Wi-Fi has been added to the STB that AT&T gets from Cisco for its U-verse pay-TV service. Like other U-verse STBs and DVRs, the Cisco ISB7005 comes with HomePNA and Ethernet.
Stephen Froehlich, senior analyst with IMS Research, said it appears AT&T is using the extreme compression of its video as a competitive advantage. He said U-Verse’s comparatively low HD video bitrates allow it to use a relatively inexpensive 2x2 dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi radio. “AT&T can use such a simple design because its HD video is encoded at approximately 5 Mbps compared to 5-8 Mbps for HDTV over satellite and 16 Mbps for HDTV over cable,” he said. “This means that the satellite and especially the cable providers will need far more elaborate wireless solutions to enable them to stream video over a wireless network.”
Michael Weissman, VP of corporate marketing for Sigma Designs, the manufacturer of the HomePNA chips that AT&T uses, said, “There will always be a need for wired backhaul in the home because consumers will want to keep their Wi-Fi capacity open for mobile devices. We are confident that our Clear Path powerline networking technology will be able to deliver the performance that operators need from a wired network with the convenience of self-install.”
Froelich pointed out that there is currently no U-verse DVR with Wi-Fi. He also said the Wi-Fi in the ISB7005 is on a daughter card that an AT&T technician can easily install or remove.
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