AT&T U-Verse for Business Kicks Internet Speed Up a Notch

If the age-old adage “time is money” holds any truth for you and your small business, then you might be interested in AT&T’s latest high-speed Internet service, AT&T U-Verse for Business.

The new service offers small businesses download speeds of up to 10 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps. Burt Winter, AT&T’s executive director of product management, said that U-Verse for Business is the first AT&T business broadband service to offer these speeds.

“We leveraged the platform that we built for consumer video, and we run it over a mixed fiber and copper network to offer the service to small businesses,” Winter said.

For a bit of perspective on the U-Verse for Business download and upload speeds, you can compare it to AT&T’s Business Class DSL service, which offers a download speed of up to 6 Mbps and an upload speed of up to 768 kbps.

“Today’s small businesses need velocity to better serve their customers, stay ahead of their competitors and continue moving forward,” Roman Pacewicz, senior vice president, AT&T regional business Marketing said in a written statement. “Our new Business U-verse provides outstanding connectivity at a great price for small businesses by offering higher speeds than ever before.”

The company says that the service, depending upon the types of applications a small business uses, delivers and supports up to 32 Internet access connections (four wired, 28 wireless) over existing phone wire.

Four of the connections are wired, while the other 28 are wireless (at no additional charge), which, Winter said, gives small businesses more flexibility around the office. The wireless equipment includes four Ethernet ports, a USB port for direct connection and AT&T’s two-tier firewall.

U-Verse for Business also includes free installation (eventually it will cost $95), unlimited e-mail storage and security applications for anti-spyware, anti-virus, pop-up blocker and spam. Winter said that service subscribers also receive unlimited access to AT&T’s Wi-Fi network of more than 17,000 hotspots nationwide (including approximately 7,000 Starbucks locations).

The service is currently available in the following markets:

• California: portions of Los Angeles; Sacramento, San Diego; the Bay Area, Riverside, San Bernardino and Carlsbad
  
• Connecticut: Hartford, Stamford and New Haven
  
• Georgia: Atlanta
  
• Indiana: Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis and Muncie
  
• Northeastern Illinois
  
• Missouri: Kansas City and St. Louis
  
• Michigan: Detroit
  
• Ohio: Cleveland, Akron and Columbus
  
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma City
  
• Texas: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio
  
• Wisconsin: Milwaukee and Racine

The company said that it plans to add more markets within its 22-state service area in the coming months.

The service, which includes a 30-day, money-back guarantee, is available in two pricing plans based on the up-and download speed. Forty dollars per month buys up to 1.5 Mbps download speed and up to 1 Mbps upload.

For $100 per month, you get the up to 10 Mbps download speed and the up to 1.5 Mbps upload speed.

“The vast majority of customers move quickly in a business environment,” said Winter. “Every minute counts, and U-Verse for Business lets you take advantage of every minute of every day.”

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com