I believe the legislation that AT&T bought with campaign donations doesn't allow individual cities any say in cable franchise negotiations and doesn't give the city or residents any rights as far as box placement or whether they are underground boxes. The boxes won't be on every law or even every subscribers lawn, but it's possible one could be sitting in your front yard even if you don't subscribe to uverse.

I take it back I wont switch if I am going to have a huge box like that in my front yard

I will switch for sure, charter sucks

Again- not defend any particular company but I can honestly say that when I first signed up w/ "Charter's Bundle" I was told UPFRONT that it was a 12 month package price. So I understand that a lot of us are upset about the price increase after the 12 months- but we new it was going to happen up front. And I have had AT & T before and Direct and they both offered me special pricing at first too- it seems like every company does that. It would be nice to have set pricing but it doesn't seem like anyplace does.

MotorMojo:
That's pretty much what I hear from everyone I talk to. Every month you get your bill that is higher then the last, and more and more fees are added to your bill. It's becoming the biggest rip of out there.
As my post below sites, Charter will soon be bankrupt, or there will be a hostile take over. Right now anyone could step in and buy the company for about $200 million (that's 51% of the 400 million outstanding shares). Of course it would be insane to do that, because you take on over a BILLION in debt!
I only wish I would have short sold Charter stock last year. All the signs of a collapse were there. You could have made a killing off that garbage company.

competition is GREAT!!! since I have been a charter customer, my bill has gone up from $78 to $154 for their services. THEY HAVE RIPPED ME OFF LONG ENOUGH!!!!!!

Competition is good... always. But the lack of oversight in deployment of these kinds of devices is shocking.

It would be possible to bury these boxes underground with access from above - they already do this with telecom equipment, it just costs more.

They could also work with local property owners to give them incentives to placing one of these boxes in their back yards - they already do this with power and telecom equipment.

And for those who don't think they have an alternative to Charter or AT&T - you're just not looking hard enough.

TDS always beats AT&T in service and price. $50/month for 2Meg DSL, Unlimited Local calls, and 300 min of LD. And you get to talk to Americans in Madison, WI when you have problems.

As for TV, there are competing satellite services that offer better price and available channels than charter.

There's just no excuse to accept poor service and high costs...

Yes, competition is great. However, before everyone gets excited, the competition will come at a cost. The boxes are obtrusive and unsightly. There is technology available to put the boxes underground, but ATT refuses, unless the local government pays for it!
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I believe it is prudent for our government officials to ensure that if these boxes are coming to Janesville (and Charter competition), that we benefit from 1) a cable franchise agreement, which the last time I checked ATT did NOT want to pay, thus resulting is huge $ loss to the general fund and 2) the boxes have a minimal visual impact.
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MrsGray - great link. I hope everyone checks it out.

AT&T hasn't done anything to reduce telephone service costs. It's twice as much as charters phone service.

All this shows is that we're gonna get screwed by two money hungry companies instead of just one.

PAblo. It could be worse. We could had got stuck with comcast. :)

Where is the proof that U-Verse will be cheaper?? Have ATT put in writing what they are going to charge before we have these eyesores in our front yards. Also, why can't they put these boxes in backyards??

This is just another example of why capitalism, and free markets are a GOOD things for customers. This will add much needed competition to the market, and consequently drive down prices for customers. However; it is uncertain how long the competition may last....

I would not be surprised if Charter was soon bought out, or simply declares bankruptcy. The stock is literally at JUNK status now (currently trading at $0.97 a share as of Friday, and down over 70% the past year). With an EPS (earnings per share) of -4.39!...So doing the math quick...approx 4 million shares outstanding would mean they are $1.756 Billion in the hole!....
OUCH BABE!
If it wasn't for the mega deep pockets of Paul Allen (Charter's CEO, and co founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates) behind them, they would have been belly up long ago.

Ok, how many of these utility cabinets need to be put up? Why can they not be underground or on utility poles? I don't get it. Sounds great to have competition, but if we need to have lots of these cabinets around the community- maybe its not such a good idea. That link to Ithaca was pretty eye opening.

I'm not interested in switching to another "inflexible package of overpriced services you have to buy just to get the one thing you want" rat race. If they don't offer reasonably-priced individual channel subscriptions, then they can please not add to the snail-mail diarrhea I'm currently getting to buy bundled Internet/ TV/IP phone services from these overbloated corporate giants.

