U-verse boxes now rankling Greensboro, N.C. citizens, politicos

The debate between the need for more TV competition and the infrastructure aesthetics of providing that competition has moved from San Francisco to Greensboro, N.C. where citizens and public officials are looking askance at the "giant cable-type boxes" that AT&T (NYSE: T) uses to deliver its U-verse TV and broadband data services.

"The boxes are rather big. They do look like small refrigerators. To have something like that in your front yard when you live in any neighborhood, any neighborhood should not have to deal with that," city councilwoman Mary Rakestraw said.

The boxes, which AT&T has deployed for years throughout the country--most recently in San Francisco, Ca.--are in contrast to Time Warner Cable's (NYSE: TWC) network infrastructure which is mostly underground.

"We have continued to upgrade our network. We're going to continue to do (so) without having to add large equipment into front yards or neighborhoods," Time Warner Cable spokesman Scott Pryzwansky promised.

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