ATT U-verse

[King James]

Does anybody have experience with their service?

New Apartment place Sam and I are going to be moving into was really pushing this, making me wonder how good it is versus how much of a kickback they landlord gets for me signing up.

Was hoping to get a more unbiased review of it here.

[MikeyC]

Moe, one of the Massholes just got it. You should check with him for initial impressions.

[PeteSB75]

I'm still waiting for them to offer this in my complex. Cablevision is crap as far as HD content and on-demand. I want U-Verse for two things, better DVR and NFL Network, and I'll be happy.

[floydp]

I only know one person that has it and he loves it. Looking thru reviews of the system on the net it appears that the jury is still out on it. Siting growing pains with it so far.

[jledou]

I have had Uverse in the house for over a year now and it is alright. For the money you tend to get a little more than cable, but like anything it has it's own quirks. I would say that none of them have driven me back to Comcast which is what I had before switching. I have the U200 and the internet through them at 3.0 mbps. The bandwidth only lags a few times during peak traffic. I did not go with them for the phone (it was going to be the same price as a land line) but rather I have been using Vonage and have not had any problems.

One thing to think about that some don't realize is that you have to have a box for every TV that you want to use it on.

Just my :2 if you have any specific questions let me know.

J

[croatan]

Just switched to U-Verse from Charter. I'm happy with the service so far. I'm getting a whole lot more HD channels, including an extra 20 or so HD movie channels that Charter just didn't offer. Internet is quick and picture quality is good. Being able to record four shows at once (two of which can be HD now) is also better than before, when I could only record two.

(I have U400 and the 6mb internet option.)

[King James]

Do you have to pay for each box? and what kind of fees are there up front?

[croatan]

There were no fees upfront. I haven't gotten my first bill yet, so I don't know exactly how much it's going to cost. I think it'll be around $200 a month for me, give or take.

I have three boxes. Not sure if that costs extra. If so, I doubt it's very much.

[PeteSB75]

Can you have multiple DVR boxes?

[jledou]

You can only have 1 DVR but you can watch any show on that DVR from the other boxes now (can't delete or setup recording from the other boxes though). The only problem with this is that it ends up being a space limit on the DVR.

When I signed up I think it was 3 boxes all HD capable and 1 was a DVR, any additional would be $5/month.

It may be only 2 included now with additional being $5/month.

The extra HD channels are a plus. They will usually include the channels as they become available before anyone else.

[MithShrike]

You can call me if you want. I used to work as tier 2 technical support, fiber to the premises support, supervisor escalations and all kindsa bullshit for U-Verse. YGPM.

[The Dakotan]

I had U-verse prior to moving this summer. I had it for about a year and loved it. I just regret that I can't get it where I'm living now. I didn't have to pay for a second box but things may have changed.

[King James]

I see that the u200 is 64 a month and comes w/ the DVR already. Does that also include HD channels or are those another $10 a month?

[MithShrike]

I see that the u200 is 64 a month and comes w/ the DVR already. Does that also include HD channels or are those another $10 a month?

IIRC HD is another $10 a month but there are normally promotions where that is free for a certain amount of time. As a supervisor for customer appeasement I used to give customers free HD.

[King James]

so $75 monthly bill for u200 w/ HD?

isn't time warner cheaper?

.....and gives me golf HD :)

[Buckeye Jack]

I've had it in Columbus since July. The household dvr is awesome! Lets me watch my shows when I go down to the smoke room. The In demand works great. I really have no complaints other then I don't believe they have a baseball package (atleast not the last time I checked). No biggie though, because that saves me money.

I had a problem with one receiver and they came out pretty fast to replace it. I have also heard you can use the ethernet port on the back of the receiver as a switch port to the internet connection. Still haven't tested it, but if true it will make it nice to plug the xbox360 into it and not use wireless.

BTW, I have the U400 with internet, no phone.

[jledou]

Total for mine U200/3 mb Internet/HD/No phone is just shy of $98 per month. For me there isn't the choice of Time Warner only Comcast which charged about the same price without the HD and DVR.

[LookAtBigErn82]

Living in WI, I had thought about switching to ATT from Time Warner. However I found out that ATT did not offer Comcast Sportsnet Chicago with any of there packages. Deal breaker for me. I'd be missing a ton of Whitesox and Bulls games. Maybe someday they'll get there stuff together, Directv and Dish both offer it.

[md4958]

had UVerse for about a week now, and so far so good. Froze up a couple times, but nothing worth complaining about.

For the price (saving about $70 a month over cable + phone and dsl) Im getting many more channels and way more HD channels.

[MithShrike]

I had a problem with one receiver and they came out pretty fast to replace it. I have also heard you can use the ethernet port on the back of the receiver as a switch port to the internet connection. Still haven't tested it, but if true it will make it nice to plug the xbox360 into it and not use wireless.

Connection bridging is not supported nor recommended. Basically if you have a free Ethernet port on the back of your set top box then your box is run to the gateway via HPNA. This is not exactly the best connection method and if you are getting a stream to the box and using the Ethernet port to have anything go to the Internet it will severely tax not only the set top box but also the residential gateway. If you have any trouble with that configuration do not expect support to help you continue to use it. Just a heads up.

[King James]

I wont need cable internet or digital phone, so would just be the television for me.

Am I correct that the u200 with HD would be the $65 a month for the package and then an additional $10 for HD channels?

[md4958]

I wont need cable internet or digital phone, so would just be the television for me.

Am I correct that the u200 with HD would be the $65 a month for the package and then an additional $10 for HD channels?

consider the entire package also... see if you would be saving any $$

[Beagleone]

My father has U-verse and loves it. I am going to switch over next week when DW is home for spring break. I probably go for U400 for now, then switch back to a lower tier after I figure out what I don't need. My father has 4 boxes on there now with no problems.

[skeeter]

I wont need cable internet or digital phone, so would just be the television for me.

It's not cable internet, more like DSL. I have 10M Internet, U300 with HD and two boxes. Had the setup for around a year, and cannot say enough good things about it. Outstanding picture and sound. I am about to go ahead and get the phones through it also.

[acruce]

Going on 2 years with U-verse it is much better than cable .

[Blueface]

Jim,
I have it since January.
I am a bit pissed at them right now so perhaps I should wait to comment until after I speak to them later today.

However, I will say, screw Comcast so it beats cable.

[Blueface]

My call with AT&T is not going well right now.
Waiting to speak to a manager.
They are a..holes.
Watch out.
The credits they promise as a promotion? God bless you getting them.
You have to watch your bill and call monthly.

I was supposed to get a $200 rebate that then changed to $100. I also get $20 off for six months so should be happy that way as I save $20 more (read on).
I was supposed to get a credit on my long distance bill to $4 a month v. $20. Still waiting.
I was supposed to get $14 off for six months on the boxes. Now they tell me that since I get the $20 off, I can't get the $14 for the boxes.
They are BS artists.

[Blueface]

Well, after being transfered to a voice mail for the manager and having to call back to speak to another one, I made my point.

They are giving me my $14 for 6 months credit and doubling it for the aggravation for two months trying to get my credits.

Look at your bill carefully.
Make sure what you were promised is what you are getting.

[MithShrike]

Blueface, unfortunately AT&T contracts out most of their sales to third parties. As an escalations supervisor there at Tier 2 Technical support I often came across inaccurate sales offers or incorrect billing issues. I am glad to hear that you were provided with credit, it does not always go so well.

[Blueface]

Blueface, unfortunately AT&T contracts out most of their sales to third parties. As an escalations supervisor there at Tier 2 Technical support I often came across inaccurate sales offers or incorrect billing issues. I am glad to hear that you were provided with credit, it does not always go so well.

Poor guys probably never ran into me.:r

[Blueface]

Jim,
One important thing about U-verse in my area. Not sure if the same everywhere.
If you plan on having more than two TVs, you will not have HD on all three.
The lines are set up to only allow 2 HD viewing at the same time. If you try to turn on a third HD set on the HD channels, it will ask you to bump out one of the other two that is on.

I have HD in my bedroom, family room and patio. Fortunately, only two of us at home and only 2 TV's on at the same time so no biggie. If the kids were still home, would be an issue.

Overall, there are some quirks with the system that I am not thrilled with but do in fact like it much, much better than cable. For starters, in my area, Comcast was always experiencing outages. With U-verse, not one yet. Now that the billing issues have been resolved, I can move on and stay with them as won't go back to cable. Rather stay than experiment with Direct TV or Dish, which are the only two left.

[King James]

I wanted dish because it was the cheapest but I don't have a southern facing apartment so I cant get it

[Blueface]

I wanted dish because it was the cheapest but I don't have a southern facing apartment so I cant get it

One thing I forgot to mention. No doubt there was absolutely clearly visible differences in the picture from cable to U-Verse.
Much cleaner image with U-Verse. No more cable rain, even with digital that I had.

