Review by Enlightener 
UPDATED: 79 days ago
member for 2.5 years, 734 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Cedar Park,Williamson,TX
 $55 per month
 about 14 days
 "Rock Solid, Fast Connection with no bundled crap!"
 "Still Not FiOS and Calling Orders/Billing Sucks"
 "The closest to FTTP Nirvana I've ever been with AT&T"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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About 1 1/2 years ago I moved to a new subdivision with FTTP service. Ordering it was very difficult, I spent hours on the phone being transferred around to the right department. The installers did a wonderful job and it is a rock solid connection.
My original review reflected this and it attracted alot of U-verse troll posts.
Updated: I recently switched over to U-verse MAXX ( YEAH, no more metered phone # I didn't use ) and I'm really enjoying the 10/1.5 service. I get very close to the stated speeds for $55/mo. Latency is also really nice.
When I switched to U-verse I ordered U200 to try it out ( and avoid the $100 install fee ) and then cancelled it. Calling up AT&T and trying to cancel the service was ery, very difficult. Ohwell, it's done now so it's time to just kick back and enjoy the internet service.
Followup comments:  
yogibear227
@spcsdns.net
| Uverse is FTTN not FTTP Uverse by ATT is Fiber to the Node not Fiber to the Premise. The Fiber is way back by the switch that goes to your neighborhood of 500 or so homes. The rest is on 90 yr old Copper telephone lines.
The reason they can deliver ONLY 6Mbs is because the system of FTTN is limited to 25Mps BANDWIDTH. So if they give HDTV(compressed) 12.5 MB of Bandwidth and they give the voice or tivo package (telephones) bandwidth. That only leaves 6Mps for Internet /IP for your computer.
You are another ATT customer who has been suckered for the FTTN approach. Thinking that FTTH delivers the same as FTTH. It doesn't. This is the 'cheap' approach ATT/SBC wants you to accept for now. They don't want to deliver because it means spending big money like Verizon is doing.
Meanwhile they must devote bandwidth to get HDTV to you, the also must deliver more bandwidth to allow you to TIVO in HDTV mode.
»www.isp-planet.com/cplanet/tech/···607.html
Companies like ATT that deliver only 6Mps Bandwidth will be shot down by the Competition... so reports Dave Burnstein of Dsl Prime ( So if you don't believe me, believe Dave B. and his June 7,2007 article)
The Cable company Digital Cable is actual Coax Fiber & Copper and it is thicker than twisted pair phone line.
Suggest you brush up on technology and its limitations before adding Uverse. | |
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ericl
@sbcglobal.net
| Re: Uverse is FTTN not FTTP who cares? I just got uverse, but it works great and destroys my comcast, now Time Warner HD cable/cable Internet package in price. $101 a month (plus fees and taxes) is now $74. The Internet is plenty fast - saving $30 per month and still having high speed Internet, and more channels, and neat functions like Picture in Picture channel browsing, a multi-tuner DVR (since it's not really tuning), etc... I'll put up with 1Mbps average instead of 2Mbps. | |
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Yogibear227
@spcsdns.net
| Re: Uverse is FTTN not FTTP You will care when you can't Tivo a show cause your watching HDTV and you don't have enough bandwidth cause your kids are gaming. Or when your wife wants to watch one HDTV program and you want to watch another. Or when your children want to game on the net and you want to do your work for the next day; you won't mind if they take your bandwidth & knock you off.
FTTP has the capacity now & into the forseeable Broadband future...one need not compromise
Your $74 is an introductary rate only for 3 months. What is the rate after 3 months Same as Comcast...Your Prices subject to change + a termination fee applies + installation,+ fee for wireless networking + More fees and taxes.
»https://uverse1.att.com/OmsNavigateMenuAction.do
| |
| | | | Enlightener
join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX
 ·AT&T U-Verse
edit:
June 9th, @11:22PM
| Re: Uverse is FTTN not FTTP Yogi-
I don't have U-Verse and I don't have FTTN. I have FTTP service. Would you like to see the pictures of the ONT on the side of my to prove it?
Pics in this thread:
»FTTP in D/FW TX??
My point, which you completly lost, was that even though I have FTTP and I should have all of the capacity from now until the forseeable future, it's actually capped at 6MB and runs over the same ATM backbone that DSL does so I only get 5mb.
And that's on a good day, which tonight is not.
 | |
| | | | | koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
edit:
June 10th, @12:58AM
| Why not post a review for AT&T FTTP? What I don't understand is why you didn't make a review for AT&T FTTP instead of U-verse...Since technically, you don't have U-verse just yet, or at least that is what I understood.
BTW, I just checked, and they do have AT&T FTTP listed as an ISP to review, and the only person to review it so far is MarkyD. | |
| | | | koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
edit:
June 10th, @12:54AM
| said by Yogibear227 :
You will care when you can't Tivo a show cause your watching HDTV and you don't have enough bandwidth cause your kids are gaming. Or when your wife wants to watch one HDTV program and you want to watch another. Or when your children want to game on the net and you want to do your work for the next day; you won't mind if they take your bandwidth & knock you off.
You make a valid point, but some of this need not apply to U-verse. The RG has dedicated throughput set aside for IPTV. Gaming, or surfing the internet will not affect how many TVs can be on, or take up a TV stream. Now, as far as the two HD streams, that is a valid point, and is true with U-verse as it is today. The gaming + work issue? I have had two halo2 games (not in the same game) on Xbox Live running at the same time, and yet, our internet didn't slow down to the point where it was unusable, infact, I didn't notice any slowdown at all (in general web usage). BTW, I was also watching TV on a HD channel, and our TV downstairs was watching a SD channel...all at the same time. It has been reported, that the HD streams are running at ~8Mb/s, with SD streams ~3-4Mb/s. I would learn about how the U-verse system actually works before you put the service down. Sure it is only FTTN, but it works...for now. If AT&T wanted to, their Alcatel FTTN DSLAMs can be switched out for FTTP if the future so requires it, and it most likely will.
said by Yogibear227 :
The reason they can deliver ONLY 6Mbs is because the system of FTTN is limited to 25Mps BANDWIDTH. Do you even know what you are talking about? Get your facts before making assumptions. The VDSL sync is CAPPED at 27Mb/s, that is NOT its maximum by any means. My RG is reporting a max sync rate of 105Mb/s...and it can only go up when they upgrade to a true VDSL2 profile. Right now, they are on a "hybrid" profile so to speak that is in-between VDSL and VDSL2.
said by Yogibear227 :
the also must deliver more bandwidth to allow you to TIVO in HDTV mode. Since when does recording a TV show ever take up more bandwidth than actually watching it? That is just not true, a stream is a stream.
said by Yogibear227 :
The Cable company Digital Cable is actual Coax Fiber & Copper and it is thicker than twisted pair phone line. I didn't see my cable modem report that it could give me 105Mb/s over the cable network...And, if you actually look at the cable that comes into your NID from your pedestal, you will see that the copper core is about the same gauge, maybe slightly smaller, than the copper core of a RG-6 coaxial cable.
said by Yogibear227 :
Your $74 is an introductary rate only for 3 months. What is the rate after 3 months Same as Comcast Again, learn your facts before posting. The "introductory rate" is free TV for two months, then it goes to whatever your package states, in his case, $74 a month. The only thing you pay for for the first two months is internet. I am on the U-400 + HD + elite internet, and it is only $140 a month plus something like $11 in government fees.One other thing you got wrong, there are no fees for wireless networking...it is all integrated in the RG...I don't know where you got that from. If you read the TOS correctly, it says "Separate purchase of adapter may be required for wireless networking." This is for the wireless ADAPTER for your computer if you don't already have one, not for wireless service on the RG...There is a one-time fee for installation of $50, but they give you a $50 Visa® Rewards Card to compensate for the installation cost, so it is actually free. And don't say wait until you are off the introductory rate...because I currently am off of it. During my "introductory" period of two months, I was only paying $30 a month ($40 minus $10 TV+internet bundle discount). | |
| | Enlightener
join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
edit:
June 10th, @08:36AM
| I say repeatedly in my review that it's FTTP, you just have to actually read. I don't recall an option or see one to try to `move` it to an FTTP section.
I used this page to enter the review:
»/dorateform/fiber
I don't see anything on there about U-Verse and I don't know how it got catagorized as U-Verse. FTTP isn't U-Verse because 1) Video isn't available 2) Voice is required and 3) DL is 5Mb not 6MB because of ATM overhead. | |
| | | koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
edit:
June 10th, @10:42AM
| Re: Uverse is FTTN not FTTP »/dorateform and run a search for AT&T FTTP. If you run a search for U-verse, it shows up too. Or you can go here: »/docontrib/ISP/2956. I don't know about the "move" part, but AT&T FTTP is there, and since AT&T FTTP and AT&T U-verse are currently two different products, I don't see how your bad review of FTTP should bring down the overall rating of U-verse. I would ask a mod if you can get this moved over to AT&T FTTP. | |
| | rshimizu12
join:2007-02-04 | It's really disappointing that U-verse internet service does not have more bandwidth. Perhaps they will deploy FTTP or fixed point Wimax. | |
|
the7ferret
@charter.com
|  Technology will improve
Or when we said we could never break the 1, 2 3ghz barriers...
The technology is suitable right now and its new so future improvements will only increase its capacity... | |
| | Enlightener
join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX | Re: Technology will improve What the heck are you talking about? | |
|
RiversideLady
@sbcglobal.net
|  U-Verse freezes my internet and my t.v. shows!
| |
|
SoCalJake
@rr.com
| Separate the facts before running your sewer Twisted pair is a tried and true way of delivering signals, digital and analog, to homes and businesses around the world. It stands as the standard for good reason. If you're a cable fanboy, then don't switch. Simple as that. If you got suckered by the sales guy then you're an idiot.
Understanding the system is paramount. FTTN is fine. Back in the old days when DSL was emerging, there were strict loop limits which dictated your ability to use the service. Live too far from the CO and you're SOL. The closer you lived the better/faster the service. FTTN gets the network right down the street. Now the twisted pair is truly the last mile, and significantly shorter in most cases. There have been amazing advances in xDSL technology, surpassing its initial speed offering several times over in a relatively short time. Compared to cable, it truly reinvented itself in short order. And all the while, that same pair of copper, the one some of you bash as being "90 years old", seems to keep serving us with an unsurpassed level of reliability. (Note: if your neighborhood is 90 years old, you have bigger issues than which service to outfit your home with.) The interesting part is how TW and Cox will tell you its the old RG-59 cable in your house when the screen begins to pixelate and tile. Upgrading to RG-6 is their solution. Have you ever been told your phone lines needed to be upgraded? No, because the same old twisted pair you've relied on for years continues to serve just fine.
As for the cable vs. IPTV debate, be mindful that you're comparing apples and oranges, which makes you an idiot for carrying it out in a public forum. They aren't the same, and never will be. In case you didn't know, IP is where its at. IPTV multicasting is exactly how TV should be. If I view one channel, why stream the others. You don't talk in multiple languages simultaneously, because I only need one to get the concept.
Along the speed comparison front, the cable companies usually have designated areas and contractually can't offer services where another does. Since there isn't a real threat of customers defecting, they don't need to aggressively bump the speeds up. Add a new player, one without contractual "rules of engagement", and competition dictates the quality of the offerings. In time, probably sooner rather than later, you'll see the AT&T speeds surpass the cable speeds. There's more aggressive development taking place with the Telcos because they are playing catch-up. Simply stated, they entered a market way too late. But they have the backbone, and its creeping its way into neighborhoods on a controlled manner, much like digital TV did years ago.
Bookmark this and visit it again in two years. I'd be curious if you cable lovers feel the same. | |
|
psp
@sbcglobal.net
| AT&T Sales/techs don't know their product!
we switched to U-Verse after hearing a nearly 1 hour spiel from the sales rep who was canvassing the neighborhood telling us AT&T had just finished installing it's fiber optic network in our area and that U-Verse was now available.
There's no denying it's cheaper than Comcast which, in this day and age, was the main reason we decided to go ahead with it.
BUT......BUYER BEWARE!!
We were told by the sales rep that installation wouldn't take any longer than a couple of hours.
After 7 hours of rewiring (installation), we found out we were sorely misinformed on several points, much less the length of installation time.
First, he told us if we installed the DVR boxes on 2 of our TVs (HD plasmas), that our 2 other less used (analog) televisions would still work getting only basic channels, but that was fine for us. THEY DON'T WORK AT ALL now. We've argued and won that point and will now have another box installed at no charge from AT&T due to the sales reps misinformation. 1 television will go unused until we decide to pay to have yet another box installed.
The sales rep & installer never mentioned that if your computer's home network is working through a wireless router, or unless you have an entirely wireless set up (including wireless printers/fax machines, etc) and you are switched to AT&T internet with their wireless adapter, that a (wired) printer won't work through a remote laptop (networked) computer unless it's hardwired to the "gateway" (read modem) that AT&T installs - which, in our instance, was installed in another room away from the printer. The only answer from AT&T, when we called after we realized this, was to buy a bluetooth wireless adapter for the printer at a cost of $50-$100, or run cable all the way down the hall so it could be hardwired to the gateway!! Because "we don't support printers" according to tech service.
