, which instead of offering fiber optic technology to the middle of a neighborhood, builds the fiber all the way to the house. (“What if we end up with 93 boxes that are obselete?” Binsack wondered.) Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 14 Comments »

Irvine and AT&T U-verse TV remain at impasse

July 9th, 2009, 6:29 pm by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service? Readers: This is part of an ongoing series of updates on what happened to the AT&T U-verse rollout in Orange County. So keep checking back!

Finding out exactly why AT&T’s U-verse TV and speedy Internet service hit a roadblock in several Orange County cities may be more difficult than moving to a town that offers the service.

After AT&T said earlier this week that it stopped pursuing permits in seven Orange County cities – Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin – because it kept getting rejected, I decided to check with each city to find out what gives. Next stop: Irvine.

The city had me go through Craig Reem, its director of public affairs and communications. Via e-mail. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 14 Comments »

Permit hassles stymie AT&T U-verse in Newport Beach

July 7th, 2009, 5:33 pm by

Where is AT&T's U-verse service? Readers: This is part of an ongoing series of updates on what happened to the U-verse rollout in Orange County. So keep checking back!

It’s been a year since the city of Newport Beach last heard from AT&T and its proposed TV service called U-verse.  The city, one of seven in Orange County that AT&T has decided to stop pursuing, said that AT&T’s application hasn’t been denied. It’s just incomplete.

Steve Badum, public works director for the city, cited several unresolved issues. A city ordinance requires public utilities to be built underground whenever possible and so far, AT&T hasn’t offered a reason why the large U-verse boxes can’t be built underground.

More on the U-verse impasse

Also, AT&T’s permit application offered just a few locations for these boxes. The city’s attorney needs all locations in order to verify whether the project would stand up to the California Environmental Quality Act.

“We haven’t actually denied them. We just said they had an incomplete permit,” Badum said. “Part of the problem they have in older cities is … they are fiber to the node, which requires an additional box next to every distribution box they have. In Newport Beach, a lot of our sidewalks are three-to-four feet wide so putting a box in would cause an ADA (American with Disabilities Act) violation.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Update: What happened to U-verse and FiOS in Cypress

July 7th, 2009, 9:00 am by

Installation of U-verse at customer home. Image from AT&T.Readers: This is the first of several updates on what happened to the U-verse rollout in Orange County. I’ll be updating the blog after checking in with various cities. So keep checking back!

Cypress is one lucky Orange County city. It’s one of the few cities in the county where both Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse  want to expand their TV service.

But while Cypress was one of Verizon’s launch cities in 2007, the FiOS rollout has been on hold, according to city officials. And as we learned Monday, AT&T has given up on applying for needed permits because of hassles it faced during the process (read: “AT&T U-verse comes to a halt in Irvine, 6 other O.C. cities“). 

The U-verse impasse

“Their arguments have been about aesthetics even though the cabinets are no different than any others we have placed in the public right of way,” said H. Gordon Diamond, with AT&T Public Affairs, in response to why seven Orange County cities — Irvine, Cypress, Dana Point, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin — are now off the U-verse expansion list.

“To date, we have been successful in working with more than 230 other California cities on our upgrade to bring next-generation services to their residents,” Diamond said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

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