AT&T has expanded its TV Everywhere service to cover more devices and networks, adding more than 20 channels available for streaming outside of the home.

AT&T U-verse live TV streaming is available to customers subscribing to a U-family or higher U-verse TV package, and can be viewed on a growing number of devices including iPad/iPhone (iOS) and more than 25 current generation Android smartphone models.

Many, but not all popular cable networks are available for streaming, as are most premium movie channels.

But the biggest change subscribers are looking for is streaming those cable channels outside of the home on the go. Most cable carriage agreements still restrict out-of-home streaming, but providers are negotiating to drop that restriction.

“By making live TV content available across devices we’re enabling our customers to watch TV on their terms when and where they want it,” said Mel Coker, chief marketing officer, AT&T Home Solutions, in a statement. “U-verse has always been about delivering a TV experience built around our customers, and this enhancement gives them even more flexibility and control.”

The networks now available for out-of-the home viewing:

AXS TV, Big Ten Network, CNN, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Disney XD, Encore, Encore-West, Encore Action, ESPN 1/2/3, ESPN U, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Channel, HDNet Movies, HLN, NFL Network, NFL RedZone, Showtime (All variants), Starz (All variants), The Movie Channel, The Movie Channel West, TMC Xtra, and TMC Xtra-West.

All online viewing from a U-verse broadband connection counts against AT&T’s U-verse monthly usage cap of 250GB, presently unenforced in most areas.

New York regulators have turned down Time Warner Cable’s request to shut off past due phone customers late at night or on weekends to protect consumers.

The Public Service Commission today reaffirmed long-standing rules that allow phone providers to only disconnect customers for non-payment between the hours of 8:00am – 7:30pm Monday through Thursday and 9:00am to 3:00pm on Friday.

“We are saying ‘no’ to Time Warner’s request to waive our rules regarding when it would be authorized for suspensions and terminations of its telephone customers,” said Commission chair Audrey Zibelman. “The Commission’s rules applicable to Time Warner are consistent with the hours of operation of the Commission’s consumer call center which receives consumer complaints’ and requests for assistance. To ensure telephone consumers’ rights are protected, especially core customers such as the elderly and disabled, it is essential customers are afforded the opportunity to contact our call center if their telephone service is threatened with a potential suspension or termination.”

But Time Warner Cable was granted approval of most of its other regulatory reform requests:

• Time Warner Cable can now apply partial payments first to basic local telephone charges, then non-basic services;
• The cable company will not have to distribute White Page directories except on request in print or CD-ROM format;
• After six months of providing monthly service quality figures, the cable company can limit future reports to only reflect standards for “core customers,” if the PSC finds Time Warner is providing adequate service.

An enterprising reader of the Broadband Reports‘ AT&T Forum stumbled on proposed pricing for AT&T’s faster speed services for U-verse and, presumably, their planned fiber-to-the-home rollout in Austin, Tex.:

The prices are no bargain in comparison to the $70 a month Google charges Kansas City residents for 1,000/1,000Mbps service, but on the lower end, AT&T’s 45Mbps U-verse option is comparable to Time Warner Cable’s 50/5Mbps tier, which now sells for $65-75 a month on a one-year promotion:

Time Warner Cable’s latest broadband offers

Verizon Voice Link

Verizon’s wireless solution for landline infrastructure damaged during last year’s Hurricane Sandy has not been a runaway success for the phone company, only attracting 120 customers on New Jersey’s barrier island.

After Hurricane Sandy damaged the telephone network on the peninsula, Verizon announced it would reinstate telephone service using Verizon Voice Link — a wireless landline replacement that works over Verizon Wireless’ network. The announcement was not well received by New Jersey residents — customers don’t want the service and after Verizon Wireless experienced a major service outage in Ocean County, N.J. in September, many don’t trust the service to be as reliable as the landlines it replaced.

Mantoloking resident Peter Flihan thinks Verizon delivered its own blow to the island, post-Sandy. Flihan has Voice Link, but after using it he says he wants his old landline back and is very unhappy with the performance of Verizon’s wireless replacement.

“They told us this was the greatest thing in the world,” Flihan told the New York Times.

But the service takes away more than it provides, argue consumer groups including the AARP. Flihan’s old landline worked during power outages, Verizon Voice Link only has two hours of backup battery talk time. Landlines reliably reach 911. Verizon is less confident about Voice Link, going out of its way to disavow any responsibility if a customer cannot reach the emergency number because of technical problems or network congestion. Data services of all kinds don’t work with Voice Link either, even the venerable old dial-up modem. Neither will fax machines, medical monitoring equipment, or home security systems.

Flihan complains Verizon’s Voice Link can’t even reliably manage the function it was designed for — making and receiving voice phone calls.

