The announcement today was for AT&T spend $500 million in Ohio to upgrade their fiber networks and bring internet-based technologies including Video services.

“The investment commitment is the result of the enactment of Ohio Am. Sub. Senate Bill 117, which reformed Ohio’s video franchising system and was sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Jacobson S.B. 117 brings the benefits of video competition to Ohio consumers by establishing statewide uniform standards that streamline the video provider authorization process and encourage competition and new investment.

This landmark investment will also result in AT&T Ohio equipping its remaining 23 wire centers, primarily in rural areas, with broadband technology. When the process is complete, all of AT&T Ohio’s 252 wire centers will be DSL-ready and will bring access to high speed Internet service to communities such as Murray City in Hocking County.

Additionally, AT&T Ohio today submitted its application to the Ohio Department of Commerce to obtain state certification to provide video services under the terms of the new video franchise law, which becomes effective today” - AT&T News Room

Look out Ohio, it appears your going to be upgraded!

Not long after Dallas and Fortworth users started noticing that YELLOWPAGES.COM was being tested and accessible from their TV’s that it has been officially launched with 2 other free features, U-bar and AT&T Yahoo Games.

There still is no sign of the Multi-room DVR as of yet but I’m happy to see these new features being added at no additional cost. In the Press Release they also stated that U-verse is now available to over 325,000 customers in North Texas, up from the 200,000.

It also appears that the new features will release for every area eventually, so if your not in DFW hang tight, the new features should be coming your way soon.

U-bar: Press “Go Interactive” or “A” on your controller.
AT&T Yahoo Games: Go to channel 92
YELLOWPAGES.COM: Go to channel 97

Here are some screen shots:

I already posted the screen shots of YELLOWPAGES.COM you can go here to view them.

Well, it looks like AT&T is testing a new feature for U-verse, Yellowpages.com on channel 97. This is a nice feature because that means no more big phone books to stack in my closet. You can easily look up information you need right from your TV!

I was able to get some screen shots of this feature that appears to being tested in the Dallas/Fortworth Area. If your not located in this area please contact us or comment to provide more information for U-verse subscribers.

Again, please let us know if you have any more information about the beta testing or if it is popping up in area’s other than DFW.

AT&T news room reported that they have now surpassed 100,000 customers in effort to compete with cable. This is a big number but I still think they have a long way to go before they can be considered a true competitor.

However, they did annouce that we have a few new features coming our way.

“* AT&T U-bar, which brings Internet-like content to the television screen in the form of customized weather, stock, traffic and sports information.

* AT&T Yahoo! Games, available on the television screen, including Sudoku, Solitaire, JT’s Blocks, Mah-Jongg Tiles and Chess.”

It’s not the MDVR I have been waiting for but at least they are adding things and I’m sure the MDVR will come eventually.

It was also reported that more HD content is coming as well.

“ In addition to these new features, AT&T U-verse TV will soon launch new content, including more High Definition (HD) channels. This expanded lineup builds on AT&T’s already robust channel offerings. New channels scheduled to be added by the end of this year include Lifetime Movie Network HD, History Channel HD, Animal Planet HD, TBS HD and Versus/The Golf Channel HD.”

You might remember last month when Uverse Universe tested our broadband speed to make sure AT&T is staying honest with their network. Well, it’s time to put them to the test again.

Provisioned:

3MB/1MB

Tested Using:

SpeakEasy Speed Test

Location:

Dallas/Fortworth

Results:

Almost the exact same as last month but slightly down, nothing I would consider intrusive or complain about. I probably could run the test a couple of times and get a better results but the idea is just to do one random test.

Down: 2.869 MB
Up: .929 MB

Last Month:

Last months results where pretty much right on queue as this month was. You can view the results here.

Well, looks like U-verse is still holding up in bandwidth but we will continue testing and see what happens next month.