ATT U-Verse. Anyone have it? Had it? Opinions?

[BigRedChief]

Anyone have it? Had it? Opinions?

Thinking of swithching from TW and Road Runner. 4 HD DVR's insteas on 1. Redord 4 prograns instead of just 2. Looks good on paper. Just wondering about in real life.

[BigRedChief]

:hmmm: no one?

[Deberg_1990]

I have it. search the threads. there are numerous threads about it.

[jjjayb]

Had it 2 weeks and canceled it. Picture quality was horrible. Too much compression in the signal. Any movement in the picture caused the image to lose all detail. I don't think they should legally call what they provided "high def".

Cancelled after 2 weeks. Payed for the full month. Was told I had a $149 refund coming when I sent the equipment back. They would be sending me a box and rma to do so. I didn't receive the rma form and box to send the equipment back but I did get a bill for $300 bucks for non-returned equipment.

I called them numerous times over the next 9 months trying to get their equipment returned. I must have spent 40 hours on hold, disconnected while transferring to "another dept." 50 times, and countless hours talking to thier reps during this period. Each call would end with them saying they would get the return box and rma out to me right away.

The account eventually went to collections, so I had collections calling me constantly. I refused to pay them while THEY OWED ME MONEY and their equipment sat in my garage waiting to be returned. They wouldn't allow me to just mail it to them or drop it off somewhere. They wouldn't allow me to just give it to one their techs that I see in the neighborhood all the time. I had to pack it in the box they sent and mail it to them.

After 9 months of fighting with them, I finally received the box to return their equipment, which I sent back immediately. It took them another 2 months and countless phone calls to get them to report my account in good standing to the collections company. They said they were sending me the original $149 refund they owed me 2 months ago and I still haven't received that. It's not worth the phone calls and time on hold and frustration to worry about it. They can keep the money.

I will NEVER deal with anything AT&T related again. It is by far the worst customer service experience I have ever had.

[kc rush]

We had it and really liked it. We now live in an area that only has TW and we miss U-Verse. The channels are grouped logically (sports together, movies together, etc) and we felt that we got the most programming for the dollar with them.

Customer service was always great with us. They talked us through things and came out when necessary (usually within hours).

We don't have any HD sets though, so I can't speak to the quality of the HD signal.

When we did cancel due to our move, we got our boxes to ship equipment right away.

[Sully]

I posted this a few weeks back. In short, I like it. The HD isn't great, but I'm not nit-picky with that...

Okay, it's been a couple of weeks, and here's where I'm at with this;
I like it. I would recommend it to anyone using Comcast.

Here are the plusses;
- 4 recordings on DVR at once. Only 2 can be HD, but that's not all that bad.
- About $150/month cheaper than what we were paying Comcast, and we have more channels and more HD channels.
- Viewing DVR in different rooms is nice. I don't sleep well at night, so recording some crap movie during the day, and knowing I can watch it late at night in the bedroom is very cool.
- I haven't worked with the "U-Bar" much, but in theory, it's a very cool idea.
- The non-HD looks MUCH better than it did through Comcast, and I don't know why. With our Comcast, it took another 5-7 seconds to switch from HD to non-HD, and back, which was a pain. On this, it switches directly, and the non-HD isn't nearly as rough as it was through Comcast.
- Speaking of channel switching...I love how it doesn't have the delay Comcast did, even between HD channels or non-HD channels. When I click "last" it immediately changes...no gap or delay at all.
- The local channels are the same number as they actually are. For instance, KCTV is actually "0005" or "1005" for HD. That's nice.