There is also no network file sharing working on our computers now either - which we just found out AT&T doesn't support at this time, so for a fee they can send someone out to fix it! (or, the support person mentioned calling Best Buy's Geek Squad to come fix the issue -- for a "nominal" fee of $100.)
After complaining that all of this information was never mentioned to us either in the sales pitch or by the installer (until he was finished installing it all), they will now send someone at no charge to move and rewire the gateway into the room where our printer is so it can be "hard wired" and they will send a technician who will troubleshoot the file sharing issue. Unfortunately, for us, it means another who-knows-how-many hours of rewiring when they come, when all AT&T needed to do was have competent sales reps and installers who could answer the questions we posed when we were signing up and during the installation process! We've also come to find out that the sales rep was from a third party company who was representing AT&T. Maybe that's why he told us all of these things would work, when in reality, they now don't.
So, while U-Verse is definitely cheaper than what we paid Comcast monthly and the internet connection does seem to work faster, remember to ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS you can think of up front before going through what we did, only to find out things don't work any more and that AT&T doesn't support issues like "routed" printers and/or network file sharing, unless you want to pay extra for it!
We're happy to wait for the upgrades AT&T no doubt will have on the UVerse for television - for now, it's OK having only 1 HD channel and 3 regular channels to program at once. (Comcast never offered even 2 channels to be taped at once). And, while their television program guide is a little more confusing and harder to read than Comcast's, it's small things like that we can live with in comparison to the monthly price difference.
JUST BE AN INFORMED CONSUMER AND ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS - and if you get a misinformed answer, CALL THEM AND COMPLAIN!
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|
Pluto
@astound.net
| ATT U-verse I'd be interested to see how their "fix" goes. I just signed up for ATT tonight and have install in 3 weeks. I had a lot of questions that the rep had to make a phone call to answer.
We are a 7 TV household although 1 of them is rarely used. The rep explained that they can only install 4 receivers max, so if you are a household with more than 4 TV's you need to consider that those other TV's (2 more for a total of 6 max) will only mirror the first TV with receiver that was turned on and still remains on. So our 2 other TV's (one in a kids room and the other in the kitchen) will never get their own station choices. So if I want to watch in the kitchen while cooking, I'll have to make sure that everyone turns off what they are watching, then turn on a cable set not being used to what I want to watch (so it is first on) and then let everyone turn back on what they were watching (or this was how it was explained to me). If my show is done in the kitchen and I want to change the channel, guess I'll have to run to the room where the receiver box that I am viewing is located. To me this is the biggest disadvantage but it seems to be outweighed by a dvr that can record 4 channels and has a lot more recording time capacity. Streaming to computers in the house and all 6 TVs what is recorded on the dvr is a plus factor too.
I have a wireless network with shared printers but all printers will be next to the gateway. We have sharing set up on the computers for certain folders so it will be interesting to see how that set up goes. I will be sure to make sure I inquire about that up front based on your review.
I am hoping that I won't be disappointed with the change as our Astound cable bill is almost $200/month so we will be saving a bit with ATT. | |
| dankmatt
join:2001-05-05
Encinitas, CA
| New At&t U-Verse Customer I am in the south east fl area ,near ft lauderdale. The At&t sales ppl were in the neighborhood spinning the recent avail. in my area. Since the tv cost is 40% cheaper with 4 boxes & more channels with u-verse I went ahead with it.I was a total comcast customer,about 2-3 yrs agoe i dropped the cable modem for a dsl with at&t & had no issues,saved money & speed was the same.The install guy was really nice & they had like 4 guys / trucks at 1st doing outside wiring,then most of the inside was done by one guy,it did take all day like 7-8 hrs to finish but he ran all new wires insted of coax he ran cat 5 to tvs.The new gateway is fine,there is a usb cable running to my pc, he did try to push for a easier install by saying to go all wireless i told him that I use my desktop 90% of the time at home & the wireless could be for my laptop or mac mini,but I have yet to set up the wireless wifi ,so far i jus tried to see if it was on by search for a wireless signal with my laptop but i think i have to set it up on the gateway side 1st. Overall I am happy with the outcome ,the newt speed it great,the tv's are much clearer over comcasts digital service, I didn't opt for the hd since I only have one 1080 hd set & just use it reg way. I got 4 boxes one is free dvr &a 100$ rebate,1st month free,install was free reduced my overall monthly bill by almost 100$ with land line,i have cells with at&t already,dsl 7 tv, so i made out ok, no more communistcast for me, take a chance... | |
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