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U-verse Lands in Raleigh, Orlando

TV competition is heating up in Raleigh and Orlando just in time for the holidays.

Today we launched AT&T U-verse TV and High Speed Internet in the Raleigh and Orlando areas. And beyond offering a new TV choice, U-verse TV could mean even more benefits for local consumers.

The Orlando Sentinel notes that U-verse is "the first real threat to Central Florida's" cable provider, offering more HD channels and more flexibility in your DVR recordings than other providers.

The Raleigh News & Observer points out that U-verse will up the ante against the local cable provider when it comes to "advanced features and High Definition programming."

For more on what U-verse is bringing to these areas, check out this video.

Charlotte, Toledo Join the U-verse TV Market Lineup

Today we announced the launch of AT&T U-verse TV and High Speed Internet in Toledo and in Charlotte, the first Carolinas area to receive U-verse TV.

The local cable provider told the Charlotte Observer that with increased competition, "everyone kicks it up a notch."

And U-verse will be a welcome TV option in Toledo, which has had the same major cable provider since the 1960s, according to today's Toledo Blade.

Local residents could be benefitting from increased competition sooner than later, and industry analyst Jeff Kagan says "we're moving into a great time for consumers in this industry."

Total Home DVR Honored at TelcoTV

What's the perfect way to wrap-up our Total Home DVR rollout?

How about a trophy from TelcoTV!

The day after we announced our Total Home DVR completion, TelcoTV awarded Total Home DVR a 2008 TelcoTV Vision Award in the Service Provider Innovation category. The first-ever TelcoTV Vision Awards honor the most innovative and visionary new products, services and applications in the communications industry from the past year.

We couldn't be happier about the latest accolade for AT&T U-verse. It shows we're utilizing our IP platform in the right way -- to deliver unique services and features that customers can't get from cable.

U-verse Completes Total Home DVR Rollout

U-verse TV customers, your DVR recordings are now free to move about your home, wherever you may live.

Today we launched Total Home DVR in 10 additional areas, which marks the completion of our Total Home DVR rollout -- well ahead of our end of year schedule. Now every U-verse customer can enjoy the benefits of Total Home DVR, and many families across the country already are.

In South Florida, a customer told the Miami Herald that it's "the small things that impress her," like being able to watch her recorded show in her bedroom as she folds laundry instead of taking the clothes to the living room where the DVR is located.

Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman was pleased to receive the feature he'd "been clamoring for" and Omar Gallaga from the Austin American-Statesman's Digital Savant blog "found the Total Home DVR package to be slick, responsive and very, very impressive."

A Reno family told the Daily Sparks Tribune that they don't fight over the DVR anymore, and the Columbus Dispatch reported that a local cable provider was working on enhancements to their service in response to our Total Home DVR launch in the area.

It all points to this: Total Home DVR is changing the way our customers view TV. That was one of our goals for U-verse TV from the very beginning. It was about making the U-verse TV experience more valuable and more convenient for customers, and Total Home DVR is just one example of how we can deliver that.

And with IP, we will continue to bring integrated services and enhancements to U-verse TVs. Total Home DVR is just the tip of the iceberg.

Customers Switching to U-verse; Cable Notes New Competition

We recently announced that we hit the 100,000 customer milestone in the Houston area.

And while the number might not sound too big, it's an accomplishment considering we're still relatively new in the market. In fact, analysts in this weekend's Houston Chronicle say that our announcement "demonstrates that U-verse has quickly become a serious player in the video business."

We agree. It's a great example of the popularity and success we're seeing for our U-verse TV services across the country. In fact, in mid-September we announced our 100,000 customer milestone in DFW.

And our cable competitors agree too. Last week, Comcast said in its third quarter earnings callthat AT&T U-verse is now a bigger threat than Verizon's FiOS, and stated that "U-verse is proving to be a more formidable competitor than they were."

It all comes down to the fact that consumers crave an alternative to cable. And when we see customer growth, paired with new services like Total Home DVR and U-verse Voice, it shows that we've taken the right approach.

And that our customers and our competition are noticing.

U-verse Speeds Up To Max 18

It's been a busy fall for U-verse. We introduced Total Home DVR, added 30 new HD channels to our HD channel lineup, and today we increased surfing speeds for customers by launching Max 18. Max 18 offers downstream speeds up to 18 Mbps, the fastest broadband service AT&T has ever offered.

What does this mean for our customers and competitors?

