u-verse opinions

davecramer74 · 12-08-2008, 04:49 PM

Ive had directv and comcast HD. Ive seen both u-verse and dish network at buddies houses. All 4 have great quality in HD, at least where i am at, SF bay area cali. Directv and dish seem to have the most HD channels. Comcast had added a shitload in the last year though.

How many does uverse have? Any of you experience any "freezing" or glitchy stuff like that going on with uverse. I noticed my inlaws was doing it. My comcast does it once in awhile and satelite obviously does it due to weather, etc. Just curious if he was having issues with his or is it just something to expect.

Internet, im staying with comcast. I have 16mbit down and 2mbit up.

So i guess, im looking for pro's and cons of the uverse tv service.

I like the multi room dvr obviously. Really just curious on the HD programming, if you have or how often you've had uverse go down on you. Ive kept an eye on it as they first started rolling it out. I'm just wondering if they've worked out the kinks and its a reliable and good service now.

Im dumping comcast tv, they charge me a fortune. If i dont go uverse Im leaning toward directv again because their hd dvr is free now and i would like the option to get the nfl package.

greatmazinga · 12-08-2008, 05:07 PM

I live in the east bay and have had uverse about 8 months. The first week or so the main DVR would reset every morning and I would lose my settings (I think firmware updates were being downloaded). After that I have never had a problem. I believe most freezing/stutter issues originate within the inside wiring. I ran a new CAT5E cable straight to each television before the tech came out, they like to reuse existing coax to save time and sometimes there are unseen splitters/attenuation which will affect the network.

BTW - Uverse now offers 6,12 and 18meg broadband cheaper than Comcast.

davecramer74 · 12-08-2008, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greatmazinga

I live in the east bay and have had uverse about 8 months. The first week or so the main DVR would reset every morning and I would lose my settings (I think firmware updates were being downloaded). After that I have never had a problem. I believe most freezing/stutter issues originate within the inside wiring. I ran a new CAT5E cable straight to each television before the tech came out, they like to reuse existing coax to save time and sometimes there are unseen splitters/attenuation which will affect the network.

BTW - Uverse now offers 6,12 and 18meg broadband cheaper than Comcast.

where you at in the east bay? I just bought a house out in oakley, moving there in the next week or 2. wow, they just changed that internet. It was only 10mbit on their site just last week. But showing it now...

Cygnus · 12-09-2008, 04:21 PM

So how good is the pic quality of Uvers (Ultimate TV as its called here in chi)? Does at+t try to force you to get a landline? How much cheaper for Uverse HDTV/internet service when compared to comcast? Do you have to be near the CO in order to get the faster speeds?

awol · 12-12-2008, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davecramer74

where you at in the east bay? I just bought a house out in oakley, moving there in the next week or 2. wow, they just changed that internet. It was only 10mbit on their site just last week. But showing it now...

Also, do you constantly get the 16 Mbps downloads you're supposed to from Comcast?? My experience with Cable was lackluster to say the least. I had their 7.0 tier but never got more than 3-4 due to the shared nature of the line. U-verse has stayed pretty rock solid at 5.5-5.75 Mbps. So in reality it's not only cheaper, but a MUCH better value as I'm actually getting what I'm paying for.

awol · 12-12-2008, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cygnus

So how good is the pic quality of Uvers (Ultimate TV as its called here in chi)? Does at+t try to force you to get a landline? How much cheaper for Uverse HDTV/internet service when compared to comcast? Do you have to be near the CO in order to get the faster speeds?

Advanced TV is just AT&T's moniker for their TV products. U-verse is the first priority where available, DirecTV (used to be Dish) is their second priority if U-verse is not available. I can't speak for Comcast in your area specifically. But compared to TWC, I'm getting better service for about $25 less per month. I'm also getting what I think is a better value every month. The Internet is DSL rather than Cable. I had the 7.0 tier with TWC but never got more than 3-4 due to the sharing nature of the line. With U-verse, I get a consist 5.5-5.75 on their 6.0 tier.

The distance to the CO has nothing to do with it now as it's Fiber to the Node. So long as you're within 5000 (I think) feet of the VRAD in your neighborhood, you'll get optimum speeds and quality.

You do not have to have a landline, but if you have AT&T Wireless you will get a bundle discount if you bundle it with U-verse.

**rbinck** · 12-12-2008, 07:23 PM

I think it is 3000 feet.

davecramer74 · 12-15-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awol

Also, do you constantly get the 16 Mbps downloads you're supposed to from Comcast?? My experience with Cable was lackluster to say the least. I had their 7.0 tier but never got more than 3-4 due to the shared nature of the line. U-verse has stayed pretty rock solid at 5.5-5.75 Mbps. So in reality it's not only cheaper, but a MUCH better value as I'm actually getting what I'm paying for.

Not sure at the place im moving to, but ya, at my old place i could. You could run a test off speakeasy.net/speedtest anytime of the day and it pegged.

Anywho, uverse lost me when i went to click on installation appointment. Not till like jan 12th??? No tv, no internet for 22 days. =sigh=

awol · 12-16-2008, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davecramer74

Not sure at the place im moving to, but ya, at my old place i could. You could run a test off speakeasy.net/speedtest anytime of the day and it pegged.

Anywho, uverse lost me when i went to click on installation appointment. Not till like jan 12th??? No tv, no internet for 22 days. =sigh=

Why would you disconnect your current service prior to having the new service installed? I didn't. Cable was still up and running for 5 days after U-verse was going. I canceled it after I was satisfied with the U-verse system.

Flipsonic · 12-17-2008, 10:40 AM

Dave - I live in Antioch (neighboring town of Oakley). I've had U since summer of 2008. I've had Comcast and DN in the past. I must say, U is the best service I've had so far. IMO PQ is far more superior compared to C and DN. And that includes SD channels. This morning I counted 62 HD channels. It will go down to 49 when the bonus channels are removed (movie channels - 1st 6 months were free when I signed up). Most important, U now has all HD channels I like to watch. They weren't available when I signed up. It was almost a show stopper for me . I'm glad I switched.
I have experienced freezing (what I call digital noise). But it's only for a second or two. The service went down once. They must have sent a software upgrade to the RG and the HD box went stupid. My SD TVs were not affected. The HD box had to be replaced and everything is fine now. I dumped C and DN for the same reason you mentioned ($$). You will be satisfied with the U service.

davecramer74 · 12-17-2008, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Why would you disconnect your current service prior to having the new service installed? I didn't. Cable was still up and running for 5 days after U-verse was going. I canceled it after I was satisfied with the U-verse system.

i just bought a house and move on this saturday (20th). I would have no internet or tv if i went with uverse till the 12th of jan at my new house. I should have ordered uverse like a month ago if i wanted it. But i wasnt sure i was going to get the house, etc. I work from home alot, so no internet for that long was not an option for me. I ended up going directv / comcast cable modem. I've had directv in the past and i have 2 friendds with it. I like it. My main goal was to dump comcast tv. they rape you on prices.

darronk · 12-18-2008, 01:39 PM

I had U-Verse TV and internet installed 2 months ago. I have the DVR on my Sansung DLP TV downstairs and a regular HD box upstairs on a smaller TV. The At&t signal comes in from the street on twisted pair (phone line) and the TV signal is routed through my home existing co-ax.

For Highspeed Internet I had the RG placed in my office so I could have maximum bandwidth for my laptop and desktop pc, and I set up a wireless network for my wife's laptop and so I could roam with my work laptop if I wanted.

The Internet has worked flawlessly.

The TV service: A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!
From the install, I have had freezing screens, the DVR freezing and/or resetting itself in the middle of shows constantly, as well as the TV in our bedroom freezing permanently within 30 mins of turning it on. I have had AT&T out to the house to troubleshoot the system five times now. Each time they clean connections and claim the system is running fine per their tests and that I should not have further issues. Each time they leave the thing works better but then falls apart and I am right back where I started. They have referred my to 2nd line tech who monitored from somewhere in Arizona or Texas and finally decided the RG was bad and scheduled for a technician to come replace it.

The ONLY KUDOS I will give is the service itself when it works. I love being able to access the DVR from the other TV, and being able to set up recording online is a REALLY COOL feature. The programming is great, the HD picture is better than Comcast's on my Samsung 46" DLP. My only complaint (well, my wife's complaint is that there is no holiday music channel but i could live without that if the TV service was reliable).

THE TECH SERVICE SCHEDULING IS THE WORST EXAMPLE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER DEALTH WITH. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS AT&T CUSTOMER SERVICE.

The technicians finally diagnosed the issue as being a faulty RG (two weeks ago) but I have not been able to get a technician out to my house to replace it. Apparently, AT&T had a data center catastrophy and lost my appt with their systems (but magically the customer service person could see that they had my appointment, called me to tell me of their issues and asked me to call back to reschedule in a week (Get that, they missed the appt, had to delay a week for thier system issues, but it was MY responsibility to call THEM to reschedule a tech a week later).

So me, being a good guy, putting aside all of my feelings about why a national TV service wouldn't have a co-located data center in case a catastrophy happens to prevent customer service issues, called them a week later to reschedule my appointment.

Guess what????? No one showed up. WTF? Are you kidding me? After I laid it on the line, told them if they couldn't get the service to work properly i was going back to comcast, they missed the appointment, didn't call, didn't send a courtesy email. I had to call them again.

So as it stands today, I have a great internet connection, intermittant TV/DVR service, and a freezing TV in the bedroom. AT&T has one more chance to get this right or they will find there equipment in the dumpster at the end of my street.

A VERY UNSATISIFED AT&T U-Verse CUSTOMER

davecramer74 · 12-19-2008, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darronk

I had U-Verse TV and internet installed 2 months ago. I have the DVR on my Sansung DLP TV downstairs and a regular HD box upstairs on a smaller TV. The At&t signal comes in from the street on twisted pair (phone line) and the TV signal is routed through my home existing co-ax.

For Highspeed Internet I had the RG placed in my office so I could have maximum bandwidth for my laptop and desktop pc, and I set up a wireless network for my wife's laptop and so I could roam with my work laptop if I wanted.

The Internet has worked flawlessly.

The TV service: A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!
From the install, I have had freezing screens, the DVR freezing and/or resetting itself in the middle of shows constantly, as well as the TV in our bedroom freezing permanently within 30 mins of turning it on. I have had AT&T out to the house to troubleshoot the system five times now. Each time they clean connections and claim the system is running fine per their tests and that I should not have further issues. Each time they leave the thing works better but then falls apart and I am right back where I started. They have referred my to 2nd line tech who monitored from somewhere in Arizona or Texas and finally decided the RG was bad and scheduled for a technician to come replace it.

The ONLY KUDOS I will give is the service itself when it works. I love being able to access the DVR from the other TV, and being able to set up recording online is a REALLY COOL feature. The programming is great, the HD picture is better than Comcast's on my Samsung 46" DLP. My only complaint (well, my wife's complaint is that there is no holiday music channel but i could live without that if the TV service was reliable).

THE TECH SERVICE SCHEDULING IS THE WORST EXAMPLE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER DEALTH WITH. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS AT&T CUSTOMER SERVICE.

The technicians finally diagnosed the issue as being a faulty RG (two weeks ago) but I have not been able to get a technician out to my house to replace it. Apparently, AT&T had a data center catastrophy and lost my appt with their systems (but magically the customer service person could see that they had my appointment, called me to tell me of their issues and asked me to call back to reschedule in a week (Get that, they missed the appt, had to delay a week for thier system issues, but it was MY responsibility to call THEM to reschedule a tech a week later).

So me, being a good guy, putting aside all of my feelings about why a national TV service wouldn't have a co-located data center in case a catastrophy happens to prevent customer service issues, called them a week later to reschedule my appointment.

Guess what????? No one showed up. WTF? Are you kidding me? After I laid it on the line, told them if they couldn't get the service to work properly i was going back to comcast, they missed the appointment, didn't call, didn't send a courtesy email. I had to call them again.

So as it stands today, I have a great internet connection, intermittant TV/DVR service, and a freezing TV in the bedroom. AT&T has one more chance to get this right or they will find there equipment in the dumpster at the end of my street.

