The Gadgetress blog launched five years ago as a spot to post my high-tech musings. It evolved into a gadget-review column, then a how-tech-saves-money site and finally a blog dedicated to reporting the latest on local TV and mobile services.

But all good things must come to an end and the Gadgetress blog is retiring. That’s because after nearly 10 years at the Orange County Register, I’m leaving this great gig — and Orange County — for that mysterious “to pursue other opportunities.”

It’s really a mystery to me what I’ll be doing next. I’m taking a break for a few months. Seriously. I may return to the world of tech journalism. If you want to keep track of what’s next for me, just head to my personal site at tamara.net.

I enjoyed every minute, especially the interaction with readers. Thank you readers, fans, critics, the companies and even Time Warner Cable. I’ve learned a lot from all of you and hopefully vice versa. I’ve updated the story archives so if you’re looking for an old post on TV service, here’s where to go:

• Time Warner Cable
• Cox Communications
• Verizon FiOS
• AT&T U-verse

For all other tech-related stories and questions, here are a few people who may be able to help you:

• The PC Club Q&A will continue. Readers can still submit questions to gadgetress@ocregister.com with “Help Me” in the subject head.
• John Dunphy, OC Register editor who oversees technology coverage: jdunphy@ocregister.com
• Ian Hamilton, OC Register reporter who covers tech in Irvine and has a soft spot for all-things Apple: ihamilton@ocregister.com

Farewell good readers. I’ll be on Twitter, Facebook and who knows where else? May we meet again!

Signing out,

Tamara “The Gadgetress” Chuang

Readers searching for an alternative TV service have been asking for months: Any updates on the AT&T U-verse roll out?

It’s been 8 months since last summer’s series detailing the company’s decision to stop pursuing 7 Orange County cities, including Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Tustin. AT&T ran into roadblocks with the city governments to install large utility boxes above ground. The cities wanted underground structures. AT&T decided it wasn’t worth the time or money.

So, what’s happened since? AT&T just got back to me with an answer and you’re probably not going to like it.

“No updates to report on the OC cities,” said Katie Keating, with AT&T.

Keep in mind, U-verse has expanded tremendously in the past year. According to the company’s 2009 earnings report, it doubled the number of U-verse customers to 2.1 million and it still plans to make the service available to 30 million by the end of next year.

AT&T continues to market to new customers in 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.

But like the other newish TV service, Verizon FiOS, there have been no expansions into new cities. This week, the Associated Press reported Verizon is winding down FiOS expansion. We already knew this was happening in Orange County last year and the company confirmed as much just a few months ago.  If you can’t get FiOS today, you probably won’t be getting it for a very, very long time. Sounds like the same is true with U-verse, at least for the 7 cities previously mentioned.

There is still some hope that Orange County cities will get fiber Internet, if not TV service. Google’s recent pitch to help out cities build fiber networks did attract some local attention. Fullerton, Mission Viejo and Anaheim all made a bid (read earlier story: “Orange County doesn’t go crazy for Google’s 1 gbps fiber Internet“).

More on U-verse:

AT&T has expanded its faster Max Turbo Internet to all U-verse customers. The Internet plan offers 24 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream speed.

That’s well above cable Internet speeds in Orange County but below the maximum of Verizon FiOS, another telecom offering an alternative TV and Internet service. FiOS offers download speeds of up to 50 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps.

Max Turbo, which launched in Texas and Missouri in December, is $65 month if bundled with U-verse TV service. It’s $95/month for eligible small business customers. Existing plans, including the previously top speed Max Plus at 18 Mbps, are still available (see chart below).

AT&T is available in limited parts of Orange County. Cities include 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.

See the U-verse page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/uverse
Recent AT&T U-verse stories:

AT&T said today that Orange County and Los Angeles customers can now get Caller ID on their TV.

The new feature pops up a message in a corner of the TV screen for 6 seconds so viewers can decide whether the caller is worth interrupting the TV program. Customers must subscribe to both AT&T U-verse TV and U-verse Voice telephone service to get this to work.

On-screen caller ID isn’t new.  AT&T first launched the feature last November in other parts of the country. Cable companies have offered it for several years to customers who order the two related services. Verizon added it for FiOS users in Orange County in December.

The on-screen caller ID is free and it starts working automatically. The feature also pops up a message for new voice mail.

Interestingly, AT&T tosses out a statistic on how many customers are paying for Voice service: More than 67 percent of new customers for a total of 1 million, as of January.

U-verse service is only available in certain parts of certain Orange County cities. Here is the updated list of local cities: 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.

