Adding some speed competition to areas served by MSOs such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse has expanded its 75 Mbps (downstream) tier to seven more markets: Augusta, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Fla.; and St. Louis, Mo.
Bob Bickerstaff, vice president of voice and data products for AT&T, announced the new markets via this blog post on Friday (Feb. 6) (hat tip: DSL Reports), noting that the new tier, offered in “select areas” in those markets, is well-suited for homes with multiple devices and for gaming and streaming video.
That market expansion coincidently comes soon after the FCC voted to raise the definition of high-speed broadband from 4 Mbps down/1 Mbps up, to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up.
AT&T introduced the 75-meg option in December 2014 in select areas of Monterey and Sacramento, Calif.; Toledo, Ohio; and El Paso, Texas, noting then that the speed upgrades are being enabled by a new 17 MHz signal, twice the original 8.5 MHz that was used. The 75-meg tier, which is paired with an 8 Mbps upstream, starts at $74.95 per month as a stand-alone, as low as $39.95 per month when bundled with other AT&T services.
Other U-verse tiers deliver downstream speeds of 6 Mbps, 12 Mbps, 18 Mbps, 24 Mbps, and 45 Mbps. AT&T also offers 100 Mbps and 1-Gig options in areas where it has begun to roll out its fiber-based GigaPower platform.
Bickerstaff noted that AT&T plans to offer the 75-Meg service in additional U-verse markets, but didn’t reveal any expected launch dates.
AT&T ended 2014 with 12.2 million U-verse Internet customers.
