Only limited areas of Austin. Check out statesman.com | The Ticker to see where folks are saying they can and can't get U-Verse.
Review: AT&T U-VERSE
- Thread starter Scott Greczkowski
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Only limited areas of Austin. Check out statesman.com | The Ticker to see where folks are saying they can and can't get U-Verse.
Just got uverse
I just had UVerse installed today and it was fairly simple and easy. The only problem is that the internet connection is slower than what i had before. I did not know this would happen. The connection now shows at 18 mbps for my laptop wirelessly and my desktop shows at 56 mbps. My old dsl (cheapest one) with dslextreme was at 100 mbps. I was told by the salespeople (who by the way showed up every few weeks for months so I finally gave in) that the dsl would be significantly faster than what was out there. I guess shame on me for not researching it. Overall that is the only thing that had me question it. I was hoping for faster service. Is this something that ATT will be changing. I read in earlier posts that the original speeds were even slower, so will they ever be as fast as other providers?
The TV seems to be about the same as before so I am fine with that. Overall it seems to be a good service.
I just had UVerse installed today and it was fairly simple and easy. The only problem is that the internet connection is slower than what i had before. I did not know this would happen. The connection now shows at 18 mbps for my laptop wirelessly and my desktop shows at 56 mbps. My old dsl (cheapest one) with dslextreme was at 100 mbps. I was told by the salespeople (who by the way showed up every few weeks for months so I finally gave in) that the dsl would be significantly faster than what was out there. I guess shame on me for not researching it. Overall that is the only thing that had me question it. I was hoping for faster service. Is this something that ATT will be changing. I read in earlier posts that the original speeds were even slower, so will they ever be as fast as other providers?
The TV seems to be about the same as before so I am fine with that. Overall it seems to be a good service.
IIRC, the internet connection will be faster, top speed is 6Mbps and since they don't use PPPoE on U-Verse actual throughput will be faster then normal DSL service.
No cost trial
After rejecting numerous phone solicitations and mail promotions, last night a nice young man from at&t showed up at the door, wanting to inform us of a no cost, no obligation trial of U-verse. We listened to his pitch, and after determining that no money would change hands, agreed to a thirty-day trial. We will get one dvr and two non-dvr receivers, plus the at&T "Pro" level Internet service (3.0 mbps). We had three choices of the offer: 1) thirty days of free u-Verse service, with free installation, the cost of the Internet service is a wash with the at&t dsl service I currently have, at 1.5 mbps; 2) $100 rebate, assuming one signs up for the service; or, 3) one year HD service fee waived, a $120 value. If one signs up for mid-week installation with any of the three options, one gets two $50 pre-paid gift cards.
We opted for the one month free service, since it would be a wash with the level we chose, U-400, versus the $100 rebate. That way, if we do not like it, they take it away and we have no ongoing bill. I currently have DISH HD service, America's Everything Pack, with HBO, Showtime, et al; and two 622's. There are some public access channels my wife really likes, which I did not see on the U-verse list, so that might be the deal-breaker. Other one is I just got external hard drives for both 622's, and have been archiving to my heart's delight. But, with the HDMI port available on our big 57" Sony, thanks to the 622's HDMI output port failure, and DISH's refusal to replace the box, I figure I can compare the picture on the same HD program for U-verse on HDMI and DISH on component cable.
"Film at eleven."
After rejecting numerous phone solicitations and mail promotions, last night a nice young man from at&t showed up at the door, wanting to inform us of a no cost, no obligation trial of U-verse. We listened to his pitch, and after determining that no money would change hands, agreed to a thirty-day trial. We will get one dvr and two non-dvr receivers, plus the at&T "Pro" level Internet service (3.0 mbps). We had three choices of the offer: 1) thirty days of free u-Verse service, with free installation, the cost of the Internet service is a wash with the at&t dsl service I currently have, at 1.5 mbps; 2) $100 rebate, assuming one signs up for the service; or, 3) one year HD service fee waived, a $120 value. If one signs up for mid-week installation with any of the three options, one gets two $50 pre-paid gift cards.