[skeeter]

Jim,
One important thing about U-verse in my area. Not sure if the same everywhere.
If you plan on having more than two TVs, you will not have HD on all three.
The lines are set up to only allow 2 HD viewing at the same time. If you try to turn on a third HD set on the HD channels, it will ask you to bump out one of the other two that is on.

I have HD in my bedroom, family room and patio. Fortunately, only two of us at home and only 2 TV's on at the same time so no biggie. If the kids were still home, would be an issue.

Overall, there are some quirks with the system that I am not thrilled with but do in fact like it much, much better than cable. For starters, in my area, Comcast was always experiencing outages. With U-verse, not one yet. Now that the billing issues have been resolved, I can move on and stay with them as won't go back to cable. Rather stay than experiment with Direct TV or Dish, which are the only two left.

This is a function of the overall download speed. Right now I get 25M down, so can only watch one HD channel at a time, since 10M are dedicated to Internet. AT&T is working on getting the speed higher (and obviously have in your area). They are now offering 18M Internet here, so have made some improvements.
Stay with it, they are investing tons of money to make this service even better, and for my money it is far superior to cable already. Sorry to here about your bad experience.....not everyone will have a good story with any service. The important thing is did they correct it to your satisfaction?

[ToddziLLa]

I am absolutely thrilled with it. So much better than Time Warner! Damn near twice the HD selection for much less! I have the U200 and Express Internet package.

I got my first $50 Visa check card two weeks after service started, and will get my other $200 soon.

Lots of the horror stories you hear were from the early days. IMO, most of if not all of the kinks are worked out.

Go for it.

[BORIStheBLADE]

I've had Uverse since it was available in my area. I really like it. I have has comcast, directv and my parents have dish. I prefer Uverse out of all of them, but directv is next in line. :tu

It has little quirks, but all of them do.

If they bump up the HD transmissions from 2 to 4 I will sign up for HD.

[Blueface]

The important thing is did they correct it to your satisfaction?
Sure did.
As with any customer service issue, never stop at that front person.
Always seek out a manager that knows what to do.
In the end, all is well now.

[skeeter]

Sure did.
As with any customer service issue, never stop at that front person.
Always seek out a manager that knows what to do.
In the end, all is well now.

Glad to hear it.
You may understand when I tell you...I am chip...if you did not know.

[King James]

I have had U-verse for close to a month now and am really liking it. :tu

[Genetic Defect]

I'll stick with D*

[cle_smoker]

Would anyone with Uverse care to chime in now with how your service and experience has been? A rep was going door to door last week selling people on it. They recently upgraded the lines in my area and are now offering it. I bit on the 30 day free trial just to see if it is worth it. I'm not particularly happy with my current cable company and had been debating on going to dish. Thanks.

[King James]

We have been using it for a few months now and really like it for internet and TV. Nice options for channels (although no Palladia w/ basic HD channels which sucks) And the internet hasn't given any problems either

[cle_smoker]

Thanks for the reply Jim. I hope it is as good as advertised. I'll update this with my experience.

[BengalMan]

I only wish U-Verse or FIOS was offered in my area. Until then, I'm stuck with garbage Time Warner Cable

[cle_smoker]

Well I got U-verse installed today and it is incredible. Based on what I was paying versus now there is nothing out there that can beat it. Great picture, great features, great price. Obviously this is based on just a few hours but I am loving it so far.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Scottastic]

I work for AT&T so keep that in mind with this post...

I think it's amazing! You don't share bandwidth like you do with Comcast, no throttling on the internet, tv quality is really good (compression rates are much better, especially with HD) and having one DVR for all your rooms is pretty impressive. Make sure in your area they are supporting the new Sysco boxes, as the Motorola ones have had a few problems. Also, not all markets let you set recordings from all rooms, so see if yours does.

If internet is your thing, they just released a 24mbps option. It's crazy expensive, but remember that it is dedicated. 24mbps = 3mBps. It's insane. To put it in perspective: 1 mp3 = 1 second. One HD movie = 5 minutes.

Don't, whatever you do, get Uverse Voice. Don't get me wrong: it's a fine product, but you can get the stability of a regular phone line with unlimited calling for the same $30 if you have TV and Internet. Plus, porting your number to VoIP is a pain. Ask for the "All Distance Package", you won't regret it.

[tuxpuff]

Well Time Warner has pissed me off for the last time. Absolutely horrible service and customer support. I would rather have nothing than give those aholes another dime. Ok enough ranting.

