Uverse internet finally available

[Ronnie-]

Well, 46 minutes into the two-hour window and no AT&T U-verse truck yet. When do I start to worry?

Tomorrow. lol

Sorry, hopefully this will turn out well for you.

 

[Foxbat]

I am typing this on my new U-verse connection. For some reason the SateliiteGuys servers seem much faster...

Time to sign up for NetFlix!

 

[Ronnie-]

Congrats!

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[Foxbat]

I have been readdressing my Home LAN to conform to AT&T's DHCP server. While the Pace unit seems lots nicer than the 2-Wire units I've seen, I wish I had more control over configuring DHCP reservations. The device has to appear and request an IP address before you can select it and give it the address I want. No way to enter the MAC address and name it before the fact.

But lots of nice pages full of diagnostics data. I give it the Foxbat Network Admin stamp of approval. I should check it out over at GRC ShieldsUp! to see if anything is exposed. Nope! No uPNP exposure to the outside world. That's a plus! Likewise, a scan of the standard service ports reports no response at all, or full stealth. Most excellent!

 

[Jimbo]

I am typing this on my new U-verse connection. For some reason the SateliiteGuys servers seem much faster...

Time to sign up for NetFlix!

Sheesh Fox,
Most say you only need 3 mg for Netflix, you probably had that covered with your old internet ...

 

[Ronnie-]

You got a pace modem router?

Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[Ronnie-]

Sheesh Fox,
Most say you only need 3 mg for Netflix, you probably had that covered with your old internet ...

Honestly, you don't need much more than that, if you don't have much else going on.

With my old 7mbps Internet we could dual stream netflix in their hd with no issues.

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[Foxbat]

You got a pace modem router?

Yep:

 

[Foxbat]

Regarding the NetFlix delay, for whatever reason whenever I tried using my in-Law's sign-in, I always got <buffering> playing back movies. I always blamed my AT&T ADSL.

So far the few TV shows and the one movie I tried have played back with minimal delay and no bumps or stutters. This may be the last post I ever make on any site ever again, for I will be lost in NetFlix... All these TV shows that I missed the first few seasons, documentaries, original programming, and enough movies that by the time I come up for air, I'll be in a retirement home and my grandkids will be begging for attention...

 

[Foxbat]

Sheesh Fox,
Most say you only need 3 mg for Netflix, you probably had that covered with your old internet ...

I suffer from Tim Allen Syndrome... With the savings from the phone service I spent the extra $10/mo to max out the Internet speed. We should be at $80/mo after the discounts expire next year.

 

[Ronnie-]

Yep:

I wish they had given me something besides this POS Motorola that I have. Unplugging and plugging back in and it takes ten to twenty minutes to get Internet back.

Having constant connection issues through wifi with my Xbox, but oddly not with any other wifi connection.

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[Foxbat]

Well, at least you still have a U-verse connection with your PoS Motorola. My huge steaming pile of S Pace Gateway 5031NV is currently deader than the proverbial door nail. We are now without phone or Internet for the next two or three days until a replacement gateway arrives via UPS.

Ah well, it was sweet while it lasted. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

 

[Dudleydog73]

So 4 days reliability on your initial modem? Not good.

 

[Foxbat]

So 4 days reliability on your initial modem? Not good.

I've worked with enough electronics to know about the bathtub curve. If something is going to die, it's either right away, or after the service life is reached. Once you make it past the initial peak, you have a reliable piece of equipment.

The manufacturer is supposed to burn-in to eliminate infant mortality in the customer's hands, though.

Looking at Pace's website, it looks like they bought 2-Wire.

 

[Ronnie-]

Dang, talk about bad luck. Thats the bad part of having this service. With cable, you can go on down to your local best buy, and be back up and running.

 

[Foxbat]

Well, it just keeps getting better. While looking for info on-line about the Pace 5031NV Residential Gateway, they mentioned that all support comes out of the service provider. So I logged into my U-verse account and started looking at various pages with my account. I saw that I was at 65 minutes of Voice which made sense since I had called my sister in MI and my Father-in-Law instate. However, when I looked at the detailed call log, I saw a telephone number repeated a number of times, a number I did not recognize or call.

There were 14 minutes of these OFNT (off-network) calls. I was looking at the time stamps and it occurred to me that some of them occurred after the RG died. I was very concerned that someone or something had hacked my U-verse account!

After a hour going through some excellent telephone support, the bottom line appears to be the "mystery number" is actually my Voicemail number. Okay, looking back that makes sense, and since my home phone is down, anyone who calls goes immediately into Voicemail. But, I questioned, why are these calls to my AT&T U-verse Voicemail considered Off-Network and count against my included 250 minutes per month? The CSR had no answer for that and had to contact Billing.

