Thread: Review: AT&T U-VERSE

This has not just been released. Its been up and running for over a year in Texas. Its just being released however in other areas, and its still being released as an unfinished product. (Its still not ready for prime time)

Last night I was watching a show on my DVR which I recorded earlier, when the show ended there was a baner on the top of the screen which said "Television Service is Temporarly Unavailable, please try again later"

What kind of crap is that?

To make matters worse I couldn't even watch any of the shows on my DVR as the DVR could not phone home and grab a license for the show I wanted to watch.

I am seeing at the Uverse users site the staff there getting aggrivated by people coming and posting about the products flaws and they keep on saying that the service is going to get better. And while I do agree that things will get better the question is WHEN. We are all paying for the service which still does not run like its supposed to. If I want to watch TV at night I should NEVER see a message tell me to "Try again later" period.

If the product is not ready (and its not) then they should hold off releasing the product to new areas until it is ready. As if more and more people get vocal about Uverses problem its only to be bad for UVERSE.



Uverse has a lot of potential but as it sits now, if its available in your area you might want to wait awhile before getting the service.

It launched in the D/FW area in February. So far it's still not available in many parts of the metroplex that are AT&T areas.

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

If the product is not ready (and its not) then they should hold off releasing the product to new areas until it is ready.

But they've got to keep rolling it out and putting a positive spin on it else Wall Street would be ripping them a new a**hole. It's a shame that Whitacre will be retiring soon with a big pension and some new CEO's going to have to clean up after his mess.

They are going to have a big mess to clean up.

I honestly believe that UVERSE can improve, the question is how long will it take before many of these bugs are fixed? How long are customers going to pay for it before they have had enough?

What would you do if you sat down to watch TV and get a message on the screen to try again later?

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

They are going to have a big mess to clean up.

I honestly believe that UVERSE can improve, the question is how long will it take before many of these bugs are fixed? How long are customers going to pay for it before they have had enough?

What would you do if you sat down to watch TV and get a message on the screen to try again later?

i think you are right with them giving themself a bad name. i would say the majority of the fios users are very satsified. if verizon can get it right, why can't att? does it come back to ftt P vs ftt N?

Sorry folks, U-Verse will not be "ready" until 100% of AT&T's footprint is able to get (not necessarily everyone will have, but could if AT&T decided to turn on). The deal is, this service is dead already. Fixing, repairing, etc. AT&T won't do, because they know they'll be spending lots and lots of $ for something only a few can get. AT&T still has areas that don't have DSL, let alone equipment for U-Verse. Having service in a few niche locations, makes this service a complete waste of money--for AT&T and end-users alike.

More or less, look at this way, AT&T wasn't done with previous DSL service; kind of like building a house but stopping about 80% of the way, to jump over a few feet and start building another house. All that money that was put into original house, now sits wasting away. And now, new house is where money is being spent. Instead of finishing something before starting something else, AT&T has more or less taken on a new project, without first completing old project. Which makes it more unlikely, that A) anyone will be upgraded with old project because this would be a waste, and B) people lucky enough--dare I say unlucky enough--to be within AT&T's scope for new project, will likely not see much movement with service because AT&T won't want to dump that much money into current project, in fear that it won't work. Many of the few customers AT&T has right now, will likely switch back to previous service provider, further making AT&T not want to improve service, and eventually causing AT&T to drop U-Verse all together.

Fios, why has this worked so far? I think because, in comparison to AT&T, Verizon has put a lot more money into this project. I wouldn't think it is so much because of difference in Fiber delivery (FTTH or FTTC compared to FTTN), though I know Verizon's model gives consumers more bandwidth, which might make service a little bit smoother, but really many of these problems you all are talking about are more about SW issues, etc. than bandwidth constraints (like being told, no TV check back later, that sounds more like service was down, not because you didn't have enough bandwidth) However, Fios too stands to eventually fail, because of the delivery Verizon has chosen. They too only provide to a very, very small portion of the available customer base. This like with AT&T, will be Verizon's Fios downfall. And when this happens, Verizon will be in worse financial shape, having spent so much money, in such a small area.

All telco's need to start thinking about replacing copper with fiber everywhere. No more RT's to serve area with copper, just a direct pipe to CO, and of course all CO's connected via fiber (like I believe they already are). Now what kind of fiber network, I'd say whatever is cheapest for area. If well populated area makes running fiber from CO to home/business impossible, then use what would serve area the best (one or even a few fiber run(s) to neighborhood, then from that one feed, every house/business would have fiber ran to that central point. This would have a high initial cost, but would give telco's future profits and ease of upgrading network. Everyone that has a telephone would have fiber, and therefore everyone that has a telephone would have broadband internet. Copper is after all, what telephone service has always been on. It is a time for a change. Until this happens, U-Verse, Fios, etc. will never make it--and certainly will never be class A product.

Here's an example of AT&T in my area. I live in Connecticut and it was originally SNET which was bought by SBC which then turned into AT&T. I had DSL when it was SNET and SBC. I canceled it about a year and half or so ago since I had cable modem from Comcast for more bandwidth (I work from home). Well I am about to take a job that requires me to go back into an office and was looking to save some money with the combo deals AT&T keeps advertising to my mailbox.

Here's where AT&T is a joke. I call to get the deal and each time they say DSL is not available to me. I've called 4 times and each time I get a different reason why. One is I am 17,000 feet from the switching station (which is not true I am 13,000 since I've had it before). The other reason is everyone in my neighborhood has used all the available lines. Each time I ask them to research it and get back to me and nobody does.

I just wanted to share this story which represents AT&T's inability to win my business and failure to even offer basic DSL. So forget U-Verse. Heck given what I've had to deal with and seeing the reviews on U-Verse, they dont stand a chance. I wish my Comcast and D* that I pay was cheaper but I at least really like the services and support.

Brewer4, if you want to try to find out the real reason why you're being told you can't get DSL, or still want to try to get it, I'd recommend going to
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sbcdirect

, it's manned by AT&T/SBC DSL techs that can usually get to the root of an issue/problem.

Originally Posted by tonyp56

However, Fios too stands to eventually fail, because of the delivery Verizon has chosen. They too only provide to a very, very small portion of the available customer base. This like with AT&T, will be Verizon's Fios downfall. And when this happens, Verizon will be in worse financial shape, having spent so much money, in such a small area.

FIOS is being built from scratch! What, do you want them to blink their eyes and have millions of miles of plant hung from a pole overnight?? Lol...what a un-founded statement.