TECHNOLOGY

AT&T rolling out expanded TV, Web services

The company has begun offering a new television service and faster Internet in South Florida, bringing more competition to Comcast and other cable and satellite companies.

By BRIDGET CAREY

bcarey@MiamiHerald.com

TV junkies, brace yourselves. It's now possible to record four shows at the same time.

South Florida is entering a new frontier in television technology as AT&T begins to offer its U-verse television services and high-speed Internet on Monday to parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

What makes U-verse different from other South Florida cable services is that it brings together TV and high-speed Internet service -- up to 10 megabits, or more than a megabyte, per second -- using a single broadband connection. It's a different technology from AT&T's current DSL Internet service.

The technology allows users to record as many as four programs at the same time and do extra things through the TV, such as play Yahoo! Games, search YellowPages.com and view photos on Flickr.

CONTROL FROM AFAR

The personalized settings for U-verse can be modified from any website. For example, if you are at a restaurant, but realized you forgot to record tonight's episode of The Office, you can use your cellphone's Internet browser to tell the U-verse to record the program.

AT&T did not specify where in Broward and Dade U-verse will be available. This was for competitive reasons, according to AT&T sales director Rhett Hutchison. But people can visit uverse.att.com to check availability in their area. He said people can sign up online to be notified when the service launches in their neighborhood.

U-verse will be rolled out in Palm Beach County beginning July 28. So far, South Florida is the only part of the state where the service is offered.

PHONE SERVICE

Hutchison said AT&T soon would roll out a phone service in the area that works on the same line, known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP for short). This means customers who buy a bundled plan including U-verse TV, U-verse high-speed Internet and a VoIP phone line could check their voice mail or caller ID through their computers or television sets.

Comcast -- the dominant cable company in South Florida -- and other providers also offer a bundle that includes cable television, high-speed Internet and digital voice at comparable prices.

So customers may ask, which is the better choice?

Doug Williams, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said that when both Comcast and AT&T offer bundles, the attraction is less about price and the convenience of one bill, but rather the extra things you can do with a bundle that you normally couldn't do.

''AT&T has been one of the strongest players in this area,'' Williams said. A Jupiter report shows 47 percent of consumers have expressed interest in features unique to bundling, such as checking caller ID on the TV screen.

''It's really where the true value in these kinds of bundles lies,'' Williams said. ``The simple things stand out that actually make their lives better and make them more efficient and promote laziness, if you will. Those simple things are what is really resonating with consumers.''

Comparing prices between AT&T and Comcast gets tricky when you take into account bundled packages, speed, channel offerings, rebates, virus-protection software and miscellaneous charges.

COMCAST CONFIDENT

''Competition is nothing new for us,'' said Spero Canton, South Florida spokesman for Comcast. ``We feel that our network is more robust, and it is a quicker network than the U-verse product.''

Although both AT&T and Comcast will have Video on Demand programming, Canton added that Comcast's has a stronger South Florida focus.

''From a consumer standpoint, it's not going to be easy to figure out which type is best,'' Williams said. ``They have to think about what's most important to them when they choose their provider.''