I'm also tired of the stupidity of their advertising "one simple bill". I'll never voluntarily put all my communication eggs in one basket, especially just to drop from two monthly bills to one. If an accident takes out my phone or cable line or a router/server that handles my traffic crashes, I can fall back on the non-damaged provider for communicating.

On a related note, I wish the U.S. Attorney General or some state Attorney General would decide to serve the public instead of their own pockets and take these bozos to court to stop the "Introductory price of fifty cents for the first three months and we''ll print the $150.00/month 3 year contract with penalty clauses in type so fine you couldn't read it with an electron microscope" advertising.

AT&T is running fiber optic cables to all of their crossbox terminals. The white v-rads usually go near other terminals so its not like they are just popping up out of nowhere. There is usually other terminals right next to them. From what I know the city of Beloit put a halt to the v-rads as they didn't like the look of them either. Not sure how long that will hold up. I am also a bit dissapointed in the crew that directionally bored the road by my house on Delavan Drive. They heaved up the road from curb to curb and I am hoping they will have to pay to repair it.

GO TO : http://www.itasca.com/villageinfo/att/ar...

Before you get too excited about how "attractive" this alternative is, check out what happened in Itasca above. There are photos of what these cabinets may look like in front of your home. The Village of Itasca painted fake boxes approximately the size of the proposed cabinets all around town bright pink to let citizens know what an eyesore this could be. You got to see it to believe it! What an eyesore!

If you think AT&T is so much better than cable, you obviously have not been a U-Verse customer. Their service takes forever to install, (8 hours, plus two return visits) it's very unreliable (picture always freezing)and their customer service is not great. Long hold times, no local office to go to.

As to the "cabinets", they put them in front of our last house in Texas. It looked like 3 refrigerators sitting out front. Several potenital buyers told our agent that they weren't interested in our house because of them. She estimated we lost at least 5% of the fair market value of our home because of what they did to it's curb appeal.

Charter has been OK since our move here. Their service is a little better than Time Warner, much better than U-Verse. I'll be sticking with them.

abc123<<Look at your tag on your clothes. I'm sure it says made in India, Pakistan, China(big surprise)or the like. So it's good enough for you to wear clothes that were made by outsourced companies?<<

I don't have to be able to understand my clothes, Just wear them, not talk to them,,, Have a nice day,,,:))

Why do people think Charter is the only company that outsources it's customer service over seas? I'm sure AT&T does! As does 1/2 of all other companies do we like it... absolutly not! But it's the way the world is going- cheaper labor over seas. Look at your tag on your clothes. I'm sure it says made in India, Pakistan, China(big surprise)or the like. So it's good enough for you to wear clothes that were made by outsourced companies? No business or Company is perfect. It is great that competition is rolling in. Everyone is agreed on that aspect. However to insult a companies customer service is a bit much. Charter does have local offices-I've been to JVL and Beloit and the way those attendants are treated is just sickening! Have you ever stood in line and listened? They take every imaginable insult I've heard thru out my 55 years of life! Imagine if that were you? So Yes we are all in favor of more competition but lets look at the fact that more competition may mean less jobs for others. So more people on wellfare and so on and so on...... One compliment I would like to pass along is I like being able to pay my bill locally. Not having to mail it in or having to wait the 10 plus days to have it put on my account. I don't believe AT&T has any local offices.

As an alternative to cable, you could always go with satellite. AT&T is partnered with Dish Network as another method of providing a tv signal.

Before you get too excited, I sugggest you visit the ATT Uverse website (google for it), and a users group website, www.uverseusers.com.

I would switch in a hearbeat if AT&T is cheaper and has more channels........

Yahoo! Finally an alternative. Competitiveness is a good thing.

Hallelujah! We've had a decent experience with Charter, but I know LOTS of folks haven't. Competition for cable, internet, and phone is a great thing. I want someone to offer an "a la carte" cable menu, where I only pay for the channels I want, thereby cutting my bill in half. AT&T, if you do this, I'll be the first to switch!

Thank you Wisconsin for finally breaking up the monopoly on cable. Charter has failed in so many ways- customer service that barely speaks English, price, Big Ten network- that I am absolutely sure I will be switching as soon as I have the option to! Finally, we can stop being taken advantage of!

Anything that can offer an alternative to Charter is a good thing. The customer service can't be any worse then Charter. Also increased competition could lead to lower rates.