So, it seems that AT&T has found a way to charge for the "free" Voicemail feature. After I get my phone back I'm going to demand that any minutes logged to the voicemail number be dismissed since my answering machine would have picked up these phone calls if U-verse Voice was working.

Edit: I just got the E-mail with the tracking #, and I'm getting a 2-Wire unit to replace the original Pace. A shame because I was going mount the nice, compact Pace on the wall panel. If it's the unit I'm thinking of, it's a bit ungainly and may not fit in the space I saved for it.

 

[Dudleydog73]

250 minutes? Makes my Ooma box that is $4 and some change per month in taxes only for unlimited domestic calling look better and better. We would eat up 250 minutes quickly in any given month.

 

[Foxbat]

250 minutes? Makes my Ooma box that is $4 and some change per month in taxes only for unlimited domestic calling look better and better. We would eat up 250 minutes quickly in any given month.

I believe LER made the same suggestion to someone else in a different U-verse thread. Two of my co-workers have Ooma and like it a lot, except for an issue with their DECT 6.0 handsets not ringing.

 

[king3pj]

Well, it just keeps getting better. While looking for info on-line about the Pace 5031NV Residential Gateway, they mentioned that all support comes out of the service provider. So I logged into my U-verse account and started looking at various pages with my account. I saw that I was at 65 minutes of Voice which made sense since I had called my sister in MI and my Father-in-Law instate. However, when I looked at the detailed call log, I saw a telephone number repeated a number of times, a number I did not recognize or call.

There were 14 minutes of these OFNT (off-network) calls. I was looking at the time stamps and it occurred to me that some of them occurred after the RG died. I was very concerned that someone or something had hacked my U-verse account!

After a hour going through some excellent telephone support, the bottom line appears to be the "mystery number" is actually my Voicemail number. Okay, looking back that makes sense, and since my home phone is down, anyone who calls goes immediately into Voicemail. But, I questioned, why are these calls to my AT&T U-verse Voicemail considered Off-Network and count against my included 250 minutes per month? The CSR had no answer for that and had to contact Billing.

So, it seems that AT&T has found a way to charge for the "free" Voicemail feature. After I get my phone back I'm going to demand that any minutes logged to the voicemail number be dismissed since my answering machine would have picked up these phone calls if U-verse Voice was working.

Edit: I just got the E-mail with the tracking #, and I'm getting a 2-Wire unit to replace the original Pace. A shame because I was going mount the nice, compact Pace on the wall panel. If it's the unit I'm thinking of, it's a bit ungainly and may not fit in the space I saved for it.

Verizon Wireless does the exact same thing. When people call and get your voicemail it tracks those minutes against you. Think of it this way. Those people leaving your messages on your answering machine would have counted as minutes too. Whether they are talking to you, your answering machine, or Uverse voicemail there is still a connected call happening.

I agree that the 250 minutes seems extremely low though. I thought just about all landline services have came with unlimited minutes for years now. Hell, I don't think you can even get a voice plan on a Verizon cell phone that doesn't come with unlimited minutes anymore.

I don't have a landline in the home but I do use my cell for work and personal calls so I have had unlimited minutes for a few years now. Cheap unlimited calling was the only reason I could see keeping a landline around these days. I use a somewhere between 2000-3000 minutes in a typical month mostly due to conference calls. I cut off the landline a few years ago and switched to unlimited cell minutes because I was using my cell for all the long distance calling anyways.

If you would feel more comfortable keeping a landline in the house it sounds like a different VoIP service would be a better deal. I connected a vonage box into my parents phone system a long time ago before all these other VoIP companies became so widespread. It is set up so that all the standard phone jacks in the house work on the vonage system. Dish caller ID, my Dad's Life Alert system, and all their old phones work fine through various jacks in the house. I think they pay about $25 per month for unlimited local and long distance including international calls to certain countries. It sounds like Ooma and other services are probably an even better deal and they can probably be set up the same way.

 

[Dudleydog73]

I believe LER made the same suggestion to someone else in a different U-verse thread. Two of my co-workers have Ooma and like it a lot, except for an issue with their DECT 6.0 handsets not ringing.

I have DECT 6.0 handsets in my home and dont have any problem with them ringing. I also like that Ooma employes QoS tagging if you place it between the modem and your home router (I have standard DSL from AT&T now so I have seperate modem and wifi router). It has been a rock solid device for over a year now that I have been using it.