More on AT&T U-verse:

Noted: Time Warner Cable likes to tout its “free” HD to make itself look more affordable than the competition. But free isn’t true, as some readers like to note.

The Better Business Bureau doesn’t think so either. After a competitor’s complaint to the Council of Better Business Bureau, Time Warner Cable said it would “revise its advertising to curtail use of the word ‘free,’” reports Multichannel News.

AT&T complained about the misleading ads that are used to promote cable service. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus looked at the issue and said that the issue is Time Warner’s “free HD” was part of a temporarily discounted price that eventually went up so free HD should no longer be considered free. The agency recommended that Time Warner discontinue such advertising.

The misleading Time Warner ad showed a U-verse TV customer named Ed who rejected Time Warner’s “free HDTV” and instead says “Sure, U-verse hits me up with an HD surcharge every month but, no big deal, I’ve found ways to make extra cash…” The ad ends with “Don’t Be Ed …Don’t Accept HD Surcharges” or “Don’t Accept Less. Get Digital Cable with Free HD.”

Time Warner offers dozens of HD channels at no extra cost as part of different levels of standard cable service. It has one special tier of HD-only channels for about $5 a month, which customers can order separately. AT&T charges $10 per month for HD channels.

Readers have complained about the “free HD” campaign as well since technically, customers still need to order a minimal cable service and equipment to get the “free” HD channels. Time Warner’s not the only one using the marketing gimmick. Cox and other cable providers also tout free HD.

Readers: What do you think? Did the “free HD” campaign win you over? LEAVE A COMMENT

Read the full story at Multichannel News: Time Warner Cable To Change ‘Free HD’ Claim After AT&T Complaint

Recent Time Warner news:

Corrected 2/16: Fox Reality is being replaced by National Geographic Wild, not West. My bad. Thanks reader ‘m’ for pointing this out. Text below is corrected.

If you haven’t spent much time on the Fox Reality channel, you’ll be glad to know it’s being booted next month in favor of the National Geographic Wild Channel.

The Fox channel shuts down on March 31, as noted last October, in favor of another version of reality. Why National Geographic? The channel is 50 percent owned by Fox Cable Network.

Time Warner Cable, which notified customers today on its alerts page, switches to “Nat Geo Wild” on March 29. It’s the same channel — 129 — and same plan level as Fox Reality.

Other TV providers have not announced the switch yet but here are the existing channel numbers for their Fox Reality channel:

• Time Warner, 129
• Cox Communications, 363
• Dish Network, 190
• Verizon FiOS, 197
• AT&T U-verse, 130
• DirecTV, 250

For more on TV services, see the following links:

					* Time Warner Cable * Cox Cable * Verizon FiOS * AT&T U-verse		* DirecTV * Dish Network * Web TV * All TV

While alternative TV services can’t seem to come to Orange County fast enough for some, at least AT&T’s U-verse TV services is still growing.

Between September to December, the AT&T Internet TV service added 248,000 TV customers bringing its national total to 2.1 million. That’s a steady growth and the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of growth of at least 240,000 net new users.

Comparably, the county’s other Internet-based TV service, Verizon FiOS, saw its quarterly growth shrink (see “48% of people served by Verizon can order FiOS but most don’t“), while Time Warner Cable saw its overall TV subscribers decline (see “How much money did Time Warner make last year? $1.1 billion“).

Even greater news for AT&T: More than three-fourths of its customers buy three or four offered services (TV, Internet, phone and wireless phone). The average customer bill was $65.68 per month, up $2.36 from a year earlier.

For those waiting for U-verse to get to their neighborhood, the company said it’s still rapidly expanding. Nationwide, the service is now available to 23 million living units although only about 13 percent of eligible customers actually order the service. By the end of 2011, AT&T said it hopes to reach 30 million living units in the 22 states it currently offers telephone service.

In Orange County, U-verse is available in certain parts of these cities: 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.

Its U-verse Internet service, which offers speeds up to 24 mbps, gained 267,000 customers during the fourth quarter.

The company’s fourth quarter financial report was overshadowed by its larger wireless business, which exclusively sells the Apple iPhone. In fact, 3.1 million new iPhones were activated during the quarter. Overall, the company added a net 2.7 million wireless customers during the quarter, bringing its total to 85.1 million wireless customers. Wireless service revenues, which exclude accessories, grew 9.2 percent to $12.6 billion during the quarter.

Read the details:
AT&T 4Q 2009 press release
AT&T 4Q 2009 presentation
AT&T 4Q 2009 SEC filing

More on AT&T U-verse:

CATCHING UP: It’s true, AT&T U-verse subscribers with a Microsoft Xbox will soon be able to access all those U-verse TV activities on the game console.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive officer, mentioned the union during his keynote speech at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (yes, file this in the way-too-much-to-miss-at-CES folder). Gaming site Kotaku has been writing stories about it, see “U.S. Xbox 360s Get IPTV Through AT&T Uverse This Year.”