Minuses;
- For some reason my logitech Harmony doesn't work as well with the box. It works, but it's not nearly as efficient or reactive as the AT&T remote is. That sucks.
- If I'm in the bedroom, and I want to watch an HD feed, but happen to have 2 HDs recording downstairs, I can't change that from there. I have to go downstairs to make the changes.
- It seems to have trouble in bad weather, much like I experienced with satellites. It's weird, because nothing is outdoors, but we get a lot more freezing and pixelation during storms.
- The HD isn't quite as sharp as Comcast was. It's very close, and I found that the tech had set something up wrong at first, to make it look not as crisp...but there is a tiniest bit of downgrade, there.
- It amy be that I'm just used to Comcast after years of use. But I'm still getting used to the menu system. In some ways, it's MUCh better, but other ways, I seem to get lost. I assume that'll get easier as I get more used to it.


So, again, I recommend this to anyone on Comcast. I've never had satellite, so I can't compare...but side-by-side with Comcast, it blows it out of the water.

[Deberg_1990]

Yes, the HD isnt the best, but if your not too picky about it, its decent. certainly better than SD channels though.

I like UVerse. Had it about a year and half and have no real beefs with it.

Like Sully mentions above, Total Home DVR is great.

[Pants]

Had it 2 weeks and canceled it. Picture quality was horrible. Too much compression in the signal. Any movement in the picture caused the image to lose all detail. I don't think they should legally call what they provided "high def".

Cancelled after 2 weeks. Payed for the full month. Was told I had a $149 refund coming when I sent the equipment back. They would be sending me a box and rma to do so. I didn't receive the rma form and box to send the equipment back but I did get a bill for $300 bucks for non-returned equipment.

I called them numerous times over the next 9 months trying to get their equipment returned. I must have spent 40 hours on hold, disconnected while transferring to "another dept." 50 times, and countless hours talking to thier reps during this period. Each call would end with them saying they would get the return box and rma out to me right away.

The account eventually went to collections, so I had collections calling me constantly. I refused to pay them while THEY OWED ME MONEY and their equipment sat in my garage waiting to be returned. They wouldn't allow me to just mail it to them or drop it off somewhere. They wouldn't allow me to just give it to one their techs that I see in the neighborhood all the time. I had to pack it in the box they sent and mail it to them.

After 9 months of fighting with them, I finally received the box to return their equipment, which I sent back immediately. It took them another 2 months and countless phone calls to get them to report my account in good standing to the collections company. They said they were sending me the original $149 refund they owed me 2 months ago and I still haven't received that. It's not worth the phone calls and time on hold and frustration to worry about it. They can keep the money.

I will NEVER deal with anything AT&T related again. It is by far the worst customer service experience I have ever had.

Wow that sucks, bro. My ex-g/f had it at her house and when I moved in for a while, I had to (of course) get a bunch of my shit set up. Called up cust service, the techs came in the next day (or day after) and hard-lined a bunch of ethernet plugs around the house for free. I really liked Uverse as well, the HD did suffer occasionally (slight artifacts) but it wasn't anything major. I've had nothing but good service with AT&T, but your story sounds like a real nightmare...

[BryanBusby]

I've had UVerse for a long while and I'm happy with it personally. I do see a bit of artifacting, but it's not often and it goes away relatively quick. In my opinion, Time Warner was a hell lot worse when it came to their compression.

I've had the service go down twice, both times about 30-45 days ago. The downtime was relatively quick and ATT was quite generous about issuing a credit over it.

Overall I'm a lot happier with my service than I was with TW, but keep in mind I had a terrible ordeal with TW so my opinion is likely biased. If your unhappy with TW, give it a shot. If you're fine with their service, I see no reason to switch.

Stuff
That's kind of ridiculous. I would of brought the boxes to their office and been over with it the same day.

[BigRedChief]

Pulled the trigger and went with U-verse. Installing on Friday. Getting 3 DVR's, HD, the 300 level plus HBO.

Recording 4 programs at once. Watch DVR stuff on all the TV's. 100 channels of HD. $200 back and no contract, free installation and equipment.

Also got a couple of I-Phones while I was there and switched my local phone to VOIP. Got another $100.00 rebate and no contract(except fot the i-phones). Got another 15% off the total plan and equipment for my wife being a teacher.

