AT&T Dares Cable Cos. to Cut Cable with Wi-Fi STB

AUSTIN, TX — The Cisco ISB7005 for AT&T U-Verse cleared the FCC today. This is the first set-top box that IMS Research has observed beyond those from the Turkish company AirTies that is designed to receive pay-TV over a Wi-Fi interface.

Stephen Froehlich, a senior analyst with IMS Research’s Consumer Electronics group states, “AT&T appears to be using the extreme compression of their video as a competitive advantage. U-Verse’s comparatively low HD video bitrates are allowing them to use a relatively inexpensive 2×2 dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi radio based on the BRCM4717 for this application. Our preliminary analysis is that AT&T can use such a simple design because its HD video is encoded at approximately 5 Mbps compared to 5-8 Mbps for HDTV over satellite and 16 Mbps for HDTV over cable. This means that the satellite and especially the cable providers will need far more elaborate wireless solutions to enable them to stream video over a wireless network.”

The Cisco ISB7005 also includes the Ethernet and HomePNA wired networking interfaces found on other U-Verse STBs and DVRs.

Michael Weissman, is the VP of Corporate Marketing for Sigma Designs’ (SIGM), the manufacturer of the HomePNA chips used by U-Verse. Weissman notes, “There will always be a need for wired backhaul in the home. Because consumers will want to keep their Wi-Fi capacity open for Mobile Devices. We are confident that our Clear Path powerline networking technology will be able to deliver the performance that operators need from a wired network with the convenience of self-install.”

Froehlich adds, “It is not yet clear if the ISB7005 is intended to be the primary client STB for U-Verse or whether it is meant instead to be used only to save installers from the most time consuming of wire runs. It is important to note that this is a client STB for U-Verse and we have not yet seen a multi-room DVR server with Wi-Fi. The interior photos also reveal that the Wi-Fi in the ISB7005 is on a daughter card that can easily be installed or removed by an AT&T technician.”