AT&T just confirmed the news to me so I wanted to share with readers, especially those interested in U-verse TV, an Internet-based TV service available in several cities in Orange County. See the list of Orange County cities HERE.

According to an AT&T  spokeswoman, U-verse TV subscribers will be able to use their XBOX 360 console as a TV set-top box.

“You’ll be able to watch U-verse TV programming using your new or existing XBOX receiver, including live, on-demand, HD and Total Home DVR content. It will enable the same viewing experience and same features that you get today with a U-verse receiver. As we’ve done with all the new apps and features we’ve added for customers over the years, we’ll make the rollout or upgrade option quick and simple for customers. We plan to make this option available to customers in 2010, later in the year,” Katie Keating  responded in an e-mail.

No mention on whether this will cost extra. Currently, AT&T charges $7/month for extra TV receivers. The first HD receiver is included with the plan.

For those wondering why AT&T teamed up with Xbox, that’s not a huge surprise. Microsoft’s  Mediaroom is the software inside U-verse set-top boxes. What’s next? Watch U-verse TV on Microsoft mobile phones?

Earlier on AT&T U-verse:

UPDATE, at 4:29 p.m.: AT&T says Internet price increases affect new customers only and not existing customers. TV prices affect everyone.

———————

No AT&T U-verse service goes untouched by the latest round of price hikes for 2010. Most customers will see a $3 to $5 increase in their monthly bill when the new prices go into effect Feb. 1, 2010, confirmed an AT&T spokeswoman.

U-verse, which offers phone, TV and fast Internet service, is available in several Orange County cities. Here is a list: U-verse in O.C.

AT&T says the increased costs reflect more TV channels and better options, including more TV apps and the recent addition of 5 new HD channels. This is the company’s first price hike to its core TV service since launching in 2006.

AT&T isn’t the first to notify customers of 2010 price increases. Earlier this month, Time Warner Cable customers began receiving notices that bills were going up in January. See the earlier story: “Time Warner 2010 price hikes mostly affect those who order the least.”

AT&T provided examples for some of the price increases:

• The Filipino TV Package is changing from $21 a month to $25 a month. This reflects new channels that have been added.
• New U-verse TV customers will have a one-time service activation fee of $29.
• For U-verse Voice, Unlimited service will now be $33 a month for existing customers and $35 a month for new customers.

U-verse Internet service is also rising “to better reflect the value of our broadband service in the marketplace and better align our pricing structure across our entire service footprint,” said a spokeswoman. UPDATE (added at 4:24 p.m.): However, these increases affect only new customers only, says AT&T.

• Pro users, who pay $30 for 3 Mbps, and Elite users, who pay $35 for 6 Mbps, will see their bills jump $5 a month.
• Express service, up to 1.5 Mbps, will no longer be offered as of Feb. 21.

But not everything is going up. Prices on the fastest Internet speeds are going down $10 per month for new customers only. Currently, those prices are $55 for Max (up to 12 Mbps) and $65 for Max Plus (up to 18 Mbps).

In the AT&T U-verse forums, customers specifically mention which TV package prices are going up: Family and U100 will be going up by $5. U200, U300 and U450 will be going up by $3. U-verse Voice Unlimited will go up by $3.

AT&T U-verse is available in parts of these cities: 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, visit the Gadgetress U-verse page HERE.

If you get a letter from your TV provider about rising fees, let me know via e-mail: gadgetress@gmail.com. Thanks!

Recent U-verse stories:

For more on TV services, see the following links:

					* Time Warner Cable * Cox Cable * Verizon FiOS * AT&T U-verse		* DirecTV * Dish Network * Web TV * All TV

File this in the stuff I just couldn’t get to but thought was interesting for readers:

• Vizio views listing in 5 years (Wall Street Journal)
• Comcast puts cable TV on Internet for subscribers (USA Today)
• Verizon: We’re testing 10 Gbps and you aren’t (BroadbandReports.com)
• AT&T Wireless CEO: U-Verse Taking 60% Share In New Markets(Wall Street Journal)
• Washington State suing DirecTV on consumers’ behalf (Seattle Times)
• Verizon prepares for the iPhone (BusinessWeek)

Here’s what I spent my time on this week:

• Time Warner could lose ‘Simpsons,’ ‘American Idol,’ more Fox shows
• TV set-top boxes lack innovation, says FCC
• Psssst: Digital cable TV is cheaper than analog cable
• Cox Cable: No price hikes planned for 2010 yet
• Boost Mobile adds unlimited calls to Mexico landlines for $10
• Free Wi-Fi Internet at McDonald’s begins January
• Verizon begins offering free Wi-Fi to its mobile broadband users
• Time Warner’s ‘Get Tough’ campaign launches in Spanish
• Time Warner 2010 price hikes mostly affect those who order the least
• Free Showtime for 4 days for Time Warner customers
• AT&T U-verse gets Cartoon Network HD, MSNBC HD, 3 more HD
• Verizon adds HDNet on demand

Have a good weekend!