[The Franchise]

Pulled the trigger and went with U-verse. Installing on Friday. Getting 3 DVR's, HD, the 300 level plus HBO.

Recording 4 programs at once. Watch DVR stuff on all the TV's. 100 channels of HD. $200 back and no contract, free installation and equipment.

Also got a couple of I-Phones while I was there and switched my local phone to VOIP. Got another $100.00 rebate and no contract(except fot the i-phones). Got another 15% off the total plan and equipment for my wife being a teacher.

You suck.

[Deberg_1990]

Pulled the trigger and went with U-verse. Installing on Friday. Getting 3 DVR's, HD, the 300 level plus HBO.




Holy crap! Thats like $200 bills a month isnt it?

[BigRedChief]

Holy crap! Thats like $200 bills a month isnt it?
uhhh don't know...that sounds kind of bad doesn't it.:doh!:

$152 for the channels and internet fibre per month at 6mbps
$30 for local service and unlimited long distance
$130 for 3 cell phones with unlimited text, 1400 min. of calls, video and internet
$60 for iphone data plan
= $372

Was spending around..$285 so I increased my spending by about $90.00 a month.

[Deberg_1990]

uhhh don't know...that sounds kind of bad doesn't it.:doh!:

$152 for the channels and internet fibre per month at 6mbps
$30 for local service and unlimited long distance
$130 for 3 cell phones with unlimited text, 1400 min. of calls, video and internet
$60 for iphone data plan
= $372

Was spending around..$285 so I increased my spending by about $90.00 a month.

heh, its your money, not mine. :)

Its amazing to me the amount of money people can spend on TV and internet these days.

I pay $100 a month and feel like im paying way too much.

[The Franchise]

$60 for the iphone data plan? JFC.....I now know why I don't have an iphone.

[The Franchise]

heh, its your money, not mine. :)

Its amazing to me the amount of money people can spend on TV and internet these days.

I pay $100 a month and feel like im paying way too much.

I spend:
$75 for DirectTV HD
$80 for Comcast Internet and Phone
$150 for Sprint Everything Family Plan for 2 lines at 1500 minutes.

[BigRedChief]

$60 for the iphone data plan? JFC.....I now know why I don't have an iphone.
Thats for two phones. $30.00 a piece.

[BigRedChief]

heh, its your money, not mine. :)

Its amazing to me the amount of money people can spend on TV and internet these days.

I pay $100 a month and feel like im paying way too much.
I'm in I.T., its a business expense...:rolleyes:

[Dartgod]

Hey BRC. Thinking of switching from Time Warner to U-Verse. Just curious what you think after a few months.

Any other opinions welcome too. I'm specifically interested in the HD issue and also how easy the internet is to set up a home wireless network.

[Deberg_1990]

Hey BRC. Thinking of switching from Time Warner to U-Verse. Just curious what you think after a few months.

Any other opinions welcome too. I'm specifically interested in the HD issue and also how easy the internet is to set up a home wireless network.

Ive had it a couple of years. Just search through the threads and you will find lots of opinions.

HD isnt as good as TW or Direct TV, but its decent enough if your not too picky.

I like UVerse alot. Setting up wireless is a snap.

[Sully]

Wireless is awesome.
HD isn't the greatest, but it's not terrible.

[BigRedChief]

Hey BRC. Thinking of switching from Time Warner to U-Verse. Just curious what you think after a few months.

Any other opinions welcome too. I'm specifically interested in the HD issue and also how easy the internet is to set up a home wireless network.We love it. I see no difference in the HD. You can watch something on the DVR in seperate rooms. You can record 4 programs at once. The guide is much better and easier to use. I have the guide and remote control tied into my yahoo account so I can set up recordings from any computer. I've uploaded over 900 photos to Flickr and I can see the photos on my 52in HD TV. Relaitives love that feature. Caller ID and call history on the TV. Not a single problem with the DVR. Seems like with TW it was locking up or needing a re-boot every week.

