AT&T Hits Brakes on UVERSE

[rcdallas]

This is true. Although I guess its cheaper for them to run coax from the NID then wiring the house with Cat 5.

I had better quality (and less breakups with the picture) when I switched from COAX to Cat 5.

If I recall correctly, if there was no existing outlet, cat 5 must be ran. Pretty much credits what you said about switching from coax to cat 5. :

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

There were no existing outlets here. They wired everything new and used Coax. I was having a lot of issues with dropouts on one box so I ran a Cat 5 cable to it and the problem almost went away (still had minor dropouts from time to time)

 

[WyrTwister]

True, there's fiber going into the VRAD's, and you need the electronics for that. But there's all those line cards in DSLAM's for all those terminations that will be basically useless if/when they migrate to FTTP. Plus as Scott said, there will be an upgrade to the existing hardware to allow for pair bonding when they get around to it.

As for your labor shortage point, does it really matter since AT&T could have probably found contractors if they decided to go with FTTP back when they started this BS, and who knows, they still might be able to find them now. Mute point though since the suites in San Antonio are going to stand by their decision, how will it look to have to tell the stock holders, ah we blew a couple billion bucks on something that folks aren't buying, now we need to spend a bunch more to make it right.

As far as the current electronics in the VRAD , I do not know , but I will bet very fast obsolescence in electronics is just a fact of life they just have to live with ? What is your 5 year old computer worth ? Zero !

I know for a fact ( just to do VRADS ) that they were / are using every avalable trenching contractor in town and pulling in contractors in from 2 hours away .

If they tried to replace all the copper , all at once , in all there territories , that this would be no way they could find even a small percentage of the number of trenching contractors needed . Do you have any idea how many MILES of alleys you are talking about ? Multiplied by how many towns and cities ?

And this is just one trade / contractor . How about all the other trades involved ?

How about the material ? How many miles of fiber . The equipment that the cable terminates to . How about the manpower to do all that termination ?

AT&T certainly does not have that kind of manpower . They have been steadily reducing manpower for the last 20 years , not adding manpower .

I doubt if there is sufficient trained / qualified manpower in the outside world to contract out the termination to ?


Some of you say that 4 HD feeds per home will be neded in the future for a video service to succeed . I do not know . I own only one digital TV , a 32" SD TV w/ both analog & digital tuner .

What I am saying is no one is going to replace that much copper that fast .

So , if the consumer does / will demand that much HD , what does it leave ?

Cable ? Personally , I can not imagine going back to cable .

Satellite ? Maybe ? That is where I am now . No immediate plans to change .

I hope U-Verse succeeds . The more competition the better .

If it comes to the point where they can beat satellite in both price and performance , I would switch . And they are going to be MARKETING a package . Local dial tone , long distance , broadband and video . And maybe cellular .

But also consider . A lot of you seem to be crying about only one HD feed per house . Fine , you are the high end customers , evidently with disposable income you are willing to spend on high end electronics . A favorable demographics .

But there are millions like me that are too cheap to buy the HD TV's at todays prices . And then there are those that can not afford the HD TV's .

Henry Ford did not get rich selling Lincolns to the few . He got rich selling Fords to the masses .

I appreciate all of you pointing out the places that U-Verse falls short . As I said , I may be a potential customer , some time in the future . I see the education you all are providing as valuable education .

But step back and take a deep breath . Rome was not built in a day .

Now I will go back to my AT&T ADSL , DN sat TV & FTA sat TV ( I even have a C Band dish & receiver , but mostly Ku Band ) .

Or I may go watch an episode of NCIS I recorded on DVD , off OTA local TV . I can pick up the locals off of an outside antenna . I am too cheap to pay DN for locals off of the sat .


Wyr

 

[navychop]

Once you have a DVR, I'd say 2 HD feeds is the absolute minimum. Watch one, record one. Don't have to choose between the two. Personally, I'd want 3 or 4 as the minimum. Maybe with Fios. I'm happy with satellite. Very happy.

 

[korsjs]

i have been following this post and yesterday, thought i would give fios tv a test.

i have 5 hd boxes. two hd dvr and three regular hd. i turned on four different hd feeds from four different boxes. all came in looking good with no slow down to my internet. i could not get the fifth box going because my kid was playing a video game.

this weekend, i will try to get seven hd feeds going and test the internet. for the dvr, i will record something and tune to another channel on the other tuner and will have the regular hd boxes on differnt channels. will let you know how it goes.

 

[Brewer4]

Thats pretty impressive korsjs. And whats great about Fios, we are not talking about promising to eventually deliver more HD streams. He is experimenting TODAY with 4 upto 7. AT&T can barely deliver one. I definately want to see the results. I hope AT&T is watching (psssst shoulda used fiber).