Noted: 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:

Noted: 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:

AT&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:

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:

• What’s the angle of new O.C. wireless prepaid startup? November 16, 2009
• AT&T improves cell reception in Westminster November 12, 2009
• Exclusive: Boost female-friendly Motorola Debut i856w November 9, 2009
• The facts about Verizon doubling early termination fees November 6, 2009
• 10 things I loved, hated about the Motorola Droid November 6, 2009
• Where Verizon improved So. Calif. cell coverage in August, Sept. November 2, 2009
• Do I have the only Motorola Droid in Orange County? October 31, 2009
• AT&T improves wireless service in 5 O.C. cities October 29, 2009

There 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.

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:

AT&T U-verse’s other apps include:

1. U-verse TV Multiview, an app that lets you watch up to four channels at once on your TV screen.
2. Mobile Remote Access app for iPhone, an app that allows you to schedule and manage DVR recordings and easily search U-verse TV program listings from your iPhone.
3. Media Share, an app that lets you stream your personal photos and music files located on your home computers to any connected TV in the home.
4. TV Awards and New Shows, an app that helps you follow this fall season’s award shows and series premieres.
5. Weather On Demand, an app that gives you instant access to check the current weather conditions and detailed forecasts in any U.S. city.
6. Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football, an app to help you manage your fantasy teams from your U-verse TV screen through the AT&T U-bar. AT&T U-bar allows you to get easy access to personalized sports, weather, stock and traffic information on your TV screen, without interrupting your current program.
7. College Basketball from Yahoo! Sports, which gives basketball fans the ability to view tournament brackets, their personalized completed bracket, game summaries and box scores, and more through the AT&T U-bar.
8. Film Awards Interactive, which provides biographies, previews and full-length movies for award-nominated films and stars.
9. 2009 Masters, which featured an up-to-date leaderboard, player scorecards, stats and bios, news updates, tournament photos, video archives and more from the 2009 Masters Tournament.
10. On Demand Top Picks, an app that provides rental recommendations based on their past rentals and lists the top ten titles U-verse TV customers are renting. The app is available to customers in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Hartford, St. Louis, Atlanta, Sacramento, San Antonio and Austin, and AT&T plans to roll out this app to all U-verse TV markets next year.

U-verse is available in certain portions of several cities in Orange County. Those are:  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. To get the most recent U-verse news, visit the special Gadgetress U-verse page.

Past AT&T U-verse coverage:

Visit the Gadgetress Guide to AT&T U-verse: gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/uverse

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:

In 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:

Time Warner scored below the region’s average. But at 616 point, Time Warner improved from last year’s score of 582, and 557 in the previous year.

Cox, which scored 646 this year, remained about the same. Cox scored 644 last year and 650 in 2007.

Even with the improvements, the cable companies lost loyal customers. Says Perazzini, “In fact, the percentage of cable customers affirming their loyalty to their provider has declined to 25 percent in 2009 from 27 percent in 2008.”

AT&T U-verse led the group for the second year and it also added 24 points to its ranking.

As mentioned earlier, while the most satisfying TV services are no longer traditional TV companies, the same is true for telephone services. In J.D. Power’s last telephone report, Cox was rated at the top with Time Warner’s phone service ranked evenly with AT&T and Verizon.

Previous stories on customer service:

Looks like Verizon FiOS TV subscribers aren’t the only ones who will get access to the new NFL Channel RedZone  Sunday.

Apparently all TV providers that offer the new football channel will lift the paid barrier for three hours Sunday, Oct. 4, between 10 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., Pacific Time.

In Orange County, those TV providers are:

DISH Network: Channel 155. Dish typically charges $5.99 per month or $49.99 per year for access to the channel.

AT&T U-verse: Channel 1629. AT&T typically charges $5 a month.

Verizon FiOS: Channel 835 for HD,  channel 335 for standard definition. Verizon charges $49.99 for the entire season

Neither Cox nor Time Warner Cable offer the channel.

