Not necessarily. I know it's a small subsection of their potential customers, but in markets competing (or about to compete), the subscription process for UVers

Not necessarily. I know it's a small subsection of their potential customers, but in markets competing (or about to compete), the subscription process for UVerse's gigabit service (contractually 300Mbps until September then 1Gbps) is quite reasonable. I paid a $100 installation fee that included my first month's service, and I got a $50 Visa card for signing up. Meaning, in the end, my installation cost -$20. It's the same price as Google Fiber, but there is a 1yr contract with a decreasing cancellation fee that makes sense considering the connection process is lengthy and equipment heavy. And, for the curious, I chose AT&T over Google because Google won't be in my neighborhood for, at the very least, 6 months. I'll take a year of AT&T until Google can get their fiber laid on my street. Oh, and I only have their internet service. No TV. Although, the deal for that was relatively nice too ($30 a month more, free HBO/HBO-Go for 3 years, free Galaxy Tab 2).