Anyone have ATT U-Verse?

[TimmyBoston]

I'm moving in a few weeks and I'm considering getting ATT U-verse to replace my cable TV/Internet.

Anyone use it? Like it? What to get? What to avoid? Or just stick with cable. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[TXDeskjockey]

Love it. Much better than cable.

 

[Phog Allen]

Oh boy. I am a bit hesitant to post since I just had a falling out with them last week. I am no longer a customer. I was with them for over three years and for the most part the service was great. Price was good and the speed was consistent. I had Internet only. Where we fell out was over hardware and ultimately customer service. They charge six dollars per month equipment fee for the gateway. When you have Internet only the gateway is wireless g with no n support. After two weeks, three or more chat sessions, two phone calls, and a new gateway I was told was n capable but isn't I got mad and told them to sod off. I cancelled service yesterday and will send the newer gateway back tomorrow. They do make it easy. You take the gateway and p/ s to any UPS store and they box and ship it to AT&T at no charge to the customer.

I think the part I disliked most was the one hand not knowing what the other was doing. I kept getting conflicting information about the wireless capabilities of the gateways and finally when I called to cancel service I was getting the twenty questions routine. More like I was not smart enough to know what was going on. After five minutes of this I firmly and bluntly told the man I was not going to listen to nor answer any further questions and just cancel the ruddy service. I do believe that most of the csrs were actually trying to help but it was like a lumbering blind giant trying to stay the course. I also believe the telly services are their focus and the equipment is geared toward it. I am also sceptical of paying monthly equipment fees when they lock you to them and won't allow third party dsl modems. Neighbours with the telly service seem to really like it.

Cheers, Todd

 

[PaulGeo]

Yes, been happy with it for several years. My wife keeps upgrading the package, so I have no idea what we pay now. We have three TV's going, plus several computers, and XBox Live, and usually have no problems. I wish they would carry Universal Sports though.

 

[shuasdad]

When we first had it, 3+ years ago, it was great. The tech informed us we were close to the box and that's good.

Unfortunately as the rest of the neighbors jumped on the bandwagon, the picture quality dropped, audio and video didn't always sync up.



We switched to Dish, but still have the internet. Every now and then I look around to see if switching makes sense, but haven't pulled the trigger.

 

[Phog Allen]

I might add another reason I went with uverse was their policy toward bandwidth. They had no caps when I started and a year or so later reduced that to 250gb per month. I think they just blew it off because my daughters stream a LOT of Netflix and Hulu. We are a streaming household now. I should also mention that switching to our local cable provider was made easier by that fact the new owners got rid of the bandwidth caps(we'll see how long that lasts) and the ridiculous "line transport fee" of $10 per month if you did not have at least two of their services such as phone/internet or video/internet, etc. Translation; If you are not going to patronise us at least two thirds of your audio/video consumption we're sticking you with a charge to encourage it. Glad to see that mess gone.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Toothpick]

i have it an am not impressed one bit.

I'm paying for the "up to 24mbps" internet speed and with several tests at different times and different days it's been 5-14mbps. I know it states "up to" but that's not even close in my book. When I had Comcast they were consistently in the 18-24 range. DSL sucks

Also their DVR sucks. "you can record up to 4 shows at once" is a bunch of crock! If I'm recording 2 shows I have to be watching one of them or else another TV in the house has to be turned off or watch non-HD channels, if i'm recoding 3 at once then a TV has to be completely off. The whole point of recording shows is so you can WATCH THEM LATER not as you record them! and you have to "interrupt a TV" do even do it!

what's the point of paying for HD service, I think its 10 bucks per month, if you have to watch non-HD channels.

The only thing I like is the wireless cable box.

I will say though that their customer service folks have always treated me nicely. No long hold times, no rude tones, pretty pleasant. I've had AT&T wireless for about 7 years and never had a bad conversation with them.

 

[knlgskr]

Phone and Internet service--good, television not, many lost signal problems, many channels with language other than English without English captions; switched to Dish for TV. ComCast, Dish, ATT are the only "bundled" services we can get in our area; wish we could get SureWest and Verizon and FiberOptic capabilities someday. Check Consumer Reports for their evaluations; pretty accurate from our experiences.

 

[intotheforge]

This thread is very timely for me. I have normal landline, dish and At&T DSL primarily because that is all that was available. Uverse just became available last week and I've been wondering if I should switch or not. I think I am going to eat the cancellation fees and switch based on these comments. My primary reason is the internet. We get less that 2mb down currently. 5 may not be close to 24 but it is double what I get now.

 

[TheVez2]

I'm very unhappy with AT&T. They have horrible customer service.

 

[Toothpick]

They have horrible customer service.

i read this a lot. And the polls prove it too since they are rated lowest regularly.

It just baffles me because I have never experienced anything negative when dealing with a CSR. My wireless account is a "business" or "enterprise" or "corporate" account (I forget what AT&T bills it as), so maybe they treat "us" better?? I've called them numerous times and I don't ever remember being on hold longer than a few minutes and the CSR has always been pleasant.

 

[nole1]

i read this a lot. And the polls prove it too since they are rated lowest regularly.

It just baffles me because I have never experienced anything negative when dealing with a CSR. ... I've called them numerous times and I don't ever remember being on hold longer than a few minutes and the CSR has always been pleasant.

+1. I have them for only internet (U-verse isn't available in my area currently) and any time I've had issues they've been great. One time I was given service free for a month when we were having some issues.

We are moving in a couple months and unfortunately U-verse still wont be available. I'm going to get Directv until it gets extended. For those worried about cancellation fees, I'd go into an AT&T store and talk to them about it. When I first signed up for Directv I was picking up an iPhone and made a passing comment to the rep that I wished U-verse was available. He told me to come in and see him when it is because they can usually buy-out the the remainder of your contracts if you want to switch.

 

[Phog Allen]

I should add something about the customer service. Like many I wondered what all the fuss was about. I had never really had a bad experience with the uverse product. For that matter the wireless service has been good to me on that front as well. In fact, they saved me several hundred dollars once when my daughter went nuts texting on our non-text plan. They changed it to a plan $10 higher that included more minutes to cover the voice minutes and added the $10 per line text plan to her number. Saved me nearly three hundred dollars! This latest issue was a camel back breaker. I simply could not get past the ridiculous Abbot and Costello "who's on first?" routine when dealing with the various branches of customer support. If not for the wacky hardware issue I would still be with them. Never a service outage(more due to good infrastructure I am sure) and stable pricing. Too bad.

Cheers, Todd

 

[bamafan64]

Seems to be a good product, but unfortunately you have to deal with one of the worst companies out there to get it. We recently moved and they told us it would take a MONTH to get DSL and a landline. Cell phone reception at our new house was terrible, as well. Couldn't even get a reliable signal in the yard. 2013, and we had virtually no method of electronic communication for a month. They make a signal booster they were going to let me have for only $199. I refused, considering we didn't have a signal due to their lack of decent equipment in the area. After a couple of hours of chewing on them, I got it for $9.99. A week after we moved in, a cable company came in putting in lines. We had internet cable the next week. After the landline was hooked up, we ordered the Ooma Telo and have a land line for $3.71 per month. After our cell contracts expire, I'll be rid of ATT completely. After I cancelled each one of these plans, I got phone calls and letters asking me to reconsider taking them back for a discount. I spent no less than 24+ hours on the phone with them, begging them to help me keep their service and got the finger in response, so they shouldn't be surprised they're getting the finger from me now.

 

[Redstickjohn]

I have u-verse TV and internet. It works. I'm not going to say that it's the best in the world, but I'm happy enough that I'm not changing anything. I've had it about 3 years.

 

[StillShaving]

Oh boy. I am a bit hesitant to post since I just had a falling out with them last week. I am no longer a customer. I was with them for over three years and for the most part the service was great. Price was good and the speed was consistent. I had Internet only. Where we fell out was over hardware and ultimately customer service. They charge six dollars per month equipment fee for the gateway. When you have Internet only the gateway is wireless g with no n support. After two weeks, three or more chat sessions, two phone calls, and a new gateway I was told was n capable but isn't I got mad and told them to sod off. I cancelled service yesterday and will send the newer gateway back tomorrow. They do make it easy. You take the gateway and p/ s to any UPS store and they box and ship it to AT&T at no charge to the customer.
...