Recent stories on NFL RedZone:

AT&T is lifting the fee associated with its new ShortsHD channel and offering access this weekend to an exclusive HD showing of ”Stonehenge: ‘Tis a Magic Place,” a movie by legendary made-up band Spinal Tap.

The short film is currently offered on iTunes for $1.99. (I guess this means the band will have to change this video on its web site.)

The film debuts for U-verse TV customers on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. Pacific time on channel 300. ShortsHD is typically $5 a month, as part of U-verse’s HD Premium Tier.

U-verse TV is available in limited areas of Orange County. Cities offering service include 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 the latest updates on U-verse TV service, check past coverage at: gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/uverse

Recent U-verse stories:

Today, AT&T unleashed new features for its U-verse TV customers who live in various parts of Orange County and the nation. These include some I mentioned last week as part of a story on Microsoft Mediaroom, which is the software used by AT&T U-verse in its set-top boxes.

New U-verse TV features announced today are:

• Multiview: The ability to watch four channels at the same time using U-verse TV Multiview. AT&T allows 4 simultaneous channels, although Microsoft’s feature allows six. There are specific multiviews available: Sports, (Channel 601) Kids  (Channel 301) and News (Channel 201).  Subscribers to ESPN GamePlan package can get a special ESPN GamePlan Multiview, channel 4400, at no extra charge. You can also record programs while in multiview.

• Media Share: View photos and listen to music stored on home PCs on the big-screen TV. Any U-verse-connected TV can now access  those files.
• And then there’s Channel 95, geared to iPhone users. If you want to check out who’s been nominated for an Emmy, Teen Choice or other award, there’s an app for that. All the entertainment award news you want, apparently.

The new features are available to all Orange County U-verse customers at no extra charge. To see the new features in action, watch the official AT&T video posted on YouTube.

Recent U-verse news:

Correction, added Oct. 8, 2009: Since this was an interview conducted over e-mail, some quotes were attributed incorrectly. Corrected story is below.
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News that Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. unleashed a new chip – the Broadcom 7405 – may make your eyes glaze. But if you’re totally into TV, Broadcom’s contribution could help you get more out of your paid TV service.

The new chip powers second-generation Microsoft Mediaroom set-top boxes. In Orange County, AT&T U-verse is the only company offering Microsoft’s software to power its set-top boxes.

If AT&T integrates the chip into the second  generation boxes, subscribers can look forward to “substantial increase in performance,” according to Broadcom (this statement was previously attributed to Microsoft).

“The Broadcom 7405 is the first second generation (system on a chip, or SoCs) being deployed…,” said Steve Koepp, Microsoft’s senior manager, business development of TV, video and music business, in an e-mail. “As mentioned in the releases, this is important as it is enabling choice … which drives competition.”

Here’s a more technical take on Microsoft and Broadcom’s chip from EETimes Europe: “Broadcom touts MS Mediaroom certification at IBC”

The new chip also improves integration of Internet services so we may see Facebook, Twitter and other Internet applications show up on Mediaroom-friendly boxes.

I’m not a U-verse TV customer because it’s not available in my city and I’m unfamiliar with the specific features on the system. Existing U-verse customers can help verify what is already available. According to Microsoft, these are some features offered with the current Microsoft Mediaroom technology:

• Anytime Recording: Rewind or restart a show currently airing that you didn’t record. Also, you can scroll backwards in the Guide to watch a previously aired show through the video on demand library.
• Anywhere Recording: Extends DVR capabilities to all TVs in the house so every show recorded can be accessed by connected TVs. (U-verse currently offers this multi-room DVR.)
• Remote recording: Set your DVR to record from any PC or mobile phone (currently offered by U-verse).
• Multiview: Watch up to six different channels at one time (see image on right).
• Media Sharing: Built-in ability to access photos, music from computers or other devices on the home network.

More TV news:

AT&T U-verse is the third local TV provider to add the NFL RedZone channel, a premium sports channel featuring  in-depth football content.

The channel launches this Sunday (Sept. 13), the National Football League’s season opening. It counts Verizon FiOS, Dish Network and Comcast as customers. DirecTV customers already can subscribe to exclusive NFL coverage.

Apparently, Time Warner Cable is sitting out on this one, according to Sports Business Daily and commentator Phillip Swann over at TVPredictions.com. (I’m double checking with O.C.’s two cable providers. UPDATE, 9/12: Cox says no to new NFL channel, but offers alternatives)

The channel for AT&T U-verse customers will cost $5 a month and is part of the HD Premium Tier. It will broadcast on channel 1629.

By comparison, Verizon charges $49.99 for the entire season. Dish customers can order it for $5.99 per month as part of the multi-sport package.

Recent sports TV news: