Time Warner suing AT&T over U-verse expansion work

[Clandestino]

TWC should stop getting into legal battles with everyone and concentrate on lowering prices and making a better product. TWC can't touch ATT on cable pricing or quality of service.



By Sanford Nowlin - Express-News Time Warner Cable has sued AT&T Inc. in federal court in San Antonio, claiming the telecommunications giant destroyed and misappropriated cable company equipment when it rolled out its U-verse video service.

AT&T damaged parts of Time Warner's network, the suit alleges, through “sheer acts of vandalism, trespass, conversion and misappropriation of Time Warner's property.” The company tried to make up for lackluster response to its service by interfering with its compe ors, it also alleges.

AT&T spokesman Mike Barger declined comment on the claims in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

“Both parties are currently engaged in efforts to resolve the pending lawsuit and to implement procedures that address disputed issues related to the installation of their services,” he said in a prepared statement.

A Time Warner spokesman also had no comment on the suit.

AT&T relocated to Dallas from San Antonio earlier this year, but its division that oversees U-verse still is headquartered here. The Alamo City also was the first market for U-verse, which launched in 2006 and has since expanded to other U.S. cities.

When hooking up new services, providers such as AT&T often need to work in cramped spaces jammed with other telecom providers' gear. During that process, analysts said, technicians may damage compe ors' equipment.

“There have been suits about this stuff going back 10 years,” Frost telecom analyst Le Keough said. “There's limited space in those rights of way. There's a limited amount of space on the poles and a limited amount of space underground.”

AT&T and Time Warner have battled in court here over rights-of-way issues at least once before.

In late 2006, AT&T sued the cable provider, saying its technicians illegally damaged its network when hooking up phone customers in apartment buildings here. Time Warner fired back weeks later with a suit claiming the phone giant harmed its equipment during installation calls.

AT&T spokesman Barger said the companies have since reached a settlement in that dispute.

As part of the settlement, the companies are working to resolve the pending suit and to develop new procedures to avoid future disputes, he said in a statement.

[mouse]

I was sucked into the time Warner 99 a month for cable,phone,and www it was a very sweet deal I told everyone who would listen to me about it. (all two of them)

then about a year and half later they told me that deal was over and I had to pay 150.00 a month and lose some channels.

So I called for the 88 dollar AT&T packaged deal with the U-verse and waited the 14 days for the installer. (after I talked the lady out of signing me up for the package she tried to sell me) when you call them they have a platinum, gold, silver, bronze type deals. They make you feel like a cheap ass when you tell them you only want to pay the 99 a month. After all that is why you called, If i wanted the super deal with 400 extra channels for only 175 a month I would just have kept Time Warner. Who the is going to watch 400 channels anyway? There are only 24 hours in a day even if you never slept you could only watch maybe 50 channels and that means 30 minute shows each.
Anyway the installer came by and said my apartments have the old time Warner hook ups and that they cant touch them they can get sued. So Time Warner has a monopoly going on in my apartments we can't even get Grande cable.

And the apartment owners are in on it they must get free cable because they don't allow us to have a dish either.

I know the folks at Time Warner can give you sweet deals because I talk to the tech guys all the time when I am installing a persons router ,the man for Time Warner said every person I get to leave at&T/SBC DSL and get them to switch to cable I would get 50 dollars deducted off my cable bill.


Now I have a 30 dollar a month pocket phone bill, free WiFi thanks to all my neighbors, and I can watch any show I need using TVUplayer off the PC and If I need to see Dexter ? I just use a torrent.

[Horn Tooter]

Now I have a 30 dollar a month pocket phone bill, free WiFi thanks to all my neighbors, and I can watch any show I need using TVUplayer

[Viva Las Espuelas]

a ha. those bas s suck. time warner that is. i'm sure evan still has his at&t box still sitting at his house waiting to be picked up, but uverse kicks ass. the only thing i wish you could do is access your dvr on your pc/mac, but i'm sure piracy comes into play there.