Review by TheGhost 
UPDATED: 177 days ago
member for 6.8 years, 3012 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Lake Forest,Lake,IL
 $140 per month
 about 14 days
 "Image quality, internet good, whole home DVR"
 "Limited to 2 HD streams, box required per TV"
 "Happy after a couple of weeks"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Comcast finally pushed the rate hikes too far and I ordered UVerse within a week of them becoming available at my address.
First, the order process. It went fairly well. I ended up calling the same person that signed up my parents. She was able to walk me through the various options and recommended keeping our POTS line as I had a FAX and such. I would lose out on some of the VOIP features, but I didn't care as much about them and the phones would still be "bundled". I would also have less to worry about if the power went out (still line powered). I also called back later to add a 3rd TV and the 'offers' had changed. at&t was now offering $19/month credit plus $100 rebate vs. two $100 rebates. She modified my order to reflect the discount. Only issues with pre-sales is that I could not find a channel comparison that I could easily use and I could not find size information on the STBs - I wanted to make sure they were not too large.
Next came the installation. I had to wait 2 weeks for an install because I wanted a Friday, so I wasn't too disappointed. It was handled very well. I was told to expect the installers between 12 and 2pm. Around noon I received a call from at&t saying they were running a few minutes late, but would still be there that day. I received another call around 1:30 from the installers saying they were on their way and that they would be there within a 1/2 hour. They ended up showing up just before 2:00pm, so still within the window. They were professional and wore their booties to keep the house clean they talked with me about how I wanted the setup and went to work. Things were up and running within an hour or so. They used the existing wiring, so that is somewhat to be expected. They did have one issue when they tried to get a 3rd TV installed. My wife wanted it in a specific spot, but there was a vent and a firestop between the wall studs - we ended up skipping the 3rd TV for now. They offered quite a few ideas, but my wife had her own expectations.
We have been very happy with the service since. Related to the guide, it seems like at&t has learned from its partnerships with the satellite providers; like channels are grouped together (all kids shows are in the low 300s, news in the 200s, etc); they have a video preview box; you can also 'hide' channels you don't get or want (unlike Comcast), so it makes scrolling through much easier. I am also happy in that I can see more channels than I could with Comcast (after they added the advertising bar to the bottom). We went with the U200 channel package, but we are thinking of adding one of the larger packages that include the movies when winter comes back around - we just won't watch as much during the summer.
Image quality is as good or better than what I had (2 XBR sets, one LCD, one LCOS). at&t is using HDMI instead of component, but that should not make that much difference. A box is required for each television, but they are small, so it is not too bad. Comcast was forcing us that way as well, so I don't see it as much of a drawback. I received Cisco boxes which do run a version on Windows, but I am reserving judgment on that.  . Charges for the boxes are $8-$9 after the first, so not too bad, and they come with the whole home DVR (320MB). I could not justify the additional $15/box DVR cost before, but as long as it was included with UVerse, we are starting to use it. It is kind of cool.
I went with the 10MB internet speed as work picks up some of the cost ($55). It is a bit more than Comcast, and the speeds are a bit less, but they are consistent - generally around 9.6MBs up and 1.45 MBs down. The gateway has a wireless router, but I am still using my old Linksys running Tomato. We have 5 PCs and my laptop hooked up and I have not noticed any slowdown, even when the TVs are on.
It was a bit to get the email set up as U-verse uses non-standard ports, and I use an older, out of support email program (Eudora). The issue was not so much with at&t as the requirements were all clearly documented, but I had to research the issue on the Eudora end (there is a config file you have to copy to your mailbox directories). I haven't tried the news server, but web and email have been fine.
It has only been a couple of weeks, but we are happy so far. I will update after some more time has passed. A few neighbors and friends are also switching and it will be interesting to get their thoughts as well.
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In Lake Forest?