AT&T Inc. Tuesday announced the expansion of AT&T Yahoo Broadband via Satellite, provided by WildBlue, to homes and businesses across the company’s 22-state wireline footprint, focusing on areas that otherwise have little or no access to a broadband connection.
The announcement marks first-time satellite Internet service availability from AT&T for consumers in the former BellSouth nine-state region, and substantially increases availability to areas not addressed in the company’s previous launch of satellite-based broadband Internet to residential customers in AT&T’s traditional 13-state service territory. The expansion directly supports the company’s effort to deliver broadband service to millions of customers in rural and remote areas, where DSL and cable-modem service are typically not available today, providing an important alternative for customers currently using dial-up service.
“Since we began offering high speed Internet service, our goal has been to make the benefits of broadband available to every home and business in our service footprint,” said Rick Welday, chief marketing officer of AT&T Consumer. “From traditional wireline broadband to satellite-broadband service, our focus continues to be on widescale deployment and availability in both rural and suburban communities alike, where consumers are eager for broadband access,” said Welday.
AT&T Yahoo Broadband via Satellite customers can select from three service packages, starting as low as $54.95 a month, and broadband speed options of up to 1.5 Mbps downstream and up to 256 Kbps upstream.
The satellite-based broadband offering today builds on an initial announcement made in May 2006. Over the past year, AT&T and WildBlue have worked closely to increase capacity and expand access to more customers.
“From our previous launch of satellite-based broadband service, we quickly learned that consumers were eager to embrace this form of high speed Internet access,” said Welday. “Consumers see this as a welcomed alternative to dial-up service, as does AT&T — a valuable technology that further promotes and delivers the benefits and advantages of broadband.”
Rural, satellite-based broadband subscribers will receive direct access to the AT&T Yahoo portal and the leading service features available with AT&T’s broadband service. Customers will benefit from a unique online experience, including differentiated entertainment-related video content; virtually unlimited e-mail storage; an award-winning parental controls offering; industry-leading safety and security features built into an online protection suite; multiple e-mail addresses; and a core offering of customer-driven features, such as online marketing tools, to further customize the online experience.
Customers can receive additional service information and can confirm availability in their area by calling (800) ATT-2020.
