Please offer better speeds to rural areas.

Many would agree that 100-300Mbps would be the sweet spot for the average user. Especially if upload was symmetrical.

However, AT&T will do what is most profitable for them. They have a rollout plan over the next several years that is kept private. Unfortunately this means that rural, or even perhaps a bit urban but low population density, seem to get low priority.

This is a public forum of other customers, not setup as a way to contact AT&T. Calling wouldn't really do anything as agents over the phone have no influence on this. A BBB complaint would send your concern to the corporate level, which may even result in contact back, so at least you know you were heard on this matter at the level that (theoretically) could do something about it.

Yes the shift to telework, virtual school, and even at home more often in general has put a huge strain on the internet infrastructure nationwide (not just AT&T). Hopefully all the ISPs and the Government are taking a hard look. Hearing the 1-2Gbps (or even someplace starting 10Gbps?) is great in theory. But in my opinion, the reach of connection, minimum speed, and stability are more important right now than pushing the max in select areas.

Internet 50 with 1T data cap is not rural…

Legacy DSL with best speed of 6 and 150G data cap is rural.

Uverse platform ADSL2+ (about 19 million addresses) offers speeds of 18 or less (10, 5, 3, 1.5, .76) depending on copper length from the central office or remote terminal. These still have the 1T data cap.

Your current service is FIBER TO THE NODE (speeds from 100, 75, 50, 45, 25) with 1 T data cap. Start of 2021 about 24 million addresses are FTTN, I expect about 9 million of these will be upgraded to FTTP by 2026 leaving 15 million still on existing service.

It takes time and money to cover ATT 60 million hardwired addresses, at a rate of 3 million (5%) would take 20 years if all were upgraded with work started in 2016 means 2036. Expect 5G wireless service will be the upgrade for many.

Your internet 50/10 is twice the speed recommended by the government which is 25/3.

@my thoughts With all due disrespect to the government, I don't think they should have a say in what internet speeds should be recommended. I don't think people in the government are at an age where they can understand how critical the internet is to life.   25/3 may be okay for a person living alone and only doing their work/school work. Then that would be passable. When it's a household that has multiple people on multiple devices connected to work, stream, game, etc., then 25/3 becomes laughable. 50/10 is not much better than that.

Also, 10 years ago when ATT finally offered service to my area, the only available deal was a speed of 6 with 150G data cap. It took 5 years for ATT to offer 25/3 and 4 years after that to offer 50/10. Not to mention that 50/10 is what I *pay* for but it barely reaches 20/5 on a GOOD day. 

Even if it's no longer true rural, it is still overlooked.  

@my thoughts I laugh at your outlook, that 50 is fast enough. My speeds per Ookla Speedtest are in the high teens low 20s on a clear day, and that is hardwired. My job requires at least 40! If they are going to keep crappy speeds to people who are forced to have then, as they are the only company offered in some areas, thy should offer a free Wi-Fi extender if needed. We can barely stream 3 TVs at the same time! Ever since thy went to D-Stream, and everything streams now, you think they would!!!

@herMiMi2021  Keep in mind that AT&T, or any provider for that matter can't just decide by themselves where they are going to offer service, how they are going to offer the service, what the price of that service is going to be, and the speeds. The government (FCC) has a big say in that, as well as agreements with other providers as far as service areas goes. Nobody is arguing that the government's definition of broadband is reasonable, because it's not, especially given the change in society (work, school, etc) since Covid. The providers also have to satisfy their shareholders. And a lot of them want profit over equitable broadband for everyone, especially rural. It's the politicians and their special interests that are to blame, not necessarily the providers, although they could do a better job as well.

The speed offered is an up-to/theoretical max. It is never a guaranteed speed as that would be impossible. As long as you get more than the next tier down (if there is a lower one in your area), then you are getting what you pay for.

Technically an always-on connection that is faster than dial-up (56Kbps) is broadband. In this day and age, Federal government officially counts broadband at higher, but that is for the bare minimum (again theoretical max).

With the shift in home usage (less going out, more work and home school options), I do beleive that providers need to focus more on extending reach to rural areas at a minimum functional speed and to stabalize the infrastructure. This is not the time to keep boasting about areas that can get 10Gbps or more. But with that covid shift and all the hardships that came from it, including equipment and tech shortages, any improvements will not be soon.