Flihan told the newspaper roughly 25 percent of the calls he makes through the landline replacement do not go through the first time he dials, or sometimes the second or third. Other times, calls are disturbed with unusual clicking sounds, static, and other voices breaking into the line.

Fire Island residents report Voice Link also misses incoming calls, refuses to ring phone lines and often sends callers straight to voice mail. Others get recordings or busy signals.

Verizon disclaims legal responsibility for failed 911 calls in its Voice Link terms and conditions.

Verizon’s attempt to retire landlines in high cost areas has proven to be a public relations debacle for the phone company. More than 1,700 negative comments have been received by the New York Public Service Commission about Voice Link’s performance on Fire Island. Politicians also delivered repeated lashings to the phone company, claiming Verizon was abdicating its responsibilities by seeking to offer second-rate phone service.

In New Jersey, residents at least have a choice. Verizon maintains a monopoly on Fire Island, but in New Jersey it competes with Comcast, which also provides phone service.

Lee Gierczynski, a Verizon spokesman, noted Verizon’s landline business suffered even before Hurricane Sandy arrived. The FiOS-less island has left Verizon with a 25 percent market share. Verizon Voice Link’s numbers are even lower. Gierczynski admitted Verizon Voice Link has only 120 (out of 540 affected customers) signed up on the island.

While Verizon has refused to invest in an upgraded network for impacted customers, Comcast issued a press release announcing major upgrades for the New Jersey shore.

Comcast upgraded 144 miles of infrastructure supporting the hardest hit communities, reopened renovated service centers with increased staffing and extended hours, increased the number of available service technicians, and provided free access to an expanded Wi-Fi network.

“We know that Hurricane Sandy complicated life for millions of people, and many of our employees and facilities were affected by the storm,” said LeAnn Talbot, senior vice president of Comcast’s Freedom Region. “We were here for the Jersey Shore during and immediately after Sandy, we have been here to support since then and will remain as a partner tomorrow and beyond as people and communities work to rebuild.”

This summer, Comcast introduced its X1 set-top platform, rolled out a new Wireless Gateway, added a home security option, and opened thousands of additional Wi-Fi hotspots across coastal New Jersey. Customers were also given a dedicated phone number to reach Comcast regarding its rebuilding efforts.

Comcast invited Verizon customers to switch to its telephone service and noted it works fine for faxing, security systems and medical devices.

But Mantoloking resident Christine Wilder still isn’t happy.

“I didn’t want Voice Link,” Wilder told the Asbury Park Press last summer. Wilder signed up for Comcast, but would rather have her copper landline back.

Unfortunately for Flihan and Wilder, although Fire Island residents’ loud displeasure drowned Verizon’s plans for Voice Link in New York, those affected in New Jersey are fewer in number. To date, their criticism of Voice Link has not made Verizon uncomfortable enough to change course as they have on Fire Island and bring a FiOS fiber network solution to Mantoloking and other affected boroughs.

That face “troubles” New Jersey Rate Counsel Stefanie A. Brand.

“I am not sure why New Jersey is not getting the same level of service as New York from Verizon,” Brand told the newspaper in September. “It’s not enough to simply say there is cable in Mantoloking; therefore we don’t need to meet our obligation. Why are they not willing to do it for similarly situated customers in New Jersey?”

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Verizon Voice Link A Reliable Alternative 10-3-13.mp4[/flv]

Verizon produced this video defending Voice Link as a reliable alternative to customers experiencing persistent problems with their landline service. (2 minutes)

A joint venture between Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable to explore the development of innovative new services delivered across cable and wireless networks has been terminated, according to Fran Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer.

Speaking on a quarterly results conference call, Shammo acknowledged the companies still have a cross-marketing agreement selling Verizon Wireless service to Comcast and Time Warner Cable subscribers and pitching cable service inside Verizon Wireless stores. A Verizon spokesperson admitted the parties abandoned the effort to co-develop new products and services at the end of August.

Shammo pointed to Verizon’s recent buyout of Vodafone’s share in Verizon Wireless as one of the market changes that led to dissolving the partnership with the two cable companies. Shammo indicated bringing Verizon Wireless under the full control of Verizon Communications allows the company to develop, market, and distribute its own products and services across both Verizon Wireless and fiber optic FiOS platforms.

Had the joint venture continued, Verizon’s FiOS network might have suffered a competitive disadvantage, being unable to capitalize on the exclusivity of new services developed by Verizon to better compete against the two cable companies that share many Verizon service areas.

Verizon FiOS has already garnered a 39% market share with room to grow in major cities like New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington where Verizon has not yet completed its fiber optic buildout.