AT&T’s second quarter earnings are out, and despite “Antennagate” and network coverage criticism, the company still managed to activate a whopping 3.2 million Apple iPhones during the quarter. Overall, the company added 1.6 million wireless subscribers (896,000 of those were not phones but embedded devices like e-Readers) for the quarter, to reach 90.1 million total wireless connections. AT&T saw a 27.2 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up $936 million from last year and their new data pricing only really just kicked in.

AT&T added a net 209,000 U-verse TV subscribers for the quarter, totaling 2.5 million. That said, AT&T overall lost about 92,000 total broadband customers, given they lost 347,000 traditional DSL customers, some to U-Verse upgrades, some to competitors. AT&T’s broadband quarter wasn’t a particularly great one, something AT&T attributes to “seasonal” slowdown, but also because competitors in non U-Verse markets are becoming “more aggressive with promotions.”

In other words, users tired of slow and expensive DSL service are upgrading to cable. AT&T hopes to counter this with bonded VDSL, which will extend U-Verse’s reach to 30 million potential users. But the fact that cable is kicking AT&T around in legacy DSL markets is kind of amusing given all the investor pressure on AT&T to skimp on network upgrades. By lamenting telco network upgrades (be they FTTH or FTTN), Wall Street stock jocks like Craig Moffett wind up helping cable companies.

On their earnings conference call, AT&T dribbled out a few interesting tidbits including the fact that their LTE trials will be starting in just a few months, with the service made available to AT&T customers sometime in 2011. The company also noted that they’ve been working hard to improve network performance in their trouble markets like New York City, where they claim dropped calls are down 23% in Manhattan while 3G speeds are up 31% the last six months. San Francisco upgrades are about 90 days behind NYC upgrades, says AT&T.

As for AT&T’s decision to impose low 200 MB and 2 GB caps on wireless smartphone users during the quarter, AT&T’s CFO Rick Lindner called the results “pretty encouraging.” Interestingly, AT&T says fewer people than they expected downgraded from unlimited to 200MB and 2GB capped plans. “To be honest we had expected virtually all of those customers to migrate down to a lower price point.” Perhaps because low caps and high overages (plus fees) isn’t really a lower price point?

Regardless, AT&T acknowledged their new tiered pricing (which Verizon is expected to mimic later this month) “may reduce the growth rate in the next year.” T-Mobile, Clearwire and Sprint certainly hope so.

Of course rumbling beneath all of this talk about wireless is AT&T’s continued loss of traditional landline voice customers and associated revenues, which AT&T happily insists saw their “smallest year-over-year decline in five quarters.” AT&T saw their wireline voice total (and they include U-Verse Voice in that total) drop to 44.3 million from 46.3 million on the quarter. Those continued losses mean continued layoffs at the company this year.

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This is the second “One Year Later” review that I’ve done where I feel like a day, a week, or even a month just doesn’t do service to a review about an item(s) that should be used and critiqued over the year to find any and all problems, quirks and hopefully all of the good parts all enough time to come to the surface. Just a bit over a year ago, I purchased one of the Ooma Hub and Scout combo packages and decided I was going to test it. As with all over VoIP platforms, the Ooma Hub depends upon your internet connection. Your connection goes down, so goes your ability to use your phone.

That’s the nature of VoIP.

But just like Vonage, who I have been with for 7 years, or just like magicJack who I’ve kept for 2 years whenever I travel, and now Ooma – which I’ve kept now for slightly over a year. I tend to stick to commercial VoIP solutions because I like the support they give me. And in one year, I’ve had to contact Ooma only once for an outage last April that lasted for about 4 hours. Mind you, I don’t even make that many phone calls, but seeing that little red light just bothered me enough to send them an e-mail. They promptly responded and solved the problem in under a few hours for all users of Ooma. No problems since.

Unlike magicJack, there’s no implicit limit to how long a phone call can last. You can talk for 60, 90, 270 minutes and it will not disconnect you. The voice quality is on par, if not better than an AT&T landline. In fact, people have heard more of what was going on in my background than an AT&T landline. Sometimes, that’s not a good thing… but that’s another post

Ooma does require a hefty price for their equipment. Their newer Ooma Telo hardware just screams out über-sexy with that fingerprint magnet black plastic and smooth corners, while the older (see above) equipment would be just fine in a 1960 retro styled home alongside your childhood Han Solo blaster toy. Call me odd, but I love my older one just fine. Ooma Telo can be purchased from Amazon.com, Best Buy and other retailers starting around $199.99 to about $249.99. Good part though? There are zero monthly bills after that. But you have to hope that Ooma stays in business so you’ll still have the ability to call out and not just have a pricey piece of kit in your house.

