AT&T’s hybrid fiber-copper wire U-verse system added its 2,000,000th customer today and has announced a new speed tier in three of the company’s markets: Austin and San Antonio in Texas and St. Louis, Missouri.

The new High Speed Internet Max Turbo plan signals two things about AT&T’s broadband service — it can squeeze a bit more speed out of its more advanced VDSL network and it’s running out of clever names for its premium speed tiers.  The new plan is capable of achieving up to 24Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream, which is still not enough to compete with Time Warner Cable and Charter Cable’s DOCSIS 3 cable modem technology, but could be enough for many consumers.  The new plan is priced at $65 a month for residential customers who also receive other AT&T services, and $95 a month for business customers.  Many small business customers choose DSL service over cable modem technology because of installation costs, which can be prohibitive if an office park is not already wired for cable service.

AT&T added one million new customers in 2009 across 22 states where it provides service.  U-verse is still a work in progress in many areas where AT&T is slowly upgrading its facilities to deliver service. U-verse competes primarily with cable televisi0n, using a “bundled service” approach that tries to sign up customers for a complete line of telecommunications products.

Besides the alternative cable television service AT&T provides, more than 90% of customers also take U-verse’s broadband service.  It’s a major improvement over AT&T’s traditional DSL service, which is much slower and less reliable in providing promised speeds.

A U-verse installer wires up a new customer's home for service

AT&T counts these milestones for 2009:

• Launched 13 U-verse TV apps, bringing the total number of TV apps to 21 and giving U-verse TV customers control and interactivity with their favorite content. Two of the most recent app additions include Multiview, which lets you watch up to four channels at one time on your TV screen; and Santa Tracker, which lets families visit the North Pole to play holiday games, listen to sing-a-longs, follow Santa around the globe on Christmas Eve and more.
• Added more than 25 High Definition (HD) channels, bringing the U-verse TV HD channel lineup to more than 110 HD channels in every U-verse TV market. AT&T claims U-verse offers more HD channels than major cable providers in every U-verse TV market.
• Enhanced the company’s Digital Video Recorder to include Mobile Remote Access for the iPhone, an app that allows you to schedule and manage DVR recordings and search U-verse TV program listings from your iPhone. AT&T also added the capability to schedule and delete recordings from any U-verse connected TV in the home.
• Improved speeds on its broadband service by launching Max Turbo. AT&T also upgraded U-verse High Speed Internet Max customers by increasing speeds from up to 10 Mbps to up to 12 Mbps — a 20 percent speed increase at no extra charge.
• Expanded U-verse availability in the Southeast region. U-verse TV is now available in all 22 states of AT&T’s traditional footprint, and the advanced fiber network passes more than 20 million living units.
• Ramped U-verse Voice availability. U-verse Voice is now available in all 120 markets that offer U-verse TV, giving consumers another option for their home phone services and more quad-play integrated features.