Review: AT&T U-VERSE

I too still am keeping Dish, but the service with Dish is the welcome package.

What is really bothering me about UVERSE though is their billing system. I NEVER signed up for paperless, and I am continually trying to get them to send me a paper bill.

Each time they say they changed the account to insure that I get a paper bill, and each time the bill is due, I have to go online and pay it.

Either their software sucks, their customer associates suck, or both.

If this isn't resolved soon, I will cut them off, and bring back Dish 100%

It isn't too much to ask for a paper bill

Curious, why do you need a hard copy of the bill?
Too, me its easier to just pay online.

But I have toyed with canceling Uverse in the past. However,
its nice to have service when my main system(dish) goes down due to weather.
As you know it gets dicey weather wise here in south Florida during the summer months.

Plus, Uverse is trying real hard to be a player in the Tv industry.

Wish they would ad the tennis channel. I wont make Uverse top system in my house for 3 reasons.

Sysco box sound is to low.(dish-best sounding system)
Streams are limited
No tennis channel
 
Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback. I think for now, I have to hold of moving over. The limited HD streams kill me, not being able to pause live TV in the non DVR box rooms ruins it. I went to a store and they offered me $200 cash back, online via chat they offered me $350 back, if I did it online right now. Hard to pass up, but I have to for now.
 
I can understand your feelings in regards to UV. They offered me $300 plus a bonus of $25 to switch over. I took the bait and they are suppose to install UV at my place on 7/29. Some of the things you talked about also concern me, but not that bad. While I do have two HD tv's, one is used about 90% of the time. So not being able to pause live tv on a non DVR really doesn't bother me. I don't like only having the two HD stream, but I think in time that will also get corrected. How long that will take your guess is as good as mine. There a lot of pluses on their side and a number of minus. Hopefully there are more pluses. As of the 28th I am suspending D* to try out UV, if I don't like it, I can get D* going again at no charge. If I like UV, then I just call and cancel the service. I have been told that the picture quality is good and getting better, maybe not to D* quality, but close and almost the same as E*. Like they are saying UV is only 3 years old. Look back at D* and * when they were only 3. I think that both companies have come a long ways. Hopefully UV will continue to improve. like they have been doing.
 
I too still am keeping Dish, but the service with Dish is the welcome package.

What is really bothering me about UVERSE though is their billing system. I NEVER signed up for paperless, and I am continually trying to get them to send me a paper bill.

Each time they say they changed the account to insure that I get a paper bill, and each time the bill is due, I have to go online and pay it.

Either their software sucks, their customer associates suck, or both.

If this isn't resolved soon, I will cut them off, and bring back Dish 100%

It isn't too much to ask for a paper bill


Curious, why do you need a hard copy of the bill?
Too, me its easier to just pay online.

I don't really care about the paper either, IMO I think everyone should switch to paperless (plus it saves the trees!).
I run a business and bill all my clients electronically I do give them the option to print out their invoice at their discretion.
From a business stand point paperless allows the business to reduce cost and there for it helps keep the price of their service down as well.
 
Uverse getting better everyday!

I can understand your feelings in regards to UV. They offered me $300 plus a bonus of $25 to switch over. I took the bait and they are suppose to install UV at my place on 7/29. Some of the things you talked about also concern me, but not that bad. While I do have two HD tv's, one is used about 90% of the time. So not being able to pause live tv on a non DVR really doesn't bother me. I don't like only having the two HD stream, but I think in time that will also get corrected. How long that will take your guess is as good as mine. There a lot of pluses on their side and a number of minus. Hopefully there are more pluses. As of the 28th I am suspending D* to try out UV, if I don't like it, I can get D* going again at no charge. If I like UV, then I just call and cancel the service. I have been told that the picture quality is good and getting better, maybe not to D* quality, but close and almost the same as E*. Like they are saying UV is only 3 years old. Look back at D* and * when they were only 3. I think that both companies have come a long ways. Hopefully UV will continue to improve. like they have been doing.

Excellent post!

Uverse is young! In my short time, roughly a year, with Uverse they have made
great strides.

HD picture is darn close to the sat cos. Direc still has them beat but not by much.
Uverse has closed the gap with both sat cos.

As far as SD picture its no contest. Uverse blows out ''all'' the cometition out of the water.