So how does Ooma make money? Besides investments by people ranging from Ashton Kutcher, Ooma’s Creative Director, to venture capitalist that have put in as much as $18.3 million in investments just in Summer of 2009; Ooma makes money from Premier Subscribers and from pre-paid overseas phone calls. Mind you, their rates aren’t exactly the best, but I’d venture to say they’re pretty darn close. But the experience of calling overseas is hit or miss. Phone calls to Germany and Britain were flawless. Better than a cellphone in most cases. Phone calls to Japan, China and New Zealand… went badly. I had to call them again in order to be heard in most cases. And I have a 10mb digital cable connection that’s pretty solid most of the time.

Premier Subscriptions cost $9.99 a month, or $119.99 a year – up from $99.99 when I first purchased my Ooma Hub and Scout – and offers quite a few good perks: Instant Second Line™, Three-way Conferencing, Multi-Ring (the ability to ring more than one phone, like your cellphone for instance) and a rollover, Back-up Number when the internet isn’t being friendly.

For all intents and purposes, I didn’t renew my Premier subscription, despite being grand-fathered with a few other perks that are no longer part of the Premier subscriptions, I just didn’t find myself using it. I have call-waiting. I have caller ID. I can call all of the US without a problem. I have voicemail that I can check via the internet – Ooma’s web interface is actually quite decent and easy to use – or I can check directly on the machine itself. The speaker quality on the Ooma Hub is good and loud. I have e911 access that’s accurate to my house street address. And if you’re another Ooma subscriber, wherever you’re at, I can call you for free. Take the machine to China, once you’re plugged in, I can call you like it’s a free call.

To be honest, that’s all I need. I really don’t want nor need a landline, but having a second line in the house is cool to have in case somebody insists on sending a fax, which Ooma supports too.

But the bad parts about Ooma… I seriously can’t tell you how long they will be around. I’ve gotten a year, so I’ve gotten my money’s worth. They’ve secured more money, they have a presence in Best Buy and Radio Shack, as well as an online presence via Buy.com and Amazon. So I know they’re selling quite a few. Despite being extremely easy to set up, setting up the Ooma behind the router really isn’t suggested. I’ve had some quality problems and what I ended up doing was splitting from the modem to the Ooma Hub then to my wireless router. No problems sense.

Is this the telecom killer? Nope. Is it a good for everybody? No. Is it good if you can find an Ooma Telo or Ooma Hub for cheap? Heck yes. If you’re adventurous, I’d say get it – not knowing if Ooma will go all Sunrocket and instantly close shop on you is a serious fear to have. But for the last year, I’m actually impressed with my Ooma Hub. It saves me cellphone minutes per month. Heck, I have my Google Voice account hooked into my Ooma phone number… so I’ve gotten my money’s worth. But I’m hesitant to buy this for my mother, despite the Ooma Telo being sexy as all get out.

Final statement: Easy to set up, pretty kickass barebones without a Premier Subscription, but it’s just too risky to purchase if you’re not used to being on the edge. I’d call this a 3.5 out of 5 (Only If You’re Brave) – oh, and I don’t even use the Ooma Scout since I use only VoIP and not the landline functionality that Ooma supports.

[ Links: Ooma ] [ Related: magicJack "Year Later Review" ]

LG Electronics and Skype today announced ‘Skype on Your TV’, its broadband TV with embedded Skype capability, which allows Skype users to make voice and high-definition video calls directly from their family room without a PC. The Skype Your TV will be demonstrated this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

“Embedding the Skype software in our broadband HDTVs enriches the user experience, allowing consumers to connect with family and friends from the comfort of their family room without a PC,” said Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing, LG Electronics USA. Skype on LG HDTVs will give our customers another flexible option in allowing them to communicate using Skype, as well as access content directly through their HDTV.”

The Skype service on a TV will work much as it does on a PC. A TV program will stop playing once a Skype call is made or answered. The new LG TVs will also deliver familiar Skype features, including free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls to other Skype users, calls to landline or mobile phones at Skype’s low rates, and being invited to participate in voice conference calls with up to 24 other parties.

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