8 ms·

AT&T says it won't build fiber home Internet in half of its wireline footprint

30 points by LorenDB 2y ago

thedanbob 2y ago
AT&T won't even build fiber home internet where they've already got fiber. One of their fiber lines has been running under my driveway for years but they've never offered it at my address.
- maxsilver 2y ago
  Yeah, this is also my experience. AT&T won't even build fiber home internet to urban/suburban residents that have existing fiber-to-the-node (original U-Verse) service -- places less than a mile away from functional residential AT&T fiber drop already (DSLAM). They're still happy to charge me the $100/month for that ~60mbps VDSL copper service though. (even though, if anything happens to that line, they're refusing to repair/replace it) It's ridiculous.
  - sidewndr46 2y ago
    AT&T actually end-of-life'd good ole fashioned DSL at my Dad's house. They don't offer any wired internet services there any longer.
- baby_souffle 2y ago
  Yep! I just got back from visiting family out in the boonies. They have had fiber on their street for more than a decade. It runs right over their drive way and down a few more telephone poles to … the dslam. The dslam which is still v1 speeds and att won’t even sell new dsl service on it / is aggressively pushing old customers out. They’ve been happy starlink users for a while now.
- sidewndr46 2y ago
  I've got fiber in the backyard from Spectrum and Google Fiber out in front of the house. Neither offer fiber service to me. Some contractor for Google comes out and spray paints new markings indicating I should have a tap placed every 6 months or so. Seasons come and seasons go, but the paint marks still keep getting refreshed.
- Optimal_Persona 2y ago
  Funny, AT&T says they couldn't offer fiber to my address at my old house, or the one I moved to across the street. Of course I can get Sonic fiber at both addresses...which uses...drumroll...AT&T's fiber infrastructure. It pains me especially that this is the company that way back in the day gave us Claude Shannon, Richard Hamming, and the transistor. I don't know why they want to get out of the copper business...after 2022 FTC change, copper lines increased like 10X in cost and the provider has literally no legal obligation to provide uptime guarantee/support, sounds like a telecom's wet dream!
kotaKat 2y ago
This is what AT&T would rather give its customers: “AT&T Phone Advanced”, which is just a bullshit telco grade LTE VoIP adapter. https://www.attconnects.com/meet-the-next-gen-home-phone-service-att-phone-advanced/ https://www.attconnects.com/meet-the-next-gen-home-phone-ser... They’ve been selling it/hawking it at their business customers for a bit now. It’s made by Dataremote. https://www.business.att.com/content/dam/attbusiness/briefs/att-vab-1-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.business.att.com/content/dam/attbusiness/briefs/...
kalleboo 2y ago
Image if electricity or landline phones were invented today. Rural electrification would never have happened. (Similarly, if the web browser was invented today, it would never have made it into an app store)
- genter 2y ago
  I know some people that are building a house in a rural area. Nearest electricity is less than a quarter mile away. PG&E quoted them $100,000 to bring in power. They're going solar.
  - nemosaltat 2y ago
    and we’re all better off for it, including PG&E, who doesn’t have to transmission lines over more (un)maintained wilderness, which is where many of the fires come from in the first place.
hamandcheese 2y ago
If AT&T wants out so bad, they should give their copper network away.
- nradov 2y ago
  To whom? The legacy copper network probably has negative value at this point but AT&T is locked in by certain contracts and legal agreements (same for other legacy telcos). They would probably have to pay another company to take on those obligations.
  - hamandcheese 2y ago
    ATTs own language is "not profitable enough" rather than "unprofitable".
  - hakfoo 2y ago
    I always figured the most valuable asset was the easements and conduit. If they don't want to cram fibre into it, give it to someone who will.
sevensor 2y ago
The rural United States suffers another cut from the deregulatory knife. No grocer. No rail service. No bus service. No retail. No health care. And now no telecommunications. What’s next, electric?
- hollerith 2y ago
  It is possible to run internet connectivity over copper wires, so to say "no telecommunications" is catastrophizing.
  - voidwtf 2y ago
    This is the correct answer for now, but when currently available options are functionally equivalent to what dial-up is now I think this opinion will not have aged well.
  - nradov 2y ago
    The legacy copper wire infrastructure is gradually decaying and not being maintained or replaced. Telecommunications companies are no longer offering new DSL subscriptions in some areas. In a few more years the options in many places will be Starlink or nothing. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/why-verizon-is-trying-very-hard-to-force-fiber-on-its-customers/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/why-v...
- voidwtf 2y ago
  The rural electorate has voted overwhelmingly for candidates who oppose these regulations. This is apparently what they want.
  - PittleyDunkin 2y ago
    Sure, but that makes the assumption that people vote rationally, or even in their self interest, when evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And this isn't commentary on an individual party, either, or on intelligence: basically nobody is incentivized to honestly portray how a candidate might actually govern.
joezydeco 2y ago
Is this a side effect of AT&T using cheaper passive optical networks for their current buildouts?
- altairprime 2y ago
  More that AT&T has to maintain or increase profits in an economic climate where people’s ability to spend is flat or decreasing, and so they’ve been steadily reducing their infrastructure investment rather than seeing their profits drop. Now that they can expect the FCC approvals necessary to kill last-mile service, they’re set for a few more years, and I expect their long-term goal is to become an exclusively wireless telco.
charlie0 2y ago
They'll do it.... if the government subsidizes it.

30 points by LorenDB 2y ago

AT&T won't even build fiber home internet where they've already got fiber. One of their fiber lines has been running under my driveway for years but they've never offered it at my address.

maxsilver 2y ago
Yeah, this is also my experience. AT&T won't even build fiber home internet to urban/suburban residents that have existing fiber-to-the-node (original U-Verse) service -- places less than a mile away from functional residential AT&T fiber drop already (DSLAM). They're still happy to charge me the $100/month for that ~60mbps VDSL copper service though. (even though, if anything happens to that line, they're refusing to repair/replace it) It's ridiculous.
- sidewndr46 2y ago
  AT&T actually end-of-life'd good ole fashioned DSL at my Dad's house. They don't offer any wired internet services there any longer.
baby_souffle 2y ago
Yep! I just got back from visiting family out in the boonies. They have had fiber on their street for more than a decade. It runs right over their drive way and down a few more telephone poles to … the dslam. The dslam which is still v1 speeds and att won’t even sell new dsl service on it / is aggressively pushing old customers out. They’ve been happy starlink users for a while now.
sidewndr46 2y ago
I've got fiber in the backyard from Spectrum and Google Fiber out in front of the house. Neither offer fiber service to me. Some contractor for Google comes out and spray paints new markings indicating I should have a tap placed every 6 months or so. Seasons come and seasons go, but the paint marks still keep getting refreshed.
Optimal_Persona 2y ago
Funny, AT&T says they couldn't offer fiber to my address at my old house, or the one I moved to across the street. Of course I can get Sonic fiber at both addresses...which uses...drumroll...AT&T's fiber infrastructure. It pains me especially that this is the company that way back in the day gave us Claude Shannon, Richard Hamming, and the transistor. I don't know why they want to get out of the copper business...after 2022 FTC change, copper lines increased like 10X in cost and the provider has literally no legal obligation to provide uptime guarantee/support, sounds like a telecom's wet dream!

kotaKat 2y ago

This is what AT&T would rather give its customers: “AT&T Phone Advanced”, which is just a bullshit telco grade LTE VoIP adapter. https://www.attconnects.com/meet-the-next-gen-home-phone-service-att-phone-advanced/ https://www.attconnects.com/meet-the-next-gen-home-phone-ser... They’ve been selling it/hawking it at their business customers for a bit now. It’s made by Dataremote. https://www.business.att.com/content/dam/attbusiness/briefs/att-vab-1-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.business.att.com/content/dam/attbusiness/briefs/...

kalleboo 2y ago

Image if electricity or landline phones were invented today. Rural electrification would never have happened. (Similarly, if the web browser was invented today, it would never have made it into an app store)

genter 2y ago
I know some people that are building a house in a rural area. Nearest electricity is less than a quarter mile away. PG&E quoted them $100,000 to bring in power. They're going solar.
- nemosaltat 2y ago
  and we’re all better off for it, including PG&E, who doesn’t have to transmission lines over more (un)maintained wilderness, which is where many of the fires come from in the first place.

hamandcheese 2y ago

If AT&T wants out so bad, they should give their copper network away.

nradov 2y ago
To whom? The legacy copper network probably has negative value at this point but AT&T is locked in by certain contracts and legal agreements (same for other legacy telcos). They would probably have to pay another company to take on those obligations.
- hamandcheese 2y ago
  ATTs own language is "not profitable enough" rather than "unprofitable".
- hakfoo 2y ago
  I always figured the most valuable asset was the easements and conduit. If they don't want to cram fibre into it, give it to someone who will.

sevensor 2y ago

The rural United States suffers another cut from the deregulatory knife. No grocer. No rail service. No bus service. No retail. No health care. And now no telecommunications. What’s next, electric?

hollerith 2y ago
It is possible to run internet connectivity over copper wires, so to say "no telecommunications" is catastrophizing.
- voidwtf 2y ago
  This is the correct answer for now, but when currently available options are functionally equivalent to what dial-up is now I think this opinion will not have aged well.
- nradov 2y ago
  The legacy copper wire infrastructure is gradually decaying and not being maintained or replaced. Telecommunications companies are no longer offering new DSL subscriptions in some areas. In a few more years the options in many places will be Starlink or nothing. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/why-verizon-is-trying-very-hard-to-force-fiber-on-its-customers/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/why-v...
voidwtf 2y ago
The rural electorate has voted overwhelmingly for candidates who oppose these regulations. This is apparently what they want.
- PittleyDunkin 2y ago
  Sure, but that makes the assumption that people vote rationally, or even in their self interest, when evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And this isn't commentary on an individual party, either, or on intelligence: basically nobody is incentivized to honestly portray how a candidate might actually govern.

joezydeco 2y ago

Is this a side effect of AT&T using cheaper passive optical networks for their current buildouts?

altairprime 2y ago
More that AT&T has to maintain or increase profits in an economic climate where people’s ability to spend is flat or decreasing, and so they’ve been steadily reducing their infrastructure investment rather than seeing their profits drop. Now that they can expect the FCC approvals necessary to kill last-mile service, they’re set for a few more years, and I expect their long-term goal is to become an exclusively wireless telco.

charlie0 2y ago

They'll do it.... if the government subsidizes it.