AT&T Uverse

[honuswagner21]

In an offshoot to the ISP thread, I am considering switching from Time Warner cable and Roadrunner over to the U-verse. I am just wondering if anyone has tried AT&T's service and if so, how is it? It looks like U-verse has a better HD lineup but I don't know about the other channels. I am also wondering what the picture quality is like, service problems, etc. I am not interested in any of the Direct TV or Dish right now but am certainly interested in hearing about anything about U-verse.

[mothershipconnection]

I've been interested in it as well, but it's not available here and I can't find anything about plans to bring it to the twin cities. Has anyone heard anything?

[Menotti80]

I have heard that if you can get it up and running, it is a better value than TWC. I used to live in a 4-family house with a roomate. we were in apartment 1 and my landlord was right across from us in appt 2. He kept TWC but had ATT come install their digital cable (it was a u-verse package or whatever) to check it out.

Well they came over and installed it, and it worked great. He said the picture was great, better DVR, etc.

Then he left to go to a Brewer game, came home, and no cable. After calling and playing phone tag several times, this is what happened:

They said he could no longer get cable because only apartments 1 and 3 could get their cable. appts 2 and 4 could not. he told them they already installed it in his apartment, but they told him initially they thought he was apartment 1. basically it was a typo. i know that makes no sense, but bottom line is they would not let him have ATT cable because he was not in the right unit, even though they did literally install it in his unit, and even though we all share 1 basement and the cables are like 15 feet from each other.

the worst part is they cut the TWC lines when they installed new cables for the ATT. So when my landlord couldnt get cable, he called them 10 times to get them to re-hook up TWC. But they told him they are not allowed to touch TWC's cables. even though they already did! lol they eventually came and fixed the cables, but he was without cable for like 5 days.

 

ok the point of this was not to scare anyone off. this was months and months ago, and he was probably one of milwaukees first customers. i looked into u-verse last night actually (i live in a new place now), and my old landlord told me that ATT probably have their stuff straightened out since then, so if you can actually get the service, its a better deal than TWC.

 

I live 2 minutes from that 4-family house currently, but I now live in Wauwatosa. ATT u-verse is not available to me right now.

 

bummer (my TWC and RRunner bill is over $140/month)

[Paul77]

I mentioned this in the other thread, but if your looking at Uverse for HD, there seem to be some limits. For example, even though the DVR can record 4 channels at once (awesome feature btw), it can only handle 1 HD channel at a time. Also, you can't watch different HD channels on different Tv's at the same time either. So if one tv is in the living room and another is in the bedroom, only one tv can watch in HD at a time.

 

The software, sound quality and picture quality seem a bit sketchy right now. The last two have been described as being on par or slightly worse than cable depending on who you ask. This seems like the kind of product I'm going to pass on initially, but I will absolutely keep my eye on them because it seems really interesting. I'll let them work out the kinks for awhile first. I just hope the price stays competitive.

 

U-verse reminds me of the early DishNet years. Whereas DirecTv was polished and sophisticated with user friendly interfaces, pretty colors and what not, Dish was a distant second in a two horse race, doing what they could to keep up with bad equipment, bulky and slow software and the ugliest user interface on earth (that on screen guide was ugly!). The remote was very Kmart-ish. The whole service had a real "Super-Cable" feel to it. But Dish, from all accounts, is much better that it used to be. And Uverse seems to be a better product at this stage than Dishnet was at the same stage, so I think the future looks bright for At&t's tv service.

 

(off topic but... I still remember Charlie Chat [i think that was the name] where the president of DishNet would sit down in a cable access looking studio each week and take calls from subscribers. It was a great idea but it was done on the cheap and it came out sooooo cheesy.)

[trwi7]

Okay I have it and there are some good things as well as some issues.

 

Good thing is you get tons of channels. All the ESPN stations (including ESPNU), HBO, Cinemax (have to pay extra for those though but I got them free for the first two months.), a bunch of Nickelodeon channels if you have kids, Discovery Channel (channels 120 and 121), Science Channel, Game Show Network (channels 173 and 174), Soap Opera Channel (I'm still waiting for a re-run of the Brewers episodehttp://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif), a bunch of MTV Channels, a few VH1 Channels, NFL Network (630), all the FSN Channels (FSN Wisconsin is 744) of course they block out the games on their, SNY, YES Network, Sundance, a bunch of music channels (5025 and 5014 are my favoriteshttp://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif) Video on Demand and you get DVR which holds 120 hours of programming although I was told they're going to try to double that soon.