Its crazy that both sat cos give thier customers such a lousy SD picture?

To me whats really holding Uverse back are the limited streams. They also need to ad full dvr functions on all their machines. Overall, the product is excellent! HD, SD and VOD is improving everyday.

Cysco machines, in my home, have stabilized and are working great!
Great selection of HD channels.

Still, Uverse is missing my favorite channel but i still have it through dish. Hopefully I wont wake up one morning to see dish removed it (tennis channel)

Dish has a nasty practice of removing channels at thier discression. Love their machines despise the company. Still not over what they did to Voom!

Im waiting for the day Uverse fully matures so I can disconnect Dish!
 
Well, I just changed back to comcast over the weekend..

I was getting endless macroblocking, picture freeze ups, stuttering, and, had 5 service calls, all equipment replaced, lines replaced and, still it would happen. Plus, Comcast offerred 50/10 internet service in my area, so I was interested in seeing what that was like.
Plus, they had some sweet deals that ended up saving me about 30 bucks a month over Uverse, and gives me all the channels they offer. Plus, a $200 gift card to boot!

The Uverse DVR is far superior to what comcast offers, but,that is about the only thing that is better than Comcast, at least for me. The 50/10 internet blows away Uverse's lame 18/1.5 , I can watch HD on ALL of my tv's at the same time, and there has not been one single picture freeze so far...Plus, my hd picture is alot better than Uverse was, although the SD on uverse is better than comcasts..
Maybe in another year or so, Uverse will be better for me, but, for now, I gave it a year, and it just wasn't equal to what I can get from comcast...
 
Well, I just changed back to comcast over the weekend..

I was getting endless macroblocking, picture freeze ups, stuttering, and, had 5 service calls, all equipment replaced, lines replaced and, still it would happen. Plus, Comcast offerred 50/10 internet service in my area, so I was interested in seeing what that was like.
Plus, they had some sweet deals that ended up saving me about 30 bucks a month over Uverse, and gives me all the channels they offer. Plus, a $200 gift card to boot!

The Uverse DVR is far superior to what comcast offers, but,that is about the only thing that is better than Comcast, at least for me. The 50/10 internet blows away Uverse's lame 18/1.5 , I can watch HD on ALL of my tv's at the same time, and there has not been one single picture freeze so far...Plus, my hd picture is alot better than Uverse was, although the SD on uverse is better than comcasts..
Maybe in another year or so, Uverse will be better for me, but, for now, I gave it a year, and it just wasn't equal to what I can get from comcast...

I was almost gone as well.

Try 9 sevice calls and equipment\line changes.
I hung in and ''finally'' things work.

Not before freezing, audio issues and equipment changes.

Good luck with Comcast. They are an excellent company! Cant get them in my area.

Im sure Uverse will get better in time. But for now they have some growing pains..

Just depends if you are willing to hang in there with them while they figure things out.
 
Last edited:
wow, I only had 5 service calls and that was enough for me!

Comcast has done alot of infrastructure improvements in my area, and, so far, for the few days I have had them, its like night and day better than my Uverse was..

I hope Uverse gets better too, as i did like them when things worked properly..
 
you only get 1 DVR, but all recievers in house can access it and use it's features. FTTP is available but only in places where there is no Node, so pretty much newer developments, and yes they are improving everyday, and existing customers could be grandfathered when new developments arise, like when they made 2HD streams available.
 
AT&T U-Verse

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. :D
 
I have had UVerse for 15 months, internet, TV and phone. Sorry to hear about your phone service, I have two lines on the system and have had no problems, you would think that the tech folks could figure this out for U. As far as recording I believe that was on the Uverse forums and it could not be done, why I do not know. You might want to bring up the record issue on the U-talk Peer-to-Peer Forums. Good Luck
 
Been a while since I’ve been around SG but I’m back! Again, Dallas, TX based.
I’ve grown very tired of DirecTV so I called a few months ago to inquire about Uverse. Installers came out and determined that my location is just 100 feet too far and my profile would be TV with no HD. I laughed and said No, thank you! So I’ve been enjoying the Internet and phone and waiting for Pair Bonding or something to change so I could enjoy the end of Satellite.

