Hi, as a new member I must warn you that I am technologically challenged and know far less than I would like to, so hopefully will get to learn a few things through the forums - and although unlikely, may be able to share a few things learnt purely from experience.
Previously I had Dish Network which I thought was very average picture quality.
I joined U-Verse in August 08 in the Dallas area, subscribing to TV and Internet connection. Phone was not available so used the conventional AT&T phone. I joined mainly to get a fast Internet connection and hopefully better pic quality.
Picture quality is OK - average and HD quality is pretty good except for the picture size changing all the time during commercials and depending on the channel/program you are watching.
When recording programs on the DVR, I find that we nearly always get interference showing (frozen screens) during playback - and of course it's usually at a critical time in the movie - which can be disasterous! This happens too often to be a sometimes irritation.
Internet connection is 18MB - usually speedtested at 15MB and works very well when downloading files/programs.
In January I was contacted about the U-Verse phone now being available so I switched, to have the full U-Verse 'set', thinking this would be very effective.
The phone has been a disaster of epic proportions with very bad line noises and echoes that start after 2/3 minutes of a call and get progressively worse. The strange thing is that the other side (whether landline or cell) cannot hear anything and my on side, the noise recedes into the background if I talk (or blow into the phone) - and returns as soon as I stop talking.
I've had maybe 20 or more techs at various levels out here, who have switched the modem and battery backup several times and also rewired from the outside box to the modem etc., etc. Each time the only change is that the noise sounds different.
I have found that the service on the TV and Internet sides to be excellent and the phone service the opposite - erratic, unreliable and inconsistent...
I would like to change the phone and TV to cheaper alternatives that work better but I would lose the fast internet connection as they dont supply this as a stand-alone. There dont seem to be alternatives and few other fast connections appear to be for business and very much more expensive.
I have a question which someone might be able to help with...
My U-Verse DVR recorder is connected to the TV, and I also have a DVD player/VHS tape recorder/Player Combo connected to the same TV. I use this for playing Rental DVDs'.
Can I record TV programs onto a VHS tape and if so, how? With the existing setup I've tried but nothing seems to happen.
Hope some of this is of interest and I'm looking forward to hopefully learning more over time.
Cheers.