A VERY UNSATISIFED AT&T U-Verse CUSTOMER

Ya, sounds like certain area's its not ready for primetime. My in-laws freezes, etc too i noticed when i was over there. Although i dont think theres was quite as bad as yours. im suprised they missing appt's though. If they want this to succeed, they need to be going above and beyond.

greatmazinga · 12-19-2008, 12:20 PM

Did the technician install new wiring to each outlet or did he reuse the existing wire? I don't know when your house was built but you may have old, low bandwidth COAX causing your problems or there may be a hidden or faulty cable splitter in the walls somewhere.

For a problem free network, place the RG in the garage and run a new CAT5e or CAT6 network cable from the RG to each television/computer location. Insisting that the RG be placed next to your computer will not give you bandwidth priority, it only increases the opportunities for conflict/corruption caused by your existing inside wiring.

wase4711 · 12-29-2008, 01:31 PM

yep, these issues are ALWAYS caused by bad wiring/bad installation..
Your PQ should be perfect, and, it will be when you get the installation issues fixed.

12-08-2008, 04:49 PM	#1
davecramer74 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bay Area California Age: 35 Posts: 1,053	u-verse opinions Ive had directv and comcast HD. Ive seen both u-verse and dish network at buddies houses. All 4 have great quality in HD, at least where i am at, SF bay area cali. Directv and dish seem to have the most HD channels. Comcast had added a shitload in the last year though. How many does uverse have? Any of you experience any "freezing" or glitchy stuff like that going on with uverse. I noticed my inlaws was doing it. My comcast does it once in awhile and satelite obviously does it due to weather, etc. Just curious if he was having issues with his or is it just something to expect. Internet, im staying with comcast. I have 16mbit down and 2mbit up. So i guess, im looking for pro's and cons of the uverse tv service. I like the multi room dvr obviously. Really just curious on the HD programming, if you have or how often you've had uverse go down on you. Ive kept an eye on it as they first started rolling it out. I'm just wondering if they've worked out the kinks and its a reliable and good service now. Im dumping comcast tv, they charge me a fortune. If i dont go uverse Im leaning toward directv again because their hd dvr is free now and i would like the option to get the nfl package. __________________ Vizio 42" LCD Phillips 50" plasma

12-09-2008, 04:21 PM	#4
Cygnus The Bringer of Balance Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 7,145	So how good is the pic quality of Uvers (Ultimate TV as its called here in chi)? Does at+t try to force you to get a landline? How much cheaper for Uverse HDTV/internet service when compared to comcast? Do you have to be near the CO in order to get the faster speeds? __________________ Toshiba 57H81 Kenwood VR-616 Comcast DCT6412 III XBox 360 GamerTag Sec0nd2N0n3

12-12-2008, 07:23 PM	#7
rbinck Administrator Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Katy, Texas Posts: 12,946	I think it is 3000 feet. __________________ www.highdefinitionblog.com www.BlogOfHawaii.com

12-17-2008, 10:40 AM	#10
Flipsonic Got HDTV? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Bay Area California Posts: 162	Dave - I live in Antioch (neighboring town of Oakley). I've had U since summer of 2008. I've had Comcast and DN in the past. I must say, U is the best service I've had so far. IMO PQ is far more superior compared to C and DN. And that includes SD channels. This morning I counted 62 HD channels. It will go down to 49 when the bonus channels are removed (movie channels - 1st 6 months were free when I signed up). Most important, U now has all HD channels I like to watch. They weren't available when I signed up. It was almost a show stopper for me . I'm glad I switched. I have experienced freezing (what I call digital noise). But it's only for a second or two. The service went down once. They must have sent a software upgrade to the RG and the HD box went stupid. My SD TVs were not affected. The HD box had to be replaced and everything is fine now. I dumped C and DN for the same reason you mentioned ($$). You will be satisfied with the U service. __________________ Samsung HL6187W 61" 1080p Panasonic DMP-BD35K Blu Ray Denon AVR-1603 DTS Receiver VIP 1216 DVR (AT&T Uverse) Klipsch KSF 8.5 Tower Speakers (front) Klipsch KSC-C1 Center Channel Speaker Klipsch KSW12 Subwoofer Energy Satellite Rear Speakers Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Nintendo Wii Last edited by Flipsonic; 12-17-2008 at 11:07 AM.