Called again this week to get a status update and the tech said my current profile would more than support 2 HD and he didn’t know what in the world Pair Bonding was. (Tier 1 phone guy suggested I ask Sales to set me up with the Pair Bonding feature. I asked him if he even know what that was, he said "No" in a very shaky voice. I asked for a Tier 2 support guy ASAP. Funny!)

Installer looked at the line and came into the house with a long, sorrow face. He said there is no way in the world we could get HD with the amount of errors being reported on our downstream (he said it was approximately 7,000 and a bunch of garbeldy gook I couldn’t understand). He said we could try but most likely I would not be happy with it.

I am so tired of D that I said let’s go for it, and guess what? It works! 3 TV’s all with HD. I had done the hard work of wiring up many of the rooms in my home when we moved in a few years ago so all we needed were just one long shot to the back bedroom. Works like a charm on Cat-5 throughout the house for the TV’s. Tech said with this many errors, Cat-5 would be the best way to get picture consistency.

So far I am happy – much faster response time than D* and PQ appears to be the same on the network HD stuff, can’t figure out about the other stations. SD was acceptable, but I cringe watching SD anyways. Haven’t tested out the “whole home DVR” but the wife is very excited about not being forced to watch football all day Sunday.

Question for the smart people here: D* said the Sunday ticket is not refundable once the season starts. Anyone know if that is A) Legal and B) how to get a refund for the 13 weeks left in the season?
 
Question on Uverse receiver(DVR) box

Like my Dish HD DVR now, can I hook up my antennae on the Uverse box to allow me more versatility in viewing and recording HD??

Thank you in advance :)
 
Like my Dish HD DVR now, can I hook up my antennae on the Uverse box to allow me more versatility in viewing and recording HD??

Thank you in advance :)

The U-verse boxes don't have antenna inputs. The only "channels" you can record are the 4 data streams coming into your house.

I have an antenna hooked to my TV that the U-verse box is attached to so if I'm recording 4 channels and wanted to watch a 5th program from over the air, I can. That's extremely rare though.
 
Hey, thanks for the quick reply!
Another question -
I have heard that it varies from one to four hd 'streams' depending on a person's house location .
Can you fill me in? At this time there is Uverse service in a nearby town but not here yet and was hoping for some more 'insider' information.
 
Hey, thanks for the quick reply!
Another question -
I have heard that it varies from one to four hd 'streams' depending on a person's house location .
Can you fill me in? At this time there is Uverse service in a nearby town but not here yet and was hoping for some more 'insider' information.

Typically it's 2HD/2SD streams per household. That means that you could pull in 4 streams maximum, and up to two of those four can be HD. There are a few areas that are only 1HD/3SD but they're being upgraded out of existence. I think it's based on distance from the VRAD because of the limitations of VDSL over copper.

As for rollout, there are probably insiders that know way more than I do. I just noticed when they installed a VRAD at the end of my street (where I know my phone line connected) and after a while I called to see if I was eligible...and I was.
 
Unable to record full HD screen when trying to record UVERSE programming onto DVD

I changed from Comcast to ATT UVERSE recently. With Comcast I could record programming to my DVD recorder with a full HD picture (although not in HD)...but with the Cisco AT&T box I can only record a zoomed in picture which gives leaves out some of the picture information on the sides &/or bottom & top. I have tried using the zoom feature but it will not allow me to get a setting which will show the entire HD picture as I was able to get on the Comcast box. I did ask AT&T about the problem but they were of no help. Any advice would be appreciated.
John
 
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. :D

I had a similar issue, in that my home security system won't function with ATT IP phone. The rep said that if I had land line phone from ATT it would not affect TV/Internet price. I asked for a install (it was ATT land line before and shouldn't require anything other than throwing a switch) You might check this option.:D
 
Hey all,

I've been with Dish for 11 years now and for the most part been pleased. If they carried the MLB Network I might not even be thinking about leaving.....but alas.

My question is, I'm debating between U-Verse and DirectTV. ATT is telling me that I get HD on all TV's (not just the primary DVR box). But a rep I spoke with at DirectTV is telling me that it'll be SD on all the additional receivers.

Additionally Direct is telling me that ATT "piggybacks" off of their signal and sends it via Fiber to one's home and that said signal is 720 but with them (Direct) it's 1080i.

So needless to say I'm having a hard-time finding out the truth, so any assistance here would be great.

Thanks
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 2, Members: 0, Guests: 2)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts