So I switched to AT&T Uverse TV..........

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Hookem99

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Feb 18, 2008
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Pflugerville, Texas
.......and after 2 days plugged my D* boxes back in. I am not going to bad mouth Uverse. They are trying. I really wanted it to work, as the total price for TV and Internet is the same as what im paying for D*. I gave it a week on 2 TV's. But on my main HD(DVR) and an SD, I could never get it to work well, so after 2 days, I plugged my D* back in. Today, I completely disconnected all the ATT stuff. I am in fact very impressed with the internet part of Uverse, and the HD TV picture is very good, but the limitations* right now make it not for me. It appears that D* is still the best thing going!(as I should have realized since ive been a D* customer for 12 years!)Uverse may be a great option for some, but right now, it's just not for me.


* ATT Uverse Limitations for me:
only 2 HD signals at a time(only 1 in some areas)
only 4 toatal signals at a time
no OTA ability
HD channel selection lacking
only 1 DVR per house
Several know issues with the DVR, wich make it somewhat useless.(only 2/5 shows actually recorded)
 
Thanks for the objective write up.
Everything you posted is accurate and like I post many times when I talk about Uverse, It is not for everyone.
I can't comment on your experience with the DVR as I have had no problems and have had over 200 recordings without issues.
HD channel selection is good, but not up to Directv numbers. My biggest thing is at least the quality is steadily increasing and the Uverse HD looks very good, but is just this side of Directv quality from what I have seen. I have not watched SD on Directv, but I think most SD on Uverse is the best you will find anywhere that is non-OTA and non-FTA. Also, my personal favorite with Uverse is the fairly expansive VOD offerings.

The DVR does need work with lots of features that we got used to with Tivo and Dish DVR's, but it's getting better and if my wife can work it, that is the only determining factor, she can live without folders for each series, eventhough she wishes it was there. I wish it had auto delete of shows after X number were on the drive, but that feature is reported to be coming too, maybe with the WHDVR.
In time, the promise of the 4 simultaneous HD and 6 stream limit will become reality I hope. Also the Whole House DVR will be very welcome when (please be when, not if) it comes. Again it will still not be suitable to all homes.
 
I have U-Verse, I can get 2 HD signals at once.
I am still going to use DirecTV as my primary tv provider since I have all channels with them...I have U-Verse for the heck of it.
 
IMHO, UVerse needs to get rid of the entier limitation of how many channels you can get at one time. If that means that they need to bond 2, 3, 4 or more copper pairs to provide the bandwidth so be it.
 
IMHO, UVerse needs to get rid of the entier limitation of how many channels you can get at one time. If that means that they need to bond 2, 3, 4 or more copper pairs to provide the bandwidth so be it.

That would require SBC to actually spend money.
 
That would require SBC to actually spend money.

What's the old line, you have to spend money to make money. TWC here even runs TV ads knocking UVerse, a husband wants to watch something on his HD set and the wife is upstairs on hers and they fight over who gets to watch what they want.
 
Well U-Verse ain't that great, the PQ quality is clearly inferior to DirecTV & Charter.
The channels for U-Verse change very fast, and there is no wait time when you switch channels, that's one of the nice things I like about U-Verse, its fast, its all because there is no block on the receiver, the channels are sent directly from AT&T center to your home.
Unlike cable companies, the block is done by receiver, that's why it takes a while for the channels to switch. When I mean while I mean by 1-2 seconds.

I also don't like the U-Verse VoD, it ain't that great.
 
IMHO, UVerse needs to get rid of the entier limitation of how many channels you can get at one time. If that means that they need to bond 2, 3, 4 or more copper pairs to provide the bandwidth so be it.

That would require SBC to actually spend money.

Rad,
Thats not how it's done.

Grydlok,
They have and continue to spend plenty of money on u-verse.
 
Rad,
Thats not how it's done.

Jimbo, that's exactly how they're doing it, they are using pair bonding to provide more bandwidth on their VDSL connection, that's how they're going to allow for more then 1 HD stream at a time.
 
Jimbo, that's exactly how they're doing it, they are using pair bonding to provide more bandwidth on their VDSL connection, that's how they're going to allow for more then 1 HD stream at a time.

