AT&T Widens Fastest Broadband But Still Trails Cable

Telco Offers 24-Mbps DSL Service, Less Than Half Top Speeds Of Cable Competitors

Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 3/29/2010 12:34:32 PM

AT&T expanded the availability of its fastest DSL-based broadband tier -- at 24 megabits per second downstream -- to 120 markets in 22 states, which is still less than half the top speeds offered by major cable competitors.
The telephone company's U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo, advertised as providing up to 24 Mbps downstream and up to 3 Mbps upstream, is available for $65 per month to qualifying residential customers as part of a bundle with AT&T U-verse TV. The 24/3 tier is available to eligible small business customers for $95 a month.
By contrast, cable operators including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems currently offer broadband packages with at least 50 Mbps downstream, using the next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem technology.
Some MSOs are even farther ahead of DSL-based services: Cablevision and Mediacom Communications already top the 100-Mbps mark, and Comcast this year expects to begin offering 100-Mbps to residential customers.
AT&T's Max Turbo is based on Very High Bit-Rate DSL 2 (VDSL2), which provides a theoretical maximum of 50 Mbps at 1 kilometer distance from the central office. However, U-verse TV uses a portion of the VDSL2 connection to deliver video.
AT&T first launched the Max Turbo tier in St. Louis and Austin and San Antonio, Texas in December 2009.  The telco had 2.1 million U-verse broadband connections as of the end of 2009. According to the company, more than 90% of U-verse TV customers bundle U-verse High Speed Internet.
AT&T U-verse Internet customers have access to more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots nationwide for no additional cost.