#2 US Telecom company SBC has a new set-top box with Tivo-like DVR and music and photo access capabilities. “Owners will be able to control the box remotely over an Internet connection, which will also provide access to streaming music and video downloads through SBC’s deal with Yahoo. SBC said future enhancements will allow the box to be controlled through a Cingular wireless phone, and allow SBC’s local phone customers to see caller ID and call logs on their TV sets.” With TVs acting more like computers, and computers acting more like TVs, what will it look like when they meet in the middle?
I think you mean set-top box, which is the correct term. And they are trying to get into the TV market. Some how I don’t think a phone company can do a better job at TV than a cable TV company. Just look at how unsuccesful their DSL service is/has been..
“..what will it look like when they meet in the middle?”
It is called MythTV
http://www.mythtv.org
Why don’t they lower their broadband price ? I don’t care about them selling tivo’s.
I really hate SBC. It sucks doing business with them and working for them (they also don’t pay much when you work for em)
I also figured a computer was enough:
– Watch TV & Record
– watch, Record moves and edit
– Get and send telephone calls
Basicly, that replaces the TV and telephone. All you need is your mobile phone and big bad computer for all your entertainment and communication needs.
So I think the set top boxes are just a new way for SBC to make money. I mean come on, you can already do that on a very good workstation.
Anybody have any experience building a SBC audio player with LCD and remote? I’ve seen a lot of projects online, but there doesn’t seem to be a central software project oriented around audio set top boxes. Any pointers to affordable SBC boards and accompanying hardware known to work with Linux would also be appreciated.
My cable company doesn’t have a very good record. I personally think that SBC would be more reliable than cable. However, I’m sure they will have a lot of problems to work out initially.
As for the caller ID and stuff.. I’m sure you can produce hardware with some open source software that allows u to see caller ID an all that good stuff. Want it to be on the TV? just get a video card with a cable connector on it. Use your TV as a monitor.
what!!!! dude.. SBC (in Michigan at least) has DSL for 26 bucks!!!! that is half the cost of Cable broadband.
personally I see cable more evil than big bells. in Michigan, SBC gets it butt kicked by the legislature so it is always on best behavior… cable is locally managed via contracts with cities so they abuse a lot. I am proud to finally be call be free because of Direct TV and sbc yahoo dsl.
If you research consumer opinion and quality data on SBC’s services and 2-wire’s (the manufacturer) hardware, the combination of the two in one box doesn’t look appealing.
Cable varies. Here Cable is very reliable and is much cheaper than DSL ($40 for 5Mbps).
Telephone lines were built to be strong and reliable compared to old cable, maybe the new cable has changed but that’s one of the main reasons why the internet went thru telephone lines.
I did work for SBC before, long ago, and they treated me horribly.
In CT, 1.5Mbps DSL is $19.99/mo if you have their typical phones service. Since they bought every company around here, most people do. I dislike conglomerates, but other than that, they deliver very cheap, reliable broadband to my house and I love it. But I have sat TV, so not going to take them up on this offer.
Aye, SBC DSL in Michigan is quite good. Way cheaper than cable too. Also, they just raised the upload cap for my package to 384Kbps.
I have the 384Kbps – 1.5Mbps for SBC Yahoo! DSL Express package and pay ~$23 a month.
About Cable/Cable Broadband in Michigan… it’s a ripoff. Charter Communications has my area on lockdown so I can’t get Comcast but even they are way too pricey. I plan on getting DirectTV soon because it’s a better value.
Most of the ~$20 DSL offers that are going around are for 1.5 Mbps down ADSL. Cable, while it is more expensive overall, is going for around 4 – 5 Mbps down for ~$40-50 per month. That makes Cable slightly cheaper per Mbps.
-G
Switched last month after 4 years of comcast internet.
Total bill was $136/month w/o any movie channels, I will give up the 50-60% speed drop to enjoy DVR and digital signals on all channels (more of them too) for a new total of $90/month.