Well, I know for a fact that it is only taking one subscriber line into the VRAD and back out of it into the cross cut box to distribute to the neighborhood.
What it does inside the VRAD box. (thats where I would expect changes to be done to improve).
We are just now turning our U-Verse up, up here.

I will inquire about it more in the morning with the local guys.

Jimbo
 
Well, I know for a fact that it is only taking one subscriber line into the VRAD and back out of it into the cross cut box to distribute to the neighborhood.
What it does inside the VRAD box. (thats where I would expect changes to be done to improve).
We are just now turning our U-Verse up, up here.

I will inquire about it more in the morning with the local guys.

Jimbo

And with that are folks getting one or two concurrent HD streams? Everything I've seen is that pair bonding is how they're going to be able to do more.

AT&T CEO: Network Upgrades In Progress, Pair-Bonding for Faster DSL & the 3G iPhone - GigaOM
“Pair-bonding is coming next year,” he said, which will allow AT&T to send out more than one HD stream at a time. (Some have forecasted that within five years, we will have 3 HD and 2 SD streams coming into our homes.) Pair-bonding, which will use gear from Alcatel-Lucent (ALA), will allow AT&T to connect homes to the fiber nodes at over 40 megabits per second. This is not the first time AT&T has brought up pair-bonding as a solution. (Related: Our post on pair-bonding.)

Pair-bonding still on AT&T's plate for 2008 - FierceTelecom

AT&T is pledging to use pair-bonding on VDSL2 lines sometime in late 2008 to improve the overall bandwidth available via its fiber-to-the-node network. It's a nice thought, but the carrier originally said more than a year ago that it would begin implementing pair-bonding before the end of 2007. It later said use of pair-bonding would begin in 2008, but on yesterday's fourth-quarter earnings call, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said more specifically that late 2008 is the targeted time frame.

"Pair bonding"

From a 10,000 foot view, your understanding is correct, though it's not etherchannel but rather some new protocol related to VDSL2 that will do the bonding. You should already have at least 2 pairs coming into the house already...so 4 physical wires would be used in such a scenario. It will require a new VDSL termination device...likely the "iNid" that will put that functionality in a box that hangs on the outside of your house.
 
And with that are folks getting one or two concurrent HD streams? Everything I've seen is that pair bonding is how they're going to be able to do more.

AT&T CEO: Network Upgrades In Progress, Pair-Bonding for Faster DSL & the 3G iPhone - GigaOM
“Pair-bonding is coming next year,” he said, which will allow AT&T to send out more than one HD stream at a time. (Some have forecasted that within five years, we will have 3 HD and 2 SD streams coming into our homes.) Pair-bonding, which will use gear from Alcatel-Lucent (ALA), will allow AT&T to connect homes to the fiber nodes at over 40 megabits per second. This is not the first time AT&T has brought up pair-bonding as a solution. (Related: Our post on pair-bonding.)

Pair-bonding still on AT&T's plate for 2008 - FierceTelecom

AT&T is pledging to use pair-bonding on VDSL2 lines sometime in late 2008 to improve the overall bandwidth available via its fiber-to-the-node network. It's a nice thought, but the carrier originally said more than a year ago that it would begin implementing pair-bonding before the end of 2007. It later said use of pair-bonding would begin in 2008, but on yesterday's fourth-quarter earnings call, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said more specifically that late 2008 is the targeted time frame.

"Pair bonding"

From a 10,000 foot view, your understanding is correct, though it's not etherchannel but rather some new protocol related to VDSL2 that will do the bonding. You should already have at least 2 pairs coming into the house already...so 4 physical wires would be used in such a scenario. It will require a new VDSL termination device...likely the "iNid" that will put that functionality in a box that hangs on the outside of your house.

Rad,
Thanks for the info.
As usual AT&T is a year or two behind everyone else.
From reading the info you supplied, it looks like an upgraded piece of equipment at the VRAD ( as I mentioned earlier).

Jimbo
 
Well U-Verse ain't that great, the PQ quality is clearly inferior to DirecTV & Charter.
The channels for U-Verse change very fast, and there is no wait time when you switch channels, that's one of the nice things I like about U-Verse, its fast, its all because there is no block on the receiver, the channels are sent directly from AT&T center to your home.
Unlike cable companies, the block is done by receiver, that's why it takes a while for the channels to switch. When I mean while I mean by 1-2 seconds.

