I have been with Dish for 7 years and I just finished my current contract with them and decided I wanted to try something different. U-verse is new to my area and TW is nothing I want (actually have it and don't watch it) and I already had Directv so I went with U-verse.
I did a lot of Google searches and read Scott's review all the reviews were a little dated and figured it has been a while so U-verse might have gotten better so I decided why not try it, there is no contract so if I don't like it I can cancel and go back to Dish. As I said I did my research and knew I was less than 1000ft from the VRAD so that would allow me to get the best profile they currently offer.
On July 2nd I placed my order online and also opened up a chat session where the sales rep offered me an extra $100 cash back ($325 total!) to sign up. I did and got the U200 package with HD, extra receiver and Internet (Pro). I got a confirmation email with an install date of July 15th between 12pm - 2pm. So now I wait 2 weeks for the install. Fast forward to the 15th and here is how it went.
7-15-09
Install tech calls at 12:11pm to say he is on his way.
12:23pm tech shows up and surveys my setup and makes a plan with me on what he needs to do to install U-verse.
12:36pm he heads out to the vrad.
12:40pm our dsl and phone are out.
12:58pm he is back working on the phone box on the side of the house.
1:20pm he informs me that he is getting a lot of errors on the line and had to put in a ticket to the support team (forgot the name) to work on the lines. More then likely they will work on the line tomorrow.
Once that is done they will schedule another install date. The dsl and phone are back on.
3:50pm to my surprise the second guy shows up to condition the line.
Dsl and phone is back off.
4:15pm all done! He says the line is stronger than ever and is turning the dsl and phone back on now I just need to reschedule a new install.
4:25pm I called to reschedule and the earliest is in 2 weeks July 29th between 8am -10am. They also made a note on the account to give me a service credit on my first bill for my lack of install.
Round 2
7-29-09
8:10am call to tell me he's on his way.
8:20am he has arrived and going over the setup such as where the RG will go and the STB's.
8:25am going over to the VRAD to set things up.
Dsl is down.
8:45am he is back and working on the NID on the side of the house and testing signal and speed. All good! He's amazed says that the signal is as fast as at the VRAD.
He is going to run cable and start the install.
12:15pm ALL DONE! The install basically took 3.5 hours. It involved running cat5e from the NID to the RG in the house and then connecting coax from the RG to existing coax in the house for the STB's. Setting up the RG and updating the STB's. Running speed tests and diagnostic tests. And finally giving me a rundown on how things work.
The coax was originally done by Dish 3 years ago when I had a 625 and now I have a 722 so that left some lines open for use. The U-verse tech tested them and signal was good. So those were used. He did say some people request cat5e to everything but for some reason when they get service calls the people with cat5e are the ones with the most picture problems. I guess it's a hit or miss thing.
I was already an AT&T phone service and DSL customer so my info and emails migrated over to U-verse without a problem. Only issue was port 25 for my SMTP emails got blocked again but the unblocked it automatically for me.
First Impressions
A lot of people don't like the quality of the picture and HD. Since I still have Dish I can say that the HD on U-verse is just as good if not the same as Dish. I will say that there are only a couple of HD channels that do not look as good on U-verse then they do on Dish.
The UI is nice I like the features that U-verse has such as the U-Bar, Flickr, VOD, and weather on demand.
The DVR is ok and gets some getting used to. The DVR schedule and recorded tv menu is great! I like it better then Dish. You can only pause, rew, ff live tv on the main box, but you can record, schedule and play from any STB in the house.
The channel selection is excellent and also the HD channels. I have classic silver 200 with HD on Dish and I actually have a comparable package with U-verse and get more channels with them (U-verse)! Only bad part is I am missing CBS College Sports on U-verse. I do get all my locals in HD including PBS and some other ones! I also get basic TW cable which gives me some HD channels and I would rank them as U-verse and Dish tied at #1 and TW #2/3
5.1 Dolby Digital is available from the HD channels and they come as 1080i which is what the STB outputs similar to Dish.
The STB is about half the size of a VIP 722 and is lighter and runs A LOT cooler.
I have only had it for 24hrs but I have played with it enough to see what I like and don't like and so far so good. I will still keep Dish till the end of my billing cycle and then put Dish on pause just in case.
I also have to take in consideration the price with U-verse I am paying almost $20 more then I pay with Dish.
On a side note I originally called to cancel Dish and the loyalty dept. ended up zeroing out my balance ($160) and giving me $20 off for 6 months. All without signing a new contract! I also had some problems with my 722 which one of them was a constant Temp overheated message so they sent me a new 722. I told them I had a lot of shows that I did not want to lose so they enabled the use of an external and credited me the amount of the enabling. This was all through the loyalty dept. via chat. I guess they do all this to make you feel guilty and stay with them.