We opted for the one month free service, since it would be a wash with the level we chose, U-400, versus the $100 rebate. That way, if we do not like it, they take it away and we have no ongoing bill. I currently have DISH HD service, America's Everything Pack, with HBO, Showtime, et al; and two 622's. There are some public access channels my wife really likes, which I did not see on the U-verse list, so that might be the deal-breaker. Other one is I just got external hard drives for both 622's, and have been archiving to my heart's delight. But, with the HDMI port available on our big 57" Sony, thanks to the 622's HDMI output port failure, and DISH's refusal to replace the box, I figure I can compare the picture on the same HD program for U-verse on HDMI and DISH on component cable.
"Film at eleven."
I got Uverse installed one week ago and am satisfied with it. I miss the Eastern feed I had on Dish Network, loved seeing FX programs at 7PM instead of having to wait until 10. The DVR doesn’t fast forward as fast as Dish DVR but I can record 3 programs at the same time. 4 if I watch one while recording. The TV also freezes for varying times of a second or so to as long as 10-15 seconds, very aggravating during football.
I previously had a very slow DSL connection of 384kbs which was just a hair faster than dial up. Usually around 250-325 and had to recycle the modem on a regular basis. I got the U200 with a sports package and 1.5mbs download. I will probably opt for the 6.0mbs after the billing stabilizes. I would like to have the option of going with the U400 package and bypass the U300 movie channels for the price of the U300 package.
I previously had a very slow DSL connection of 384kbs which was just a hair faster than dial up. Usually around 250-325 and had to recycle the modem on a regular basis. I got the U200 with a sports package and 1.5mbs download. I will probably opt for the 6.0mbs after the billing stabilizes. I would like to have the option of going with the U400 package and bypass the U300 movie channels for the price of the U300 package.
I learned today they're getting ready to roll out U-Verse in my area. I'm very, very interested -- but am concerned about the "freezing" issues that were mentioned in the initial review and in this last post. Have they gotten any better?
I have been toying with the idea of going to U-Verse from D* for th elast month or so. I have been having way too many billing/service issues lately w/ DirecTV and paying them $200 to lease an HD-DVR seems a bit ludicrous at this point.
But I am getting off topic. I was an inch away from pulling the trigger when I had to call in to a CSR (I was ordering online to get an extra $100) to find out if it was possible to get more than one DVR (I hadn't yet read this thread). He said it was not possible because of the number of streams comign into teh home.
Wait a minute?!? I have three tv's. I can have up to 6 setup thru Uverse, so if I had six boxes (One DVR) here'd be eight streams. 3 boxes w/ two DVRS would give me 7. That's less streams...
He kind fo just shrugged it off and told me in the future I'd be able to access all of my DVR content from any box in the home. No ETA on that though.
So, I was dejected and got off the line and exited the ordering screen.
I came here to read up on the service (should have done so to begin with), and now I am at a loss. Back to the drawing board.
U-Verse sounded so good. One DVR is a dealbreaker though.
But I am getting off topic. I was an inch away from pulling the trigger when I had to call in to a CSR (I was ordering online to get an extra $100) to find out if it was possible to get more than one DVR (I hadn't yet read this thread). He said it was not possible because of the number of streams comign into teh home.
Wait a minute?!? I have three tv's. I can have up to 6 setup thru Uverse, so if I had six boxes (One DVR) here'd be eight streams. 3 boxes w/ two DVRS would give me 7. That's less streams...
He kind fo just shrugged it off and told me in the future I'd be able to access all of my DVR content from any box in the home. No ETA on that though.
So, I was dejected and got off the line and exited the ordering screen.
I came here to read up on the service (should have done so to begin with), and now I am at a loss. Back to the drawing board.
U-Verse sounded so good. One DVR is a dealbreaker though.
Yeah never good to have all of your eggs in one basket thing is that if you have internet issues it could effect your TV Service as well. Or the other way around your TV service effect your internet service. In most cases its always better to get them from different sources that way if one goes down it does not effect the other.
Well that was no fun
Per my post of 12/05/07 (#185), we had signed up for U-verse under their one free month promotion. Last Wednesday, three at&t techs showed up, on time, at 10:00 A.M. to start the install. Actually, at&t was having a "block party," on our street, I counted no fewer than eight trucks, so I guess they decided to get this area done all together. It did have the advantage of providing a line drop technician, which meant I avoided the problem Scott referenced in his initial review, whereby he had to wait until the specialist could come out and do the line drop from the main line; we had a "rover" in the neighborhood who was going where needed to make the new line drops.
"My" crew worked from 10:00 A.M. until 6:00 P.M. setting up the system. We learned from the lead guy that they had been warned by the dispatcher that our tract would be a problem, as it was built in 1960, and most, if not all, of the houses had the old telephone lines inside. Mine was no exception, which led to the ultimate conclusion of the whole experience, the dvr function could not get a good enough signal to work. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Early in the afternoon, the "gateway" had been set up, this being the brain of the whole system which drives the Internet and the television systems. Our two laptops, formerly served by an Apple Airport wireless unit, made a seamless changeover to the new wireless unit, did not lose any settings, and we had a pass code to set up the network access which was ten digits long, hopefully giving a bit more security. Our former dsl speed of 1.5 mbps was doubled, per the level of service we chose, and an online speed check confirmed it was right on the nose.
By 6:00 P.M., I had one guy still cranking away. He had a bit of a struggle figuring out how the subsequent telephone lines had been installed in the house. When the house was built, according to old-timers in the neighborhood, there was only one telephone line (this was before the plug-in jacks, too), and the "network interface device" (NID) was a small box in a galvanized metal container nailed to the garage wall, behind the workbench, etc. The crew installed a new NID, like the one in Scott's photo, on the outside of the house where the new line drop came to the house, and a new line routed into the garage, tying in to the old NID, which is where some later lines were added for more phone service in the house.
The tech got the two non-dvr receivers online, then started the program download for the dvr/receiver unit. He told me there were two download programs, so, "don't expect to see anything for about four hours." So, for several hours, while watching DISH via my other input, I would occasionally check on the U-verse download, and saw the "gear" symbol in the middle of the screen, with the progress bar inching, by microns, across the bottom. By the time we retired for the evening, the bar was still creeping along. As for the two other receivers, one looked great on my Olevia 32", which he had hooked up with an HDMI cable from the receiver to the Olevia. Even with the 720p screen, it was no different than the DISH signal I have going to it with component cables, thanks to the early 622's failure of its HDMI port. The other receiver was running a 15" Polaroid in the guest BR. The Polaroid produces a great picture, so I had high expectations. The picture, however, was not as crisp as I expected, and every fifteen to twenty seconds, it would freeze for about three seconds.
Next morning, eagerly started up the television to see what I had on the dvr/receiver unit: got a big red 'X' on the screen. Called at&t tech support, was told to restart the unit, which I did, and, of course, had to wait for several hours for resolution, that being....... another big, red 'X.' Subsequent call to tech service earned me a service call Saturday.
A note here about the at&t field techs, I will say all the ones we dealt with were very courteous and diligent in their efforts, quite willing to discuss any questions I had for them. However, the primary tech on my install confessed that mine was among the first he had done. The fellow I had to the house on Saturday was more like a "super tech," I had a hunch he really knew his stuff once he started rolling, but a field supervisor came by later with a freshly charged meter for him, and told me separately that he was one of their very best guys, which is significant in that even he could not get the dvr unit to operate on my system. He did confirm the unit itself was fine, but after tracing several of the telephone lines, he informed me that the problem in my telephone cables are all the "flat" type, which simply do not have the ability to carry the quality of signal the dvr needs to operate. Seems to be quite capable of running the Internet function. Other problem was that prior owners had added phone lines into other rooms by adding lines from downstream jacks, instead of going back to the NID, a.k.a. "daisy-chaining" the system, which, according to my super tech, just compounds a bad situation. The one exception of the unit which worked well was probably due to the fact that the room in which it was located was right next to the "old" NID, and the phone line for that room was tied into the NID, not "daisy-chained," conversely, the Polaroid unit was on a line that probably at the end of three intervening splices. He final conclusion was that, unless I wanted to rewire the system, at least for the rooms with television service, with Cat 5 cable, I would not have satisfactory service. He said they could do it, but it would be surface mounted. Since I had run all my cabling for the DISH service inside the walls, at great effort, no way I was going to have a bunch of wiring snaking along the walls and through the doors, this being compounded by a two story house. We discussed the options with him, and decided we would opt out of the television function, and keep the Internet function, which is a pleasant upgrade surprise.
I still need to call at&t to inform them of the choice, I understand they will send me boxes to return the receiver units, after, of course, a sales pitch to try to find a way to make it work. I will say there is a gap between the knowledge of the sales force and the install force as to what will work, my salesman never mentioned the possibility of failure (of course not!) even though we were quite specific in telling him we had concerns about the age of the house and the state of the telephone infrastructure.
From what I saw on the "good" receiver, the U-verse looked great. I liked the instant channel changing, i.e. no lag like on DISH, and, in reading the guidebooks that come with the system, it looks like it has a lot of possibilities. It just has the limitation on homes that simply don't have the telephone line capability to handle this technology. Since the trial was on the one-month free option, we had kept our DISH service, glad we did.
So it goes
Per my post of 12/05/07 (#185), we had signed up for U-verse under their one free month promotion. Last Wednesday, three at&t techs showed up, on time, at 10:00 A.M. to start the install. Actually, at&t was having a "block party," on our street, I counted no fewer than eight trucks, so I guess they decided to get this area done all together. It did have the advantage of providing a line drop technician, which meant I avoided the problem Scott referenced in his initial review, whereby he had to wait until the specialist could come out and do the line drop from the main line; we had a "rover" in the neighborhood who was going where needed to make the new line drops.
"My" crew worked from 10:00 A.M. until 6:00 P.M. setting up the system. We learned from the lead guy that they had been warned by the dispatcher that our tract would be a problem, as it was built in 1960, and most, if not all, of the houses had the old telephone lines inside. Mine was no exception, which led to the ultimate conclusion of the whole experience, the dvr function could not get a good enough signal to work. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Early in the afternoon, the "gateway" had been set up, this being the brain of the whole system which drives the Internet and the television systems. Our two laptops, formerly served by an Apple Airport wireless unit, made a seamless changeover to the new wireless unit, did not lose any settings, and we had a pass code to set up the network access which was ten digits long, hopefully giving a bit more security. Our former dsl speed of 1.5 mbps was doubled, per the level of service we chose, and an online speed check confirmed it was right on the nose.
By 6:00 P.M., I had one guy still cranking away. He had a bit of a struggle figuring out how the subsequent telephone lines had been installed in the house. When the house was built, according to old-timers in the neighborhood, there was only one telephone line (this was before the plug-in jacks, too), and the "network interface device" (NID) was a small box in a galvanized metal container nailed to the garage wall, behind the workbench, etc. The crew installed a new NID, like the one in Scott's photo, on the outside of the house where the new line drop came to the house, and a new line routed into the garage, tying in to the old NID, which is where some later lines were added for more phone service in the house.
The tech got the two non-dvr receivers online, then started the program download for the dvr/receiver unit. He told me there were two download programs, so, "don't expect to see anything for about four hours." So, for several hours, while watching DISH via my other input, I would occasionally check on the U-verse download, and saw the "gear" symbol in the middle of the screen, with the progress bar inching, by microns, across the bottom. By the time we retired for the evening, the bar was still creeping along. As for the two other receivers, one looked great on my Olevia 32", which he had hooked up with an HDMI cable from the receiver to the Olevia. Even with the 720p screen, it was no different than the DISH signal I have going to it with component cables, thanks to the early 622's failure of its HDMI port. The other receiver was running a 15" Polaroid in the guest BR. The Polaroid produces a great picture, so I had high expectations. The picture, however, was not as crisp as I expected, and every fifteen to twenty seconds, it would freeze for about three seconds.
Next morning, eagerly started up the television to see what I had on the dvr/receiver unit: got a big red 'X' on the screen. Called at&t tech support, was told to restart the unit, which I did, and, of course, had to wait for several hours for resolution, that being....... another big, red 'X.' Subsequent call to tech service earned me a service call Saturday.
A note here about the at&t field techs, I will say all the ones we dealt with were very courteous and diligent in their efforts, quite willing to discuss any questions I had for them. However, the primary tech on my install confessed that mine was among the first he had done. The fellow I had to the house on Saturday was more like a "super tech," I had a hunch he really knew his stuff once he started rolling, but a field supervisor came by later with a freshly charged meter for him, and told me separately that he was one of their very best guys, which is significant in that even he could not get the dvr unit to operate on my system. He did confirm the unit itself was fine, but after tracing several of the telephone lines, he informed me that the problem in my telephone cables are all the "flat" type, which simply do not have the ability to carry the quality of signal the dvr needs to operate. Seems to be quite capable of running the Internet function. Other problem was that prior owners had added phone lines into other rooms by adding lines from downstream jacks, instead of going back to the NID, a.k.a. "daisy-chaining" the system, which, according to my super tech, just compounds a bad situation. The one exception of the unit which worked well was probably due to the fact that the room in which it was located was right next to the "old" NID, and the phone line for that room was tied into the NID, not "daisy-chained," conversely, the Polaroid unit was on a line that probably at the end of three intervening splices. He final conclusion was that, unless I wanted to rewire the system, at least for the rooms with television service, with Cat 5 cable, I would not have satisfactory service. He said they could do it, but it would be surface mounted. Since I had run all my cabling for the DISH service inside the walls, at great effort, no way I was going to have a bunch of wiring snaking along the walls and through the doors, this being compounded by a two story house. We discussed the options with him, and decided we would opt out of the television function, and keep the Internet function, which is a pleasant upgrade surprise.
