Does AT&T use cable?
Does AT&T Use Cable?
AT&T Internet is one of the most significant telecommunications firms in the USA that provide phone, internet and TV services to many users in this country. However, when it concerns the TV services more particularly, does AT&T have other than cable infrastructure to transmit its programs? The short answer is that yes, it can sometimes happen, but not at other times.
AT&T primarily relies on three different technologies to deliver TV services:AT&T primarily relies on three different technologies to deliver TV services:
DSL
Fiber Optic
Satellite
DSL on the other hand makes use of telephone lines in transferring data instead of the cable lines. Thus, in locations where it does provide DSL-based TV, it does not operate through cable. However, DSL is slightly slower and often less capable than cable or fiber based networks. This can lead to a poor picture quality on the Television, especially when the channel being watched is in high-definition.
Copper wire connections refer to installations that utilize thin flexible strands of glass or plastic to pass data in the form of light pulses. AT&T has been the most active in laying fiber optics over the last decade with very high speeds. As for the areas where AT&T offers its fiber service, its television services do not use any cable wires at all as they are provided over this new fiber network. The flexibility of fiber enables the fastest internet connection and clear TV image that is available in the company.
Last, in the less urbanized regions where wireline is not highly developed AT&T uses satellite to spread TV content. It enables them to tap into customers they would not be able to reach with TV service normally. Of course, delivery over satellite does not include physical cables in its at all as well as cable connections.
Well, this escalates to an understanding of how AT&T provides its own basic TV services. However, due to mergers and acquisitions over the years, AT&T has also inherited some cable infrastructure from the cable providers it has purchased:However, due to mergers and acquisitions over the years, AT&T has also inherited some cable infrastructure from the cable providers it has purchased:
1. Dobson Communications (2007)
2. Centennial Communications (2008)
3. Wayport (2008)
4. BellSouth (2006)
5. DirecTV (2015)
For instance, in the DirecTV acquisition, AT&T was to take over facilities, equipment and cable networks that were associated with the satellite TV company. Therefore AT&T has some legacy cable infrastructure in some regions within its service territory that it leverages in offering TV services.
Furthermore, AT&T has a vast contingent of the retail dealers and reseller relationship with numerous regional cable operators. In these cases, local cable providers will offer what appears to be AT&T home phone, internet, and TV packages although the internet and television services are delivered through the coax cable lines from the local cable provider. AT&T permits the providers to sell the services under the AT&T label even as cable infrastructure transmits the video part.
Therefore, once again, it is all relative or rather, a chicken and egg dilemma. In some cases, AT&T directly uses own cable networks which belong to the company, due to acquisitions. In other areas, it purchases cable services to resale to the customers direct from these cable companies. In many locations that AT&T services, it utilizes fiber optic, DSL, or satellite without any cable connection at all. Thus whether cable is used by AT&T is majorly dictated by the location and the precise TV service offered within the particular locality of the neighborhood. The range of delivery technologies can differ significantly, and yet your billing statement still proudly displays the AT&T name.
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