 

Now onto the bad. There really aren't any huge problems but sometimes the picture will break in and out and get scrambled for a couple seconds. This doesn't happen a lot but it does happen. They usually perform maintenence late at night and the picture goes out during that time. When the hell was the last Packers game? Well the TV completely went out that time but it's the first time it happened, still don't know why, it was storming so maybe that had something to do with it but it had stormed for a few days and it wasn't affected before. Anyways I had to call their support service and I had to go onto the internet (which didn't work either) and the guy gave me a password and a code to type into the URL that showed up on the screen. Really nice about it but still kind of annoying that I had to do that.

 

Oh another thing if you like listening to Jim and Bob on the radio or anything you'll have to deal with a delay of about 2 or 3 seconds between the radio and TV (radio is ahead of the TV.)

[Menotti80]

trwi7, how much do u pay a month?

 

do you have HD? which package did you get (the 200, 400 etc)? Which internet speed did you choose? (express, pro, etc)

 

im paying $140+ per month for Time Warner Cable and RRunner and am looking for a better deal...

[brewcrew00]

OK, so you can't get this downtown? Does anyone know why it's so restricted and when it will be available downtown? I'm sick of TWC.

[trwi7]

I pay $59 a month for TV and internet. I got the 200 package and it still gives most of the channels (HBO, Cinemax and channels like those are blocked.) I have pro internet speed.

[Menotti80]

I pay $59 a month for TV and internet. I got the 200 package and it still gives most of the channels (HBO, Cinemax and channels like those are blocked.) I have pro internet speed.

 

WOW. Thanks.

Not to keep bothering you, but do you have any idea how much and HD box is? And what about DVR?

 

If I can somehow get the 200 package, HD, DVR, and either Pro or Elite internet speed for less than or around $100, I will be checking in on ATT every week until they service my area!!!

[trwi7]

I have no idea how much the HD box is. Got the DVR for free, don't know if they're still doing that or if it was just a promotion but it was free for me.

[Menotti80]

I have no idea how much the HD box is. Got the DVR for free, don't know if they're still doing that or if it was just a promotion but it was free for me.

 

Thanks for your help. What city do you live in?

[trwi7]

I have no idea how much the HD box is. Got the DVR for free, don't know if they're still doing that or if it was just a promotion but it was free for me.

Thanks for your help. What city do you live in?

 

Hartland

[gypcasino]

Does anyone know why it's so restricted and when it will be available downtown?

 

Because they're still installing the facilities for it outside. In some cases AT&T was delayed because they had to work out the legal details with certain municipalities in order to get permission to do the installation.

I know there are people a few blocks from me that can get it but it's not available at my address yet. So it doesn't seem to matter what central office you're served out of, it just depends if they've installed the big box near your address. You can keep checking here to see when it'll be available at your location-

https://uverse1.att.com/launchAMSS.do

[sgtcluels]

My parents have it, it's slow changing channels. Seemed to look pretty good, but I have no DVR experience with it. I wish more people would adopt TiVos, they are by far the best DVRs!

[Menotti80]

Casino-
Ive been to that site a dozen times, but I havent found the place that says when a particular area will get it. I live in the Tosa Village, where can I see when I can get it?

Also, I entered in a few addresses that I know can get ATT U-verse, but every time it comes back with the same message saying service isn't available yet. So maybe I can get it now after all...

[gypcasino]

You live near near me then. I'm right across the river from Pick N Save.
You can click on the "notify me" option and enter your e-mail address and they'll e-mail you when it's available at your address. But as far as I know there isn't a way to tell when a certain area is getting it. Give this number a call- 1-877-827-5288 (option 1, option 2). Somebody there may be able to better answer your question.

[honuswagner21]

Thanks for the comments. I am still not totally convinced that I am ready to deal with some of the issues surrounding the TV side but the price may be right. The number of HD channels does look nice compared to Time Warner and I only own 1 HD TV set so it won't be an issue watching two HD channels at once. Did I hear that with the service you also get the YES network? How about NESN (I am a closet Red Sox fan).

 

Also, do they make you sign any sort of contract and are you charged a monthly rental rate for the equipment?