ATT We need better speeds!

Hey guys this is my first post on this website but I have been purchasing internet, phone, and TV for well over 15 years from ATT and I go back with them to my first dial up connections in the 90s. I have stuck with ATT this long mostly because I have to. There are no alternatives in my area and I would have switched if I could. Dialup is unreasonable in 2014 and so is satellite internet. My only issue with my att internet is its speed and I think this is a major problem ATT needs to fix.

ATTs speed is significantly behind other providers both in terms of the max speed they can offer, the technology they have delivering it, and the price for their plans. 

One of the major issues with the internet speed that ATT tries to hide is the upload. When they sell you a plan they never even tell you what the upload ammount is. I have the Max Plus plan, the fastest I can get in my area, and the upload is supposedly 1.5Mb/s and it rarely can get near that fast and I am lucky to be getting 1 most of the time. 1 Meg of upload is just not enough for 2014 and beyond. Its fine if all you do is brows a few websites but start skyping with friends and family, or running a minecraft server for you and a few friends and you will know 1 is not enough. Skype video quality on 1Meg is poor quality and I am lucky if I can have 3 friends on a Minecraft server without them lagging. There is a plethora of programs that would benefit from more upload speed. It would be nice to try running a small website of my own but I just can't with 1 Meg.

Also ATTs download is not extremely fast compared to other companies. I am not buying the slowest internet plan trying to save money, this is the fastest I can buy and it's called "Max plus" it's beyond the "Elite" and "Pro". When you compare this service to other companies even if you get the CHEAPEST FIOS plan you get 15 down and 5 up so its around the same download and has 5x better upload. Verizon’s minimum plan is 5x as fast as the best speeds I can get with the best ATT plan in my area and that’s just the minimum. Just having 5 upload with my plan would allow me to do simple things like Skype and online multiplayer games with my friends.  

Also the maximum plan I can buy with ATT is sadly way slower then plans offered by other competing providers. Fios allows you to get 500 Download and 100 Upload. Sure you have to pay for it but I GLADLY would pay for it since I curretly can't get anything like that. Also Fios has plans such as 300/65, 150/65, 75/35, and 50/25 that are miles beyond what ATT has to offer. Furthermore most of Comcast’s plans are faster then what ATT has.  25/5, 50/10, 50/15, 105/20, 305/65, 505/100. Then there is always google fiber($70/m) and Vtel($35/m) that offer 1000/1000 for under $100 a month. I'm not saying we need 1000/1000 for under $100 but ATT is behind the times of every major internet provider. Not to mention last month comcast gave everyone on their service a free speed upgrade... (I havn't gotten a free speed upgrade in my 15 years with ATT)

Another concern I have for the ATT service is the fact it is using outdated technology to bring me my internet. Most other Fiber Internet companies such as Comcast, fios, google fiber, vtel bring the fiber line into your home. ATT is converting the Fiber at the box down the road into copper wire and then in my house it gets translated back to internet. A combination of this transforming processes and the way att sends tv and internet data and my ping to other computers is significantly slower then what other providers have. When I am playing online shooter games such as CSGO or COD I can check what other players ping is and you can tell who has ATT normally by the people with the higher ping. Higher ping levels make playing online games less fun since I have to wait longer for things to load and there is a bit of delay between what happens, and the game server receiving my data. ATT should start updating their infastructure to fiber into homes, we can't live on copper forever.

Now a few months ago for my TV, Internet, and phone bill I am paying ATT over $200 a month. I don't have a problem paying that if I get $200+ a month of service. These other companies I have listed are pretty similar with what you have to pay but the amount of service is much better for what you are paying. A similar amount per month with some of the other companies I have listed could afford me a much better package all around escpeialy in terms of internet speed.

Altogether I don't need any insane internet plan, I don't need 1000/1000 I would just like a solid 50/50 internet plan for what I am currently paying. I belive such a option would be beneficial to many ATT users and would deciding factor for many people to go with ATT that currently don't. I can see other people have brough this up before on these forums.

I would like feedback from other useres here on the forum about what you think and maybe somone from ATT will actualy read this and consider getting us some better speed. I also request that if you have above a 1,000 post count not to reply to this becuase I am interested in the average users feedback not ATT fanboys. Thanks