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AT&T bonds two phone lines to extend U-verse's reach, ensure it is the 98th caller

Like your average teenager, AT&T has recognized the power in using two phone lines to cheaply extend its reach and influence. Pair bonding technology expands U-verse's reach by sending the signal over two copper phone lines at once and was supposed to roll out back in '08. No word what caused the delay, but that it's a cheaper option than putting more "shovels in the ground" should keep costs down and Randall Stephenson happy. According to AT&T, that extra distance (about 1,000 to 2,000 extra feet from neighborhood nodes) will help expand availability to 30 million households by the end of next year, so if you've been waiting for some Total Home DVR / Xbox 360 Mediaroom / mobile U-verse (once the latter two actually launch, of course) action but live a block or two too far outside the radius then things are looking up. The bad news? It won't add bandwidth for the compression issues or lack of additional HD streams Home Theater Review noted, and definitely won't help you score concert tickets during the top 8 at 8.