# Strange Call from AT&T **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690 "2013-09-26T00:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690/21 "2013-09-27T09:42:55Z")
To add: that wikipedia article seemed to imply that fiber to the customer’s home (FTTP) is common. It most definitely ISN’T. I have heard of a few super-new housing developments that already had fiber to the home, and AT&T got permission to use that existing fiber, but they definitely DON’T run fiber to homes themselves. At most, they use existing fiber. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690/22 "2013-09-27T09:54:24Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Even though the same VRAD can serve both ADSL and VDSL, they are fundamentally different signals. ADSL is more powerful in terms of the actual signal strength, and has farther reach, whereas VDSL is faster (at the VRAD you can get upwards of 78 Mbps, with losses of around 10 Mbps for every thousand feet of copper), and loses signal strength much more quickly. That’s all well and good… but it’s still DSL. It’s right there in the name. VDSL is obviously more advanced than ADSL, but the point is that it’s still running over ordinary unshielded twisted pair. That’s virtually the definition of DSL. Their solution to the “last mile” problem was to turn it into a “last few hundred meters” problem. The fact that they don’t call it VDSL is just a marketing thing. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690/23 "2013-09-27T12:09:40Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > U-Verse is still largely DSL, even if they don’t call it that. They just get around the central office distance limit by running fiber to the neighborhood. The last few hundred meters is still copper. DSL can be quite fast as long as the distances are short. > > At some locations, AT&T does run fiber directly to the home, but I think this is still fairly rare. Verizon does quite a bit of fiber to the home, but yes the U-verse service is a use of DSL technology however it does not use DSL infrastructure. So the technology still is being used in a different way, short range hookups to homes which that allow greater speeds over twisted pair. I’ve actually seen set ups where businesses with buildings close to a Central Office would order a dry pair between buildings, actually these were alarm lines and very cheap (Less then $10/month, sometimes less then $5) and run their own DSL service over them which would have cost them quite a bit more to buy as data lines. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690/24 "2013-09-27T12:53:44Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > In a rural environment DSL is the only option. Depends on how you define “rural.” Farther than 3 miles or so from the Central Office or an active node, it doesn’t exist because the maximum speed drops off drastically with distance. Not so with cable. DSL isn’t available in any of the rural environments near me, but cable isn’t, either, not for technological reasons, but financial ones. Cable companies want more population density to make the lines profitable. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690/25 "2013-10-04T15:53:39Z")
So I currently use ATT for high speed DSL. Never really had a problem with it. Got a letter yesterday from ATT saying that they were discontinuing DSL in our area and transitioning us to ATT Uverse fiber optic internet with at least the same speeds or better. They indicate that our pricing will not change and that the switch over will be done at their cost. I’m gonna call them, but curious if anyone knows how the Uverse internet service is delivered into the house, via the phone lines (like our current DSL), coaxial cable, ???. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690/26 "2013-10-04T16:11:36Z")
Not via the phone line. In our case, it is fiber optic, I believe, that comes into the house. Could be coax, though. A completely new wire, anyway. We have a bundle with phone and TV, and the main box that that wire goes into feeds into the internal home phone lines for our phone service. It also has a cat 6 cable that runs to a box near our TV, for our TV service. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-call-from-at-t/669690.md?page=1)