Well this was my short to the point review and install experience. Hope it gives some of you insight on what to expect with current installs. Any questions let me know.
Gabe
I did a lot of Google searches and read Scott's review all the reviews were a little dated and figured it has been a while so U-verse might have gotten better so I decided why not try it, there is no contract so if I don't like it I can cancel and go back to Dish. As I said I did my research and knew I was less than 1000ft from the VRAD so that would allow me to get the best profile they currently offer.
On July 2nd I placed my order online and also opened up a chat session where the sales rep offered me an extra $100 cash back ($325 total!) to sign up. I did and got the U200 package with HD, extra receiver and Internet (Pro). I got a confirmation email with an install date of July 15th between 12pm - 2pm. So now I wait 2 weeks for the install. Fast forward to the 15th and here is how it went.
7-15-09
Install tech calls at 12:11pm to say he is on his way.
12:23pm tech shows up and surveys my setup and makes a plan with me on what he needs to do to install U-verse.
12:36pm he heads out to the vrad.
12:40pm our dsl and phone are out.
12:58pm he is back working on the phone box on the side of the house.
1:20pm he informs me that he is getting a lot of errors on the line and had to put in a ticket to the support team (forgot the name) to work on the lines. More then likely they will work on the line tomorrow.
Once that is done they will schedule another install date. The dsl and phone are back on.
3:50pm to my surprise the second guy shows up to condition the line.
Dsl and phone is back off.
4:15pm all done! He says the line is stronger than ever and is turning the dsl and phone back on now I just need to reschedule a new install.
4:25pm I called to reschedule and the earliest is in 2 weeks July 29th between 8am -10am. They also made a note on the account to give me a service credit on my first bill for my lack of install.
Round 2
7-29-09
8:10am call to tell me he's on his way.
8:20am he has arrived and going over the setup such as where the RG will go and the STB's.
8:25am going over to the VRAD to set things up.
Dsl is down.
8:45am he is back and working on the NID on the side of the house and testing signal and speed. All good! He's amazed says that the signal is as fast as at the VRAD.
He is going to run cable and start the install.
12:15pm ALL DONE! The install basically took 3.5 hours. It involved running cat5e from the NID to the RG in the house and then connecting coax from the RG to existing coax in the house for the STB's. Setting up the RG and updating the STB's. Running speed tests and diagnostic tests. And finally giving me a rundown on how things work.
The coax was originally done by Dish 3 years ago when I had a 625 and now I have a 722 so that left some lines open for use. The U-verse tech tested them and signal was good. So those were used. He did say some people request cat5e to everything but for some reason when they get service calls the people with cat5e are the ones with the most picture problems. I guess it's a hit or miss thing.
I was already an AT&T phone service and DSL customer so my info and emails migrated over to U-verse without a problem. Only issue was port 25 for my SMTP emails got blocked again but the unblocked it automatically for me.
First Impressions
A lot of people don't like the quality of the picture and HD. Since I still have Dish I can say that the HD on U-verse is just as good if not the same as Dish. I will say that there are only a couple of HD channels that do not look as good on U-verse then they do on Dish.
The UI is nice I like the features that U-verse has such as the U-Bar, Flickr, VOD, and weather on demand.
The DVR is ok and gets some getting used to. The DVR schedule and recorded tv menu is great! I like it better then Dish. You can only pause, rew, ff live tv on the main box, but you can record, schedule and play from any STB in the house.
The channel selection is excellent and also the HD channels. I have classic silver 200 with HD on Dish and I actually have a comparable package with U-verse and get more channels with them (U-verse)! Only bad part is I am missing CBS College Sports on U-verse. I do get all my locals in HD including PBS and some other ones! I also get basic TW cable which gives me some HD channels and I would rank them as U-verse and Dish tied at #1 and TW #2/3
5.1 Dolby Digital is available from the HD channels and they come as 1080i which is what the STB outputs similar to Dish.
The STB is about half the size of a VIP 722 and is lighter and runs A LOT cooler.
I have only had it for 24hrs but I have played with it enough to see what I like and don't like and so far so good. I will still keep Dish till the end of my billing cycle and then put Dish on pause just in case.
I also have to take in consideration the price with U-verse I am paying almost $20 more then I pay with Dish.
On a side note I originally called to cancel Dish and the loyalty dept. ended up zeroing out my balance ($160) and giving me $20 off for 6 months. All without signing a new contract! I also had some problems with my 722 which one of them was a constant Temp overheated message so they sent me a new 722. I told them I had a lot of shows that I did not want to lose so they enabled the use of an external and credited me the amount of the enabling. This was all through the loyalty dept. via chat. I guess they do all this to make you feel guilty and stay with them.
Well this was my short to the point review and install experience. Hope it gives some of you insight on what to expect with current installs. Any questions let me know.
Gabe