They set up the home network while I wasn't there. Didn't cost us a cent. Gave me a username and password that I changed. Gives me a logical and physical representation on the network. I've tested it several times and it seems really secure. New laptop joined the network without a problem. I've never been below 6.5 on the speed so it is performing as advertised. No outages have occured so far.

[BigRedChief]

We love it. I see no difference in the HD. You can watch something on the DVR in seperate rooms. You can record 4 programs at once. The guide is much better and easier to use. I have the guide and remote control tied into my yahoo account so I can set up recordings from any computer. I've uploaded over 900 photos to Flickr and I can see the photos on my 52in HD TV. Relaitives love that feature. Caller ID and call history on the TV. Not a single problem with the DVR. Seems like with TW it was locking up or needing a re-boot every week.

They set up the home network while I wasn't there. Didn't cost us a cent. Gave me a username and password that I changed. Gives me a logical and physical representation on the network. I've tested it several times and it seems really secure. New laptop joined the network without a problem. I've never been below 6.5 on the speed so it is performing as advertised. No outages have occured so far.
And I get to watch the NFL Network now.:clap:

[HC_Chief]

You can record 4 programs at once.

I heard they are upgrading their software soon to allow for >4 HD :D

[Jilly]

I think it's great.....we rarely have issues with it.

[Dartgod]

We love it. I see no difference in the HD. You can watch something on the DVR in seperate rooms. You can record 4 programs at once. The guide is much better and easier to use. I have the guide and remote control tied into my yahoo account so I can set up recordings from any computer. I've uploaded over 900 photos to Flickr and I can see the photos on my 52in HD TV. Relaitives love that feature. Caller ID and call history on the TV. Not a single problem with the DVR. Seems like with TW it was locking up or needing a re-boot every week.

They set up the home network while I wasn't there. Didn't cost us a cent. Gave me a username and password that I changed. Gives me a logical and physical representation on the network. I've tested it several times and it seems really secure. New laptop joined the network without a problem. I've never been below 6.5 on the speed so it is performing as advertised. No outages have occured so far.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm intrigued and will probably make the switch.

BTW, what internet package do you have? I'm currently getting around 6-8 MBps download on RoadRunner and am thinking of getting the 12 MBps package on U-Verse. I'm wondering if the 6 MB would be sufficient?

[BigRedChief]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm intrigued and will probably make the switch.

BTW, what internet package do you have? I'm currently getting around 6-8 MBps download on RoadRunner and am thinking of getting the 12 MBps package on U-Verse. I'm wondering if the 6 MB would be sufficient?I got the 6 mb. no issues watching video wirelessly or anyway. TW was usually 5-6 mb so it's defintely faster.

[The Rick]

We just got it installed about a month ago. So far, not bad.

I definitely see a difference in HD quality when it comes to sports. As far as regular television goes, i don't see any difference in HD quality. With sports however, whenever there is a lot of motion I see a lot of artifacts. I'm going to try to do a better job of calibrating my TV to see if that helps.

The guide, features, etc. are pretty good. The navigation UI and speed is awesome.

Love the Total Home DVR functionality. It's cool having access to all recorded content on any television. We had Tivos prior to U-verse though and the DVR in general isn't as good as a Tivo. For example, with a Tivo, you can specify how many recordings of a particular show you want to keep and you can't with the U-verse DVR (at least, I haven't found a way).

As a whole though, we like U-verse better than our previous Time Warner/Tivo setup.

Regarding Internet access, I've noticed that speeds with AT&T are amazingly consistent, whereas with Road Runner, it was pretty flaky at times.

[Dartgod]

I've uploaded over 900 photos to Flickr and I can see the photos on my 52in HD TV. Relaitives love that feature.
Wait. So you can view web pages over the TV?

[The Rick]

Wait. So you can view web pages over the TV?
No...they just have Flickr (www.flickr.com) integration built in for viewing photos.

