The old 'new AT&T'
Your 'world delivered' trough a mangled mess of twisted pair cable.
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Rick's review of AT&T
Full thread can be found here Broadband reports.

While some might see that as being a stretch..I think you need to ask yourselves, did AOL ever see themselves being in the position they're in with their dialup demise?

Or, did many industries over the years who had such a dominant position in many things ever see how time and technology could change so rapidly?

While I'm very bullish on Verizon and their FIOS rollout, even for them things are happening VERY quickly and it's really going to take some time and a whole lot of money to get the ftth coverage they need to really compete with the Cable co's.

The cable industry has undergone a truly remarkable metamorphosis over the last few years. From what was a pretty ho hum, here's your 60 tv channels kind of industry..they've transformed themselves into internet..video and voice powerhouses.

Below, I post my latest speedtest from Comcast. Over the last couple of days, it's gone up yet again and now at times I'm even seeing DL speeds of over 30Mb! And, UL powerboost has now just kicked in as well..giving me and others close to 2Mb. This company..and other cable providers are DESTROYING the telco's with this kind of performance. And, comcast appears to now be marketing this new PowerBoost technology to other cable co's. as well.

What will this do to the likes of AT&T..Qwest..and even Verizon in areas that they can't get FTTH rolled out fast enough? Some say..why do you need this speed? It's because the next few years will be ALL about video...and HDTV. Netflix will NOT be mailing people their DVD's anymore folks. They're already now going with Downloads for thousands of titles. This is going to be the driving force behind the need for speed.

I think the telco's need to realize that it isn't going to stop there either. Already, their landlines are being cannibalized every which way but loose. The low cost voip providers..and the cable co's are now ripping into their long held customer bases. People are dropping their pots lines like bad habits..to the tune of millions per year now.

And video? Hdtv? Who owns that market? The cable co's..of course. While satellite providers have their incremental share..they're not and won't be the dominant ones. Cable is too easy..too readily available to ever be dethroned.

The REAL threat to telco is that when you combine the power of the cable industries HSI..VIDEO..AND voice packages..they can literally offer telephone service..FOR FREE..if they were and are so inclined to. They can use these other two mediums to fund the third.

The death..of Telco.

I ask you..what would be left of telco given this whole scenario I've laid out?

Not too much...is there.

There is only ONE thing that can save the telco's. And that is FTTH. Verizon executives..one day..sat in their board rooms and probably had the same exact conversation I just laid out for you here. And they walked away saying..HOLY SH**!. "Our business is SO exposed right now to the cable industry..that they can destroy us".

And, I predict..that's why they moved full steam ahead with ftth and told their shareholders..we're sorry..but we're spending 25 Billion of your money to do this right...right now.

WHO..does AT&T think they are kidding?

Is UVERSE going to kill cable? I think it's the laughing stock of Comcast right now.

Let me ask you this...if a UVERSE flier showed up on YOUR doorknob..and YOU were getting what I post that I am now getting..what would YOU think..and do with that flier?

You'd throw it away.

It doesn't come CLOSE to even competing right now..much less being a next generation service. Can you imagine..if Comcast is doing THIS right now with docsis 1.1..what they will do with Docsis 3.0 next year?

It's going to be GOODNIGHT AT&T.

What is my interest here? In seeing REAL competition in AT&T versus cable co. territories. I live in that kind of an area right now. It has been proven that when verizon fios rolls in..the REAL competition starts. That is what Cable co's fear..and respond to.

If there is no more AT&T..there will be NO ONE..to stop the cable industry. They already have proven they WILL raise prices..at will. And do so at a MUCH greater rate than inflation.

Those of us living in AT&T versus Cable land want and deserve this world class competition...just like the verizon~cable co's are now starting to see.

AT&T..TEAR DOWN THOSE VRADS..

And get with the real program.

Because if you don't..

You just might not have a company in 2012 to do it with.

~Rick

Rick's speed test results with 'power boost.'