So they provide a fiber/wired termination gateway that includes wireless capability? Could you have turned off the wireless portion and plugged in your own ethernet/wireless router behind the U-Verse box? I ask this because Time Warner Cable just provides a single ethernet jack on their coax cable box, so the customer is required to connect their own wireless gear behind it. Thanks.

 

[Phog Allen]

AT&T uVerse is a developing service. In my area there are no fibre connections available. It is carried on copper to the home. This is through the same plastic telephone demarcation box on 95% of the homes in America. Mine still says Southwestern Bell on it. The tech installed new guts and a uverse/dsl filter in it when he connected the service. It then entered the home via coax to their residential 2Wire gateway/router device they provided. This is where the silliness began.

No matter what you read, there is NO wireless N gateway available for Uverse internet unless you have the newer base unit they provide for video services. This is the stuff you see on the advertisements with the kids lamenting how bad they had it in the pre-wireless internet days. You would have a corresponding wireless receiver at each telly to access the services. These devices are wireless N capable. I was given a new gateway that was supposed to be N capable and it was not. After calling again to find what was up I was told there is NO wireless N device for internet only customers. The only way I could get N was to have a tech come out and install a 'new device' in the home that was capable for only $149. I am sure the rep was alluding to these newer wireless video bases. And since I was not a video customer they were going to make me pay for it. I was already paying them $6 per month for a device I did not want.

This leads to the last ditch effort I made. I tried the idea of shutting off the wireless part of the 2Wire gateway I had and was going to run the new Netgear wireless N router I bought behind it. Good luck. It is probably easier than I am making it out but I could not get it working. Mind, I am abysmal with networking stuff so keep it in the balance here. And the salient issue was still there. Why am I paying six dollars a month for inferior product? And to make matters worse AT&T will not allow you to use a third party dsl modem. I was willing to buy a dsl modem and router and keep their service. No dice. It is a 2Wire gateway or nothing. I was damned if I was paying for theirs every month only to go and buy my own router later. So I bought a cable modem and router anyway and switched to cable service. If you figure their gateway at $6 per month for over three years I paid for the bloody thing anyway. Actually, it was four dollars per month for the first year and a half then it went up to six dollars. I figured it at around $180 spent for equipment I don't own versus the same output for equipment I do own. And sooner or later I was going to have to get my own router anyway if I wanted the faster connection. Sorry to go into such lengthy detail but if anyone is considering Uverse just make sure you ask what service and equipment is available in YOUR area before you sign up. Frankly I liked the service and did not want to quit. The customer service ruined it. And to add insult to injury, two days ago AT&T called me. Oh boy I thought, they are already trying to get me back. The chap on the phone assured me this was not a sales call. He just wanted to know how my service was performing. He was doing quality control inquiries. Imagine his silence when he realised I was no longer a customer.

Cheers, Todd

 

[StillShaving]

Thanks for extra detail Todd. I was asking because U-Verse is offered in my area and I have been tempted to get it for the faster speed. I even got one of their termination/home-ethernet boxes delivered to my home by mistake (it was addressed to my home, but was in other person's name). I let the U-Verse people know about it but its still sitting in the box unused.

I am currently using Time Warner Cable. Their access speeds are okay, but in late afternoon/early evening I notice a slow down. They recently started charging a monthly fee for their home termination unit (router), but on the plus side they dropped the price of the service by the same amount so the net price was exactly the same. Still some people went ballistic and bought their own coax router, as the cost would be recouped within a couple of years max (I can't remember the exact time frame, since I was thinking of moving to U-Verse before that time frame was reached). I am still running my own switched ethernet/wireless router behind the TWC termination unit but I am looking for better speeds and not having to power cycle everything every month (or more frequently).

 

[Toothpick]

I've had trouble with their internet since day one. Their wireless gateway is not strong at all. We have one wireless tv box so I doubt that's the issue.

my internet periodically stops working. it will be loading and loading and loading then say "no data received" or "web page unavailable". this could happen at 8am (like it did today) 10pm or 12am.

and i'm also paying for their "up to 24mbps" and I still have yet to see anything greater than 16mbps and that a one time thing.

I tether my phone to the computer more than I use the DSL because my phone works better and is faster.

results I just did via internetspeedtest.com Wireless (my phone): upload 12mbps download: 8mbps ----- Uverse: download: .20mbps upload: 1mbps.

yup thats a .20. I tried to reload the page and do it again "no data received"

I might have a bad wireless gateway, I think a phone call is in order.

Edit: second test just now with Uverse: 7mbps download 1.3mbps upload. slight improvement but I don't think a wireless phone tethered should be faster than your home internet

 

[mr_economy]

Particularly for a new customer, U-Verse is a great service. AT&T will throw all sorts of freebies at you for your first 6–9 months of service as a new customer. I had U-Verse for 3 years and found it to be very reliable, with only a few hours of noticeable downtime in all of those 3 years.

That being said, there are several important things to consider before getting U-Verse:

1. Your experience heavily depends on the quality of your lines and your distance from the VRAD. My apartment was located close enough to qualify for their top speed package (24mbps Internet), which also meant that my DVR could record up to 3 simultaneous HD shows, plus I could watch a SD show live while those 3 HD shows were recording. Locations with worse signal conditions will limit your top Internet speed and how many simultaneous HD shows you can watch/record

2. Be wary of the wireless TV receivers. They sound like a great idea in theory—TV in any room in the house without having to run cable—but their wireless transmitter wasn't even strong enough to send good signal into my brother's bedroom, all of about 20 feet and through only one wall.

3. AT&T's phone support is terrible. Todd is spot on that each AT&T division seems to be completely siloed from all of the others. One support call might bounce you around to 5-6 different people, none of whom know how to handle the problem, and even if they did know how to handle it the low level representatives don't have power to actually do anything about it. There is a solution to this, albeit a bit clunky: use Twitter. AT&T has a strong customer service presence on Twitter, and they (at least for now) take good care of users who complain on Twitter. Their social media support teams are based in America, and they have actual power to make changes to your account and resolve your problems directly. Once I started using Twitter for my support issues, I had a fantastic experience with the U-Verse customer support.

4. The U-Verse gateway is worthless as a wireless router. Todd mentioned they might have a newer gateway that supports 802.11n, but when I started my U-Verse service their gateways only supported 802.11g wireless. Jason, if you connect wirelessly using the standard 2Wire gateway that came with your service, this is probably why you don't get anywhere near 24mbps—if you connected to the gateway with a cable you would probably get much closer to your advertised speeds, as you also would with setting up a better wireless router behind the 2wire gateway. 802.11g is an antiquated standard, and it operates in one of the most overcrowded parts of the wireless spectrum. Fortunately, it is not all that difficult to set up your own, much more capable wireless router to work with your U-Verse service. A Google search should direct you to a guide on one of the U-Verse forums for how to set up your own router behind the 2wire gateway, and I highly recommend doing so for any U-Verse customers out there.

For reference, when the U-Verse tech first installed our gateway (with the 24mbps plan), I ran a bandwidth test while connected wirelessly and got about 12mbps. Then I ran an ethernet cable from the gateway to my computer and got about 22mbps on the test. When I installed my own Apple Airport Extreme router behind the gateway, I would consistently get 22mbps while connected wirelessly.


Overall, I feel comfortable recommending U-Verse. After eliminating their wireless gateway my speeds were consistently very close to the advertised speed, and unlike cable (as Stillshaving points out) there's no drop in speeds when others in the neighborhood sign on in the evening. I just moved to a building that will soon have Google Fiber installed so I won't be using U-Verse any longer, but if Google Fiber wasn't a choice I absolutely would have brought my U-Verse service with me.