[BigChiefFan]

Wait. So you can view web pages over the TV?A little off topic, but if that's what you are looking for the PS3 does that. Nothing like reading the web from the comfort of your couch.;)

[Dartgod]

A little off topic, but if that's what you are looking for the PS3 does that. Nothing like reading the web from the comfort of your couch.;)
My Wii does that, but I rarely use it. I have a laptop for that purpose.

[BigRedChief]

No...they just have Flickr (www.flickr.com (http://www.flickr.com)) integration built in for viewing photos.
This!

[BigRedChief]

With sports however, whenever there is a lot of motion I see a lot of artifacts. I'm going to try to do a better job of calibrating my TV to see if that helps.
I've never seen this issue since I've had U-Verse.

[007]

Still not available in my area of the city. Oh well.

[Dartgod]

Well, I went ahead and ordered it. U300 + HD on three TVs, 12mbs internet and phone.
I got a bunch of discounts on the phone that were not available online.

So they are sceduled to install on Dec. 5th. Thanks for all the input!

[Dartgod]

Well, I went ahead and ordered it. U300 + HD on three TVs, 12mbs internet and phone.
I got a bunch of discounts on the phone that were not available online.

So they are sceduled to install on Dec. 5th. Thanks for all the input!

[Dartgod]

Installation day!

[Deberg_1990]

Installation day!

Hooray. Forgot to mention that installation normally takes longer than a standard cable install.

2 -3 hours on average.

let us know how you like it.

[Dartgod]

I'm not pleased. Since yesterday morning we've had off and on picture freezing, pixelation, at times completely unwatchable. Someone better get out here today and fix this shit or its back to Time Warner.

[BigRedChief]

I'm not pleased. Since yesterday morning we've had off and on picture freezing, pixelation, at times completely unwatchable. Someone better get out here today and fix this shit or its back to Time Warner.I've never had any of those issues. Maybe it wasn't installed correctly? Is it fiber out there or dal?

[Dartgod]

Fiber, I believe.

They're coming out this evening to work on it.

[Dartgod]

The technician just left and seemed to have fixed the issue. he found a splitter in the attic that shouldn't have been there that the installer left. I can't completely blame the installer because the line that split off goes to another bedroom that we did not set up for U-Verse.

So far so good anyway. The HD looks a little better too. I'd have to agree that the HD quality is slightly less than Time Warner, but it's an acceptable trade off for me for all the additional HD channels and other features that U-Verse offers.

[googlegoogle]

The technician just left and seemed to have fixed the issue. he found a splitter in the attic that shouldn't have been there that the installer left. I can't completely blame the installer because the line that split off goes to another bedroom that we did not set up for U-Verse.

So far so good anyway. The HD looks a little better too. I'd have to agree that the HD quality is slightly less than Time Warner, but it's an acceptable trade off for me for all the additional HD channels and other features that U-Verse offers.

lower quality is worth the extra channels like ..........what channels?

[Dartgod]

lower quality is worth the extra channels like ..........what channels?
For starters, NFL Network. More movie channels too.

And when I say slightly lower quality, most of the time its not even noticeable. I do see some artifacts from time to time though.

[BigRedChief]

For starters, NFL Network. More movie channels too.

And when I say slightly lower quality, most of the time its not even noticeable. I do see some artifacts from time to time though.
You should not be getting artifacts.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying the NFL network. Recording 4 shows at once, 4 DVR's, watch recorded shows on any TV. Screw cable.

[Al Bundy]

I ordered this last week, cant wait.

[Pants]

You should not be getting artifacts.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying the NFL network. Recording 4 shows at once, 4 DVR's, watch recorded shows on any TV. Screw cable.

The HD quality is MUCH MUCH lower than Time Warner and Comcast. And I mean, the difference is clearly visible. You do get A LOT more channels in HD though. The UI is 10 times better than anything cable can offer as is the DVR service. The internet is much slower as well (both latency and bandwidth) at least in my area. Your mileage may vary depending where you live, I guess.