 

[49Merc]

My Experience With AT&T U-Verse Sales

New Guy here, if this is not the best place for my post I would appreciate someone letting me know...................49Merc

------------------------------------------

Our current Directv setup is not extraordinary so I thought it would be a given for U-verse to match or exceed our satellite television needs. Nice wish. Well, when I asked the AT&T CS Rep how many HD stations we would get, his reply was I could find out on the web site. I pressed him about it and he said, "What do you want me to do? Do you want me to count them?........he then claimed that we would get 35-50 HD stations. Asked was he sure that's how many we would get in the Dallas market he changed his number to 28. Again asked if he was sure that I would get 28 in our Dallas market with the U300 package (which he knew I had applied for from moment one) the number went down to 12, which by the way included locals. Or should I say, was dominated by local HD stations. It was right at that moment that I knew things were going down hill fast. Before I get to that here is our current DTV setup:

HR20-700 HD DVR in the living room
H10 DTV Tivo in the bedroom
Total Choice Plus
OTA Locals w/HD

On the plus side U-verse U300 programing seemed very good, better in fact than our current DTV selection. U-verse HD DVR in the livingroom seemed ok. Then he dropeed the bomb on me when I asked for a DVR in the bedroom! The CS' pitiful explanation was that it will be offered in about two months! What a lie..............I now understand it may be sometime in 2008 .......with past experience with anything techincal ...could be even longer .....(re: DTV HD Receiver fixes, re: DTV HD-DVR fixes).

Even though the price w/internet was great, the lack of HD channels now and in the foreseeable future plus U-verse's inability to provide more than one DVR makes what could be a first class service not ready for prime time or any time for that matter.

That's my 2 cents worth. I welcome your comments and opinions.

49Merc

 

[tarheel23]

Good summary of AT&T's timeframe and issues with a slow rollout. I agree, with the others however, that say at the bare minimum, it should be 2 HD streams. Otherwise an HD DVR is almost completely useless.

Also, are you aware that (likely) your standard SD TV will no longer function, at least not as simply as it does now, sometime in 2009? Or at least without a $50 conversion box. This is the "supposed" timeframe when TV signals will no longer be transmitted as analog, and move completely to digital. This is a goverment mandated switch, which as far as I can tell, is being loosley enforced. But never the less.... it is coming.

I for one have 3 HDTV's and 4 SD. You could say that buying a SD TV today instead of buying a HD TV, is like AT&T laying copper when they should be laying Fiber. You would be buying a dead technology.

Am I saying to go out and replace all of your SD's with HD's today. NO. But more people than you think have multiple HD tv's in their house, and for anyone that uses and HD DVR.... 2 HD STREAMS IN MANDATORY.

 

[WyrTwister]

Good summary of AT&T's timeframe and issues with a slow rollout. I agree, with the others however, that say at the bare minimum, it should be 2 HD streams. Otherwise an HD DVR is almost completely useless.

Also, are you aware that (likely) your standard SD TV will no longer function, at least not as simply as it does now, sometime in 2009? Or at least without a $50 conversion box. This is the "supposed" timeframe when TV signals will no longer be transmitted as analog, and move completely to digital. This is a goverment mandated switch, which as far as I can tell, is being loosley enforced. But never the less.... it is coming.

I for one have 3 HDTV's and 4 SD. You could say that buying a SD TV today instead of buying a HD TV, is like AT&T laying copper when they should be laying Fiber. You would be buying a dead technology.

Am I saying to go out and replace all of your SD's with HD's today. NO. But more people than you think have multiple HD tv's in their house, and for anyone that uses and HD DVR.... 2 HD STREAMS IN MANDATORY.

How many of those TV's get watched at one time ?

Wyr

 

[49Merc]

Good summary ......your standard SD TV will no longer..... .

Thanks for your reply. I had forgotten all about this thread.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have a totalnow of 6 HDTV's and when we are home usually 3 of them are going at the same time.

 

[Brewer4]

I have 4 HDTV's, 3 HD DVRs', 1 HD receiver, 1 Vista Media Center. Total Directv HD tuners = 7. I also use OTA HD tuners at total of 8 with my Windows Media Center/Directv receivers. Not all watching at same time or recording but 15 feeds. I will record on average about 6 of those during prime time Fall schedule. So even 2 aint gonna cut it AT&T. I've even had scenarios where my 3 HD DVR's couldn't grab everything I had to use the Media Center to compensate especially during basketball season.

 

[tarheel23]

How many of those TV's get watched at one time ?

Wyr

Usually 2 feeds of HD, most of time, if I'm not recording anything. Hard to stomach watching SDTV on my PJ @ 120". Sundays, during football season is an overload. Trying to record multiple football games along with nascar can be difficult as is. Throw in the limitation of 1 HD feed and it becomes impossible.

 

[jamesnet]

You know you want Uverse, they can put one of those pretty boxes in your yard and it can also give you a great fireworks show:

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