CROSSROADS REPORT
By Kent Brunette
From The Pages Of The December 27, 2006
Hearne Democrat Newspaper
On February 13 of this year, several Hearne and Calvert representatives attended a
“Miles & Miles of Texas” event hosted by the new AT&T in the ballroom of the Arboretum’s
Renaissance Hotel in north Austin. At this event, AT&T announced it was going to provide high
speed DSL service in all of its 70+ local telephone markets in Texas by the end of 2006.
AT&T’s announcement was a big deal. Guest speakers included: Governor Rick Perry,
Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, House Speaker Tom Craddick, and AT&T Senior Vice
President James Ciccone. The country/western group Asleep At The Wheel performed live,
playing a Miles & Miles of Texas tune over and over and over again.
Robertson County attendees included: Marcus & Sandra Greaves, Allen & Gilsie Wiese,
Walter & Jenny Qualls, Brad Ely, and myself. Representatives from Calvert and Hearne were
invited since these towns are in the new AT&T’s (formerly SBC’s) local landline service territory
(Bremond and Franklin are not). Russell Devorsky, district aide to State Representative Jim
Dunnam, joined local attendees at this bi-partisan event.
After the February event, an end-of-August original target date passed without fanfare.
The whispered rumor was that AT&T had encountered a big problem since Hearne and Calvert
were surrounded by other local landline telephone companies and were not contiguous with
another AT&T-served territory.
As the end of the year approached, it looked increasingly doubtful that AT&T would be
able to live up to its February promise and would likely not be providing high speed DSL service
in either town. Phone calls were exchanged with the governor’s office in Austin, AT&T’s
corporate headquarters in San Antonio, and AT&T’s regional public relations staff in Waco.
Early last week, Debbie Keel, AT&T’s Regional Director for External Affairs, called the
Hearne Chamber of Commerce to report that the “problem had been fixed and AT&T was starting
to provide high speed Internet service in Hearne and Calvert.” A big formal announcement will be
forthcoming after the first of the year.
AT&T will only be able to provide high speed Internet service to its landline customers
who are within 15,000 feet of its central business office at Third & Magnolia Streets in Hearne.
This is a distance just shy of three miles (2.84 miles to be exact). If your home or office is farther
away than this, you will probably not be able to get AT&T’s new DSL service.
To see if AT&T’s high speed Internet service is available to your home, go to
www.att.com, click on “Learn More” under “Residential Service” (in green), then provide your
home telephone number in the “Check Availability” box and hit the arrow. Businesses can click
on “Small Business” and follow the same routine.
AT&T’s website shows four different residential monthly packages to be available in
Hearne. The price differences are in downstream and upstream speeds (downloading and
sending information).
AT&T’s Basic Package ($14.99) offers 384 Kbps to 768 Kbps downstream and 128 Kbps
upstream. It allows users to get acquainted with high speed Internet at speeds up to 10 times
faster than dial-up.
AT&T’s Express Package ($19.99) offers 384 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps downstream and 128 to
364 Kbps upstream. It is best for surfing the Internet, checking e-mail, instant messaging, and
shopping online.
AT&T’s Pro Package ($24.99) offers 1.5 to 3.0 Mbps downstream and 384 to 512 Kbps
upstream. It is best for online multi-use, games, downloading music and video files.
AT&T’s Elite Package ($34.99) offers 3.0 to 6.0 Mbps downstream and 512 to 768 Kbps
upstream. It is best for online multi-use, maximum gaming, uploading digital pictures,
downloading music and video files.
Cybercom (www.txcyber.com) also offers high speed service to Hearne and Calvert.
Cybercom’s wireless service requires installation of a small disk which communicates with an
antenna on each city’s water tower. Call Cybercom at 979.268.6800 for information on different
available packages based on varying downstream and upstream speeds.
Crossroads Reports are archived at www.hearnetexas.info. Click on the “Crossroads
Report” link to view past reports. The views expressed in this report are those of the author & do
not necessarily reflect the views of Hearne’s 4A & 4B Sales Tax Boards, Hearne Chamber of
Commerce, or the Robertson County Democratic Party.