I still need to call at&t to inform them of the choice, I understand they will send me boxes to return the receiver units, after, of course, a sales pitch to try to find a way to make it work. I will say there is a gap between the knowledge of the sales force and the install force as to what will work, my salesman never mentioned the possibility of failure (of course not!) even though we were quite specific in telling him we had concerns about the age of the house and the state of the telephone infrastructure.
From what I saw on the "good" receiver, the U-verse looked great. I liked the instant channel changing, i.e. no lag like on DISH, and, in reading the guidebooks that come with the system, it looks like it has a lot of possibilities. It just has the limitation on homes that simply don't have the telephone line capability to handle this technology. Since the trial was on the one-month free option, we had kept our DISH service, glad we did.
So it goes
I wanted to do U-Verse, but to this date 5 months after the VRAD was installed in our neighborhood, while the people next door can get it, we still can't, and I did call about that, but they never called me back.
Why should I fight to pay money to someone? Eh screw it.
Why should I fight to pay money to someone? Eh screw it.
Probably you just need to be moved to a different pair closer to your home. If you want I can open an escalation and have it fixed for you PM me if you want. Thanks
I have had the AT&T U-verse service since it became available in Los Angeles. Other than the initial problems with instillation, I have been quite happy. For the most part, it has been problem free. I love all the HD channels which have been added. I check out Time Warner every once and a while, and they have not added any HD channels in my area. Also, I like the added benefit that I can get Wi-Fi for my laptop free at any basic AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot which includes Coffee Bean and Mcdonalds.
Works Fine for Me
I had U-Verse installed a couple of weeks ago. Installation was smooth and painless. My internet speeds blow away my service with WOW. I hooked up my Lingo VOIP in minutes. The HD pictures are very good but not as good as OTA. No blackouts on NFL Network.
I"m happy.
I had U-Verse installed a couple of weeks ago. Installation was smooth and painless. My internet speeds blow away my service with WOW. I hooked up my Lingo VOIP in minutes. The HD pictures are very good but not as good as OTA. No blackouts on NFL Network.
I"m happy.
I'm in St. Louis, and am currently being bombarded with postcards and e-mails from AT&T asking me to check out the U-Verse service. I'm currently with AT&T/Dish, and am really thinking about making the change. I'm not unhappy with Dish -- but the offers and additional features make it very tempting.
I have read a lot here and elsewhere about the slow response of the remote in the guide. This is particularly troubling, as are the reports of ongoing software glitches (spontaneous reboots, etc.).
My Dish 522 has been rock-solid for almost three years now, so I'm one of the lucky ones. But I've read about tons of people on this forum about lots of problems... but are the U-Verse issues more widespread than anything on Dish's DVRs, especially as it pertains to basic functionality (pausing TV, recording multiple streams, etc.)
Thanks.
I was also concerned but have been pleasantly surprised. I had Dish Network during the early years and was never all that satisfied with the picture quality. I have 4 sets hooked up (first 3 boxes are free, the fourth I pay 5 bucks a month). I had considered Dish but it could not compete cost wise.
Good luck!
If its available sign up for it and try it out (but keep your other service) if you dont like it you can cencel it and owe nothing.
Let us know how it goes!
Let us know how it goes!
I had mine installed today with 5 receivers which is causing a few problems since I didn't know that it wouldn't support more than 4 steams at one time. The technichian told me that I had 67 mb at the box on my house but the system only uses 25 mb to run(Ithink it was mb - but the system needs 25 and I have 67).
Does anyone know if there would be a way tohook up my own DVR to get a second tv to record or even an old computer with a tv card or something?
Thanks,
Does anyone know if there would be a way tohook up my own DVR to get a second tv to record or even an old computer with a tv card or something?
Thanks,
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