According to a report in Light Reading citing industry sources, AT&T is still struggling with video packet loss issues, even though the carrier is set to launch its U-verse IPTV service soon. Sources say the U-verse network loses about two packets of data per minute, which equates to more than 2,800 bytes of information and about a second of video. The viewer must deal with screen pixelation or jitter, and in some cases, full on screen freezes. Microsoft is reportedly working hard to fix the problem, since it supplies the carrier's IPTV middleware, using a software algorithm called Resilient UDP. It's rumored that Microsoft has already built in a 10 to 15 second delay for live broadcasts to enable the algorithm to command the set-top box to ask for a resend of lost packets from server. Other sources say AT&T is also giving forward error correction (FEC) a try at one leg of its network.
For more on AT&T's network issues:
- see the report from Light Reading