I also don't like the U-Verse VoD, it ain't that great.

While I can't compare to Directv, I am surprised you claim uverse is worse than Charter. Again, I may have one of the worst charter systems out there cause even charter here looked worse than the dish SD which were sorely over compressed.

yes, channel changes are quick.

You commented on the VOD not being worthwhile also, but that is opinion. My family loves all the kids shows and with the nice amount of free movies (couple hundred I think) and TV series (Doctor Who from early 80's!) it's a nice complement to our Netflix box.

Like Rad stated, pair bonding is gonna be important. That is probably why when they did my install, they made a comment "Oh, you have a new drop, it's got 12 pair in it, you're all set for upgrades". But it's gonna take and money not to just replace the NID unless they only need to bond to the NID as from the NID to the RG, they only terminated 1 pair of the cat5 I ran, so they'll still need to come in the premise and finish up there.
 
The amount of money SBC is speeding on VRADS is insignificant compared to Verizon FIOS or Comcast DC3.

I didn't know the companies were competing to spend the most money, particularly seeing they are all using different technologies.

You cannot compare the money spent when you have no idea what each product cost to support.

Jimbo
 
While I can't compare to Directv, I am surprised you claim uverse is worse than Charter. Again, I may have one of the worst charter systems out there cause even charter here looked worse than the dish SD which were sorely over compressed.

yes, channel changes are quick.

You commented on the VOD not being worthwhile also, but that is opinion. My family loves all the kids shows and with the nice amount of free movies (couple hundred I think) and TV series (Doctor Who from early 80's!) it's a nice complement to our Netflix box.

Like Rad stated, pair bonding is gonna be important. That is probably why when they did my install, they made a comment "Oh, you have a new drop, it's got 12 pair in it, you're all set for upgrades". But it's gonna take and money not to just replace the NID unless they only need to bond to the NID as from the NID to the RG, they only terminated 1 pair of the cat5 I ran, so they'll still need to come in the premise and finish up there.

I was talking about in terms of HD.
SD quality is good. Its better than Charter, but HD is inferior to anyone I guess.
 
Well the OP had 2 HD streams at least, we only have one stream. I ordered ATT Uverse with the intention to disconnect the TV part as soon as the installer left, I never even used the TV box. The only way to get the Uverse Internet to replace the bad ATT DSL line was to order the tripple play, at least the TV was free for the first month. I had to call twice to cancel the TV part and still am waiting for the return box so I can ship back that little STB. At least the second time I was told they had really deactivated the TV signal.

If they can use "pair bounding" to improve BW, I hope they first try to increase the Internet speed, right now it is up to 10 mbps/1.5 mbps, how about at least doubling the speeds? One HD feed, two HD feeds, neither will work for me, sorry.

The Internet service has been rock solid so far. In fact the installer networked all four of my DirecTV HDDVRs for me, as part of the installation, treating them the same as my 2 PCs and 3 laptops.
 
Well the OP had 2 HD streams at least, we only have one stream. I ordered ATT Uverse with the intention to disconnect the TV part as soon as the installer left, I never even used the TV box. The only way to get the Uverse Internet to replace the bad ATT DSL line was to order the tripple play, at least the TV was free for the first month. I had to call twice to cancel the TV part and still am waiting for the return box so I can ship back that little STB. At least the second time I was told they had really deactivated the TV signal.

If they can use "pair bounding" to improve BW, I hope they first try to increase the Internet speed, right now it is up to 10 mbps/1.5 mbps, how about at least doubling the speeds? One HD feed, two HD feeds, neither will work for me, sorry.

The Internet service has been rock solid so far. In fact the installer networked all four of my DirecTV HDDVRs for me, as part of the installation, treating them the same as my 2 PCs and 3 laptops.

Your complaining about 10 mbps, I'm in Verizon terr. and the top you can get in my area is 3.

btw, how fast do you need the pages loading anyways ?

Jimbo
 
Your complaining about 10 mbps, I'm in Verizon terr. and the top you can get in my area is 3.

btw, how fast do you need the pages loading anyways ?

Jimbo


Not for page download, but HD VOD download from DirecTV. With 10mbps one has to wait at least 25% into the show download before starting to watch it.
 
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