With Max 18, we offer consumers another great broadband choice. In fact, it's the fastest Internet speed offered in several of our U-verse markets, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Houston, Indianapolis, Lubbock, St. Louis, Sacramento and San Francisco.

Max 18 offers more value with more speed in more places. Customers enjoy access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi network -- all at no extra cost. You can't get that from cable. And because of our IP platform, Max 18 is part of an integrated bundle that delivers unique features like Web and Mobile Remote Access to the DVR, AT&T Online Photos from Flickr and AT&T U-bar customization.

The best thing about Max 18? It shows that while we're still early in our U-verse deployment, we continue to invest in our networks, innovate our services and take advantage of our fiber network and IP platform to bring customers an experience our competitors can't match.

For more on today's news, check out this podcast.

U-verse Brings More HD, Ethnic Channels to Customers

U-verse TV customers who crave more HD and ethnic channels just got an early holiday surprise.

U-verse HD customers will see up to 30 new HD channels added on Nov. 3 at no extra cost. Customers will enjoy access to more than 75 HD channels -- and that's more than the major local cable providers in every U-verse market.

Check out our release for a full list of the HD channel additions.

Also, beginning Nov. 10, customers can choose from several new packages including: HD Premium Tier, Mandarin Package, Polish Package, Russian Package, French channel TV5MONDE, and Setanta Sports. We're also adding SD channels, The Outdoor Channel and NASA TV, and adding WAPA America and V-me to Paquete Español.

It's all about giving customers more options and more of the content they enjoy.

As we mentioned last month, we continue to deliver features and content that enhance the U-verse experience for our customers, using the benefits of our IP platform. And now with even more HD channels and niche programming, we're further differentiating U-verse TV from our cable competitors.

What Total Home DVR Means for the Competition

The industry is talking about what Total Home DVR does for TV competition.

Motley Fool wondered if "TiVo just got out TiVoed", and Telephony notes that services like Total Home DVR "have been seen as one of IPTV providers' greatest advantages in an increasingly DVR-reliant consumer marketplace."

It's definitely another differentiator for U-verse TV. When's the last time a cable provider let you watch recordings from a single DVR on any TV? Or record four shows at once?

Total Home DVR is just the latest example of how U-verse TV keeps getting better and adapting to customer demands.

With IP technology, we continue to deliver features that enhance the entertainment experience for our customers. Features that deliver more control, more convenience, more integration - and more value - to the U-verse TV experience.

Our ability to quickly and seamlessly rollout new services is one of the many advantages of our IP platform and network architecture... and Total Tome DVR is the perfect example of that. And we'll continue to tap the benefits of our 100 percent IP platform. In fact, Total Home DVR is just the beginning of the potential of IPTV.

For more on how Total Home DVR changes the game for U-verse TV, check out a podcast with Jeff Weber, AT&T vice president of video products, here.

What Total Home DVR Means For Customers

The response and coverage of yesterday’s launch of Total Home DVR made one thing clear: Customers want it.

Gearlog, for example, wrote a memo to the cable company warning "you better step it up or I'm bolting." And Tech News Made Simple examines how the pricing and features stack up to other providers, concluding "it appears that AT&T has raised the bar ... on providing users with more services than just TV."

The good news is that — because of our IP platform — existing customers don’t have to do anything to enjoy Total Home DVR. They’ll receive an update overnight and will have the functionality live in their home.

There's no hassle and no equipment swaps. They only need one DVR to share recorded content with up to seven additional connected TVs.

The better news is the price. U-verse DVR is included with most of our packages, and every DVR is a Total Home DVR. You don’t have to purchase or rent multiple DVRs, or pay DVR service fees for each TV like with some cable providers.

Total Home DVR is Here

We’ve been touting the benefits of IP technology for quite some time, but nothing showcases the power of IP like the feature we announced today…

Today we introduced AT&T U-verse Total Home DVR in the Bay Area.

Total Home DVR allows customers to play back SD and HD recorded content on any other connected TV in the home. We plan to rollout this feature to all of our markets by the end of this year.

Some of our competitors claim to offer a form of whole home DVR, but AT&T U-verse Total Home DVR is the only one that truly lets you playback recorded shows on any U-verse connected TV in the house. We’re giving customers the freedom to enjoy recorded content when and where they want to.

You can read our release for more details on all the Total Home DVR features.

But Total Home DVR is about more than moving recorded content about the home… It gives us several other advantages over our competitors. How? We’ll talk about that more this week in a series of posts that look at what it means for our customers and the competition.

For a first look at Total Home DVR, check out this demo of the service in action.