12-18-2008, 01:39 PM	#12
darronk What is HD? Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 1	Trouble With AT&T U-Verse I had U-Verse TV and internet installed 2 months ago. I have the DVR on my Sansung DLP TV downstairs and a regular HD box upstairs on a smaller TV. The At&t signal comes in from the street on twisted pair (phone line) and the TV signal is routed through my home existing co-ax. For Highspeed Internet I had the RG placed in my office so I could have maximum bandwidth for my laptop and desktop pc, and I set up a wireless network for my wife's laptop and so I could roam with my work laptop if I wanted. The Internet has worked flawlessly. The TV service: A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!! From the install, I have had freezing screens, the DVR freezing and/or resetting itself in the middle of shows constantly, as well as the TV in our bedroom freezing permanently within 30 mins of turning it on. I have had AT&T out to the house to troubleshoot the system five times now. Each time they clean connections and claim the system is running fine per their tests and that I should not have further issues. Each time they leave the thing works better but then falls apart and I am right back where I started. They have referred my to 2nd line tech who monitored from somewhere in Arizona or Texas and finally decided the RG was bad and scheduled for a technician to come replace it. The ONLY KUDOS I will give is the service itself when it works. I love being able to access the DVR from the other TV, and being able to set up recording online is a REALLY COOL feature. The programming is great, the HD picture is better than Comcast's on my Samsung 46" DLP. My only complaint (well, my wife's complaint is that there is no holiday music channel but i could live without that if the TV service was reliable). THE TECH SERVICE SCHEDULING IS THE WORST EXAMPLE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER DEALTH WITH. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS AT&T CUSTOMER SERVICE. The technicians finally diagnosed the issue as being a faulty RG (two weeks ago) but I have not been able to get a technician out to my house to replace it. Apparently, AT&T had a data center catastrophy and lost my appt with their systems (but magically the customer service person could see that they had my appointment, called me to tell me of their issues and asked me to call back to reschedule in a week (Get that, they missed the appt, had to delay a week for thier system issues, but it was MY responsibility to call THEM to reschedule a tech a week later). So me, being a good guy, putting aside all of my feelings about why a national TV service wouldn't have a co-located data center in case a catastrophy happens to prevent customer service issues, called them a week later to reschedule my appointment. Guess what????? No one showed up. WTF? Are you kidding me? After I laid it on the line, told them if they couldn't get the service to work properly i was going back to comcast, they missed the appointment, didn't call, didn't send a courtesy email. I had to call them again. So as it stands today, I have a great internet connection, intermittant TV/DVR service, and a freezing TV in the bedroom. AT&T has one more chance to get this right or they will find there equipment in the dumpster at the end of my street. A VERY UNSATISIFED AT&T U-Verse CUSTOMER

12-08-2008, 05:07 PM	#2
greatmazinga technology whore Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 81	I live in the east bay and have had uverse about 8 months. The first week or so the main DVR would reset every morning and I would lose my settings (I think firmware updates were being downloaded). After that I have never had a problem. I believe most freezing/stutter issues originate within the inside wiring. I ran a new CAT5E cable straight to each television before the tech came out, they like to reuse existing coax to save time and sometimes there are unseen splitters/attenuation which will affect the network. BTW - Uverse now offers 6,12 and 18meg broadband cheaper than Comcast.

12-19-2008, 12:20 PM	#14
greatmazinga technology whore Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 81	Did the technician install new wiring to each outlet or did he reuse the existing wire? I don't know when your house was built but you may have old, low bandwidth COAX causing your problems or there may be a hidden or faulty cable splitter in the walls somewhere. For a problem free network, place the RG in the garage and run a new CAT5e or CAT6 network cable from the RG to each television/computer location. Insisting that the RG be placed next to your computer will not give you bandwidth priority, it only increases the opportunities for conflict/corruption caused by your existing inside wiring.

12-29-2008, 01:31 PM	#15
wase4711 Sony XBR2 70 inch Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 47	yep, these issues are ALWAYS caused by bad wiring/bad installation.. Your PQ should be perfect, and, it will be when you get the installation issues fixed.

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