Question on uverse...are there any caps / downloading limits? Do they require contracts? Is there any haggling room by calling sales and telling them I am considering a switch from Time Warner?

[Blueface]

I like U-Verse after nearly a year now but it does have some flaws, as all systems do.
Overall, the picture quality is amazing compared to cable.
I just went nuts and reduced my package.
I had the 450 but went up to $135.00 month for total bill.
Reduced it to the 200 package for now to see if I miss the channels yielding a $35 plus tax savings per month.

[BFallehy]

I work for AT&T so keep that in mind with this post...


Somehow when I saw the title of this I knew you were going to chime in Scott. :r

I will say that I realy like Uverse, it is pretty good but with like anything just don't get your hopes up about anything special. If you start thinking it is going to be so much better than what you have now you will just be disapointed. I think it is a pretty good product but as with any cable company it is way overpriced, now they are all overpriced so it doesn't realy matter that much.
I did recently turn down the speed of the internet and honestly haven't seen much of an issue with it and it saved me about 25 buchs to do it.
The best thing is the multiple DVR's, if you are like me and have a GF or wife at home who just has to record a bunch of garbage you would rather stab yourself than watch, getting the extra dvr for the bedroom is a must. Trust me when I say that it is worth $10 bucks a month to avoid watching another reality/make over/style/bridal/how to castrate your man show. :ss

[tuxpuff]

The best thing is the multiple DVR's, if you are like me and have a GF or wife at home who just has to record a bunch of garbage you would rather stab yourself than watch, getting the extra dvr for the bedroom is a must. Trust me when I say that it is worth $10 bucks a month to avoid watching another reality/make over/style/bridal/how to castrate your man show. :ss

:r

Well I pulled the trigger. No contracts...no download limits. I talked to online chat and they gave me an extra $100 on top of the $250 money back already offered. F U Time Warner!

[catfish2]

Your tivo will instantly be useless.

[tuxpuff]

since I don't have one I'm not too worried
Posted via Mobile Device

[rack04]

I'm looking at switching to Uverse but I was just told by a CSR:

Simultaneously playback up to 4 recorded programs (1HD & 3SD) to any AT&T U-Verse supported room you choose, playback and control multiple instances of the same program on different receivers, pause a recorded program on the Total Home DVR and pick up at same point or start over in another room, program your Total Home Total Home DVR from anywhere you have access to your U-Verse High-Speed Internet.

Basically if I'm watching HD channel in the living room I can't watch/record HD is another. Does this sound right?

[tuxpuff]

I only have 1 TV but I know that I can record / watch only 2HD shows at once...I would guess that holds true when pushing data out to other TVs. I think they say it that way just to push the '4 recorded programs at once' idea. Then again I may be completely wrong :)

[jledou]

Previously it was only one HD and 3 SD at one time but it did go to 2 HD and 2 SD at the same time last year at least in KC.

[jledou]

Your tivo will instantly be useless.

TiVo isn't totally worthless you just have to jump through a few hoops including ir remote and and only on channel at a time on tivo ... one more thing you have to make TIVO change the channel once every 4 hours ... of course I am assuming it is the series 2 tivo and not the HD tivo, HD tivo and uverse = fail

[King James]

Have found their sports package is complete crap if you want to watch hockey. All you get extra is the NHL Network channel. You get all the fox sports channels that are showing the game, but they are all blocked out. So I guess you have to decide if one extra channel a month for games (and maybe a few of the fox games a month actual get televised for me) is worth $10 a month

[BORIStheBLADE]

I only have 1 TV but I know that I can record / watch only 2HD shows at once...I would guess that holds true when pushing data out to other TVs. I think they say it that way just to push the '4 recorded programs at once' idea. Then again I may be completely wrong :)

I have had Uverse for a while and if you have SD its 4 at once whether your watching and or recording too. If its HD its 2 watching and or recording.

[BeerAdvocate]

I got hooked up this week. It took a little while to get use to it, but I think I am going to like it. Their customer service has been great. So that is always good. Im saving $30 a month by switching from Cox, and the service and features are better.

[Scothew]

If internet is your thing, they just released a 24mbps option. It's crazy expensive, but remember that it is dedicated. 24mbps = 3mBps. It's insane. To put it in perspective: 1 mp3 = 1 second. One HD movie = 5 minutes.
.

AT&T/Bellsouth can't get DSL out to my area but they are offereing this.... only reason i hate living in rural area.

Poe on here got the AT&T U-Verse and really likes it from what I understand. I've used his Internet a bit, and its pretty wicked.