Quality In The San Francisco Bay Area

I'm thinking of switching from Dish to Uverse. Can someone from the area share their opinion regarding HD and SD quality? If you had Dish and switched to Uverse, that would be a plus. What will I loose by switching over?

Also, why is AT&T not bundling phone services with high speed internet/TV?

I'm thinking of switching from Dish to Uverse. Can someone from the area share their opinion regarding HD and SD quality? If you had Dish and switched to Uverse, that would be a plus. What will I loose by switching over?

Also, why is AT&T not bundling phone services with high speed internet/TV?

They do, but it's VoIP service. U-verse Voice. Specifically, if you bundle any product, you'll get an additional discount. Even wireless if you have AT&T.

I live in the east bay and have had Uverse service for about 6 months. Your question was regarding picture quality, I can help. In my opinion the video quality of HD providers ranks as follows:

1.OTA - get a Channel Master UHF antenna for the best pic possible.
2. Comcast (although I've heard that they recently compressed their signal further, also most expensive)
3. TIE - Directv and ATT Uverse (both now using mpeg4 compression, good pic, slight pixelation during fast movement).
4. Dishnetwork - much info can be found regarding their HD-lite resolutions.

Of course there are many other reasons to consider Uverse:
IPTV is very cool.
Pricing.
Record 2 SD and 2 HD channels all at once.
Very good GUI and DVR options (remote scheduling from web or mobile phone).
Slideshow your Flickr photos.
The service is in it's infancy and as it matures I think the other providers will be scrambling to come up with a compelling alternative.

Thanks for that information.

How about HD channel lineup? How is it compared to DN? Do they have the same amount of HD channels?

HD channel count is about 42 right now, with Dish network's new sat they will have around 100 (both of these #'s include multiple premium channels). The cool thing about the technology of IPTV is that HD channels can be added without the constraints of transponder availability (satellite) or bandwidth (cable) because all of the video switching is @ ATT's end; the only thing coming down the pipe to your set is the channel you are watching (up to 4, plus your internet service). I suspect the only thing holding back content at this point are negotiations with the content providers.

FYI - I recommend prewiring your house with cat5e or 6 cable, the install techs will take any shortcut they can to get outta there.

FYI - I recommend prewiring your house with cat5e or 6 cable, the install techs will take any shortcut they can to get outta there.

The techs who rush are idiots. They are paid hourly.

If you have a good tech then there is no worries! Not to say doing your own wiring is bad but, Why if someone else will.

Some techs don't care. Some were from cable co.s who throw wire in the dirt or across your door way. AT&T techs, if trained right, will do an outstanding job.

It sucks that Uverse does not have HD Theater, Travel Channel HD, and Biography HD in the west coast. Looks like I may cancel the installation. This is a deal breaker for me.

Any idea if any of these channels will be added in the future (west coast)?

It sucks that Uverse does not have HD Theater, Travel Channel HD, and Biography HD in the west coast. Looks like I may cancel the installation. This is a deal breaker for me.

Any idea if any of these channels will be added in the future (west coast)?

They will know the channel if not listed and posibly when.

I'm thinking of switching from Dish to Uverse. Can someone from the area share their opinion regarding HD and SD quality? If you had Dish and switched to Uverse, that would be a plus. What will I loose by switching over?

Also, why is AT&T not bundling phone services with high speed internet/TV?



I live in Contra Costa county. I switched from Dish to U-verse about 6 months ago.

Have been pretty happy with it. I believe that the picture quality is the same as Dish's. They do bundle Video,Internet & Phone BUT the phone (VoIP) is not available everywhere yet.

The only place I know of in Nor. California that has the phone part is Sacramento.


The one thing I liked about Dish over U-verse is the DVR.

The Dish 622 DVR was the best I've used. The P-I-P funstion is what I miss & also the Dish DVR has a bigger HD I believe.

The techs who rush are idiots. They are paid hourly.

If you have a good tech then there is no worries! Not to say doing your own wiring is bad but, Why if someone else will.

Some techs don't care. Some were from cable co.s who throw wire in the dirt or across your door way. AT&T techs, if trained right, will do an outstanding job.


I wired my whole house myself. All home-run w/ RG6 Steal braided cable. U-verse signal can not be split.

I wired my whole house myself. All home-run w/ RG6 Steal braided cable. U-verse signal can not be split.

Did you use good compression fittings?

The signal is split if you are using RG cable and feeding multiple boxes. The only time it is not is if you use Cat5/6!

Did someone tell you it wasn't split? There is Only one RG output on U-Verse Gateway. From there it goes to one tv/uverse box or to a splitter to feed multiple uverse boxes.

I decided to move forward with the installation. It will be today. My house was built 5 years ago and prewired for cable tv (RG6).

Is there anything I need to pay close attention to during the installation?

You might want to read this: U-Verse IPTV (http://www.highdefinitionblog.com/?page_id=286)

Well, it is installed. IMO, HD quality is better than DN. So do SD channels. However I don't like the fact that I have less HD channels now. AT&T gave me U300 free for 6 months. I didn't know the movie channels are not in HD. We'll see if I'm happy at the end of 30 days.

How is the cost compared to Dish?

How is the cost compared to Dish?

If you compare the Uverse bundle (TV/internet) with my previous service (DN/Comcast internet), I'm paying $16 less /mo. That's not including the $200 cash back and free 6 months of U300. Also, I complained about the lack of HD channels and they gave me 3 months of free internet.

I forgot to mention, I was lucky and got a tech that was very knowledgable. No installation issue.

I've been pretty pleased with U-verse. At first the HD was not up to par, but they have improved that quite a bit and now with the 2 HD streams, I have no problem with it at all.

If you get a chance you should try out the flicker feature. For more information see: U-verse Photos On Your HDTV (http://www.highdefinitionblog.com/?page_id=306)

Later this year we should have the whole house DVR rollout, hopefully.

I've been pretty pleased with U-verse. At first the HD was not up to par, but they have improved that quite a bit and now with the 2 HD streams, I have no problem with it at all.

If you get a chance you should try out the flicker feature. For more information see: U-verse Photos On Your HDTV (http://www.highdefinitionblog.com/?page_id=306)

Later this year we should have the whole house DVR rollout, hopefully.

We have been told late 3rd Quarter or 4th Quarter this year.

Later this year we should have the whole house DVR rollout, hopefully.

We have been told late 3rd Quarter or 4th Quarter this year.


Actually, the RGs have already received the whole home DVR update in the old SW Bell territories (TX, MO, OK, AR). More to come soon.

Actually, the RGs have already received the whole home DVR update in the old SW Bell territories (TX, MO, OK, AR). More to come soon.
In Houston I haven't seen it yet. Are you saying you have the WHDVR now, or the RGs have just been updated with the STB to follow later?

In Houston I haven't seen it yet. Are you saying you have the WHDVR now, or the RGs have just been updated with the STB to follow later?

It has not been activated yet.

According to a tech that came out to work on my system several weeks ago, the STBs actually have already started receiving the new firmware to allow WHDVR. But it will not be activated until the end of this month, or possibly next month.

The reason it even came up was because we thought he might have to replace my STB and he said that during the "update period" they couldn't issue new STBs. Turned out we didn't need to, just replaced the RG.

But it will not be activated until the end of this month, or possibly next month.


Next Month is late 3rd Quarter!

Texas will have it first anyway. NE states will follow.