AT&T has found themselves consistently under fire for the bulky VRAD cabinets they need to install on city streets for their U-Verse VDSL and IPTV service. A number of communities have complained that the large VRAD cabinets reduce their property value (Comcast even used the complaints in an anti-U-Verse ad campaign). Fortunately for AT&T, a 2006 California franchise "reform" law, passed under the promise of lower TV rates, stripped away town and city eminent domain rights. The latest fight is in Escondido, California, where locals are engaged in a postcard campaign aimed at stopping AT&T's deployment of the VRADs:The article claims that AT&T only installs the smaller boxes when pressed by cities worried about aesthetics. The newer, smaller cabinets (see DSLReports user photo) are 48 inches tall instead of 69 inches tall. AT&T is also apparently willing to "beautify" the cabinets in many markets where customers have been complaining. In Connecticut, AT&T Is mounting the VRADs low on utility poles too lessen the visual impact. AT&T is also trying their hand at landscaping.

In Illinois, one city official tells me that AT&T is actually now offering three options to municipalities complaining about the cabinets: the first has AT&T doing the landscaping; the second involves AT&T paying $2000 per site if it's mutually agreed that landscaping is necessary (the City does the work); the third has AT&T paying $1500 per site regardless if landscaping is necessary. Most Illinois cities are apparently picking the third option, says the source.