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Review by Darknessfall See Profile

  • Location: undisclosed location
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
TV features, uptime, and price
Same service for 5 years :).
Good product, but should upgrade their speeds
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

How I'm installed:

All coax except for one TV by the gateway which has Ethernet while using the 2Wire 3801.



Equipment Review:



RG -The 3800 has been going strong for 4 years so far expect for the summer of 2010 when it decided to lose signal a lot but since then it hasn't dropped out once at all.I haven't gotten to use the ethernet for my computer since it was placed as close as possible to the NID so I mainly use wireless and it has been pretty decent while only having two bars. Pinging my gateway usually gives 1-2ms latency BUT sometimes our gateway may have a random wireless seizure every couple of months for a few days where your wireless becomes incredibly laggy but other than that it has been fine. The wireless performance is kind of poor on max speed though due to using wireless G still. I kind of wished they kept the modem/router separate since it makes it a little more annoying if you want to add a router ; ).

- Changed to 3801 model after posting this. Not much difference. -
- The 3801 seems to get really hot - 6/28/2013
- Would like to add that with my WNDA4100 adapter I now get full bars through a lot of walls on my gateway. Wireless G still makes it a little at this distance though.



STB(1x Motorola VIP1216/2x VIP1200s) - While I cannot comment on the recording feature since we barely use it they still are in good condition and well... work...
- Update: I seem to see random moments when all STBs in our home refuse to turn off with the physical power button on the STB. Usually clicking the "Menu" button on the STB fixes it.


Remote - All I can say that is it's very well laid out and doesn't feel too bulky.


TV:



SD - It's pretty decent. Clear on CRT and on a HDTV it can either be clear or maybe a little blurry depending on original format.



HD - Clear and soft edged. Some channels seem a little blurry at times though while others are great.



Audio - Clear and no drop outs.



Pixelization - I barely see any at all except for the rare moment it may randomly do it for less than a second after months.



On Demand - No comment since we barely use but movie buying was quick and easy. One thing I like to note is that the On Demand section is a little empty at times.
Note: Movie rentals last 2 days I believe.



Menu - Always fast and no lag but sometimes I find myself going through menu options that should of been closer to the start of it all.



Channels - We love the channel selection on U-verse that other companies such as Comcast do not have. There are usually two or so channels of the same channel in case you want to watch something else on that channel during a certain time.



Phone:



Quality - Decent



Caller ID on TV - We've always loved this feature and it hasn't had a glitch for us.
Caller ID on Phone - Works, sometimes. Usually get "Incoming call" on the phone.


Responsiveness - Good but when we first got the service we had dial problems that fixed themselves.



Internet:(No longer have internet service)

Latency - We usually get about 25ish with 1ms jitter.(Wireless)



Advertised vs real world - We are only on the 3 down/ 1 up plan and get about 3.1 down/ 1 up(Wireless)



Speeds - Decent for an average user.



Internet Consistency - Always on. Never went down when our power remained on.





Billing:



Errors - None



Problems - None



Price changes - Get yourself on a promo price .



Paying a bill: Fast



Old customer bonuses: Well... pretty poor. Most they give you is $5 off for a few months when you upgrade and such. They give out free previews of the other channels over major holidays though. $10 promo card to upgrade to paperless billing made me laugh a little though.

- Update: Got added onto promo pricing .

Support:



Opinion - We hadn't had much luck with support at all. First time the rep helped give us a temp solve that we would have to keep using at the time then another rep began to blame our computer and repeatedly ask us to buy something for $99 until we said we were hanging up(Turns out the whole issue was because of the cheap 2wire USB adapters we had). I also had good reps over live chat that seemed to be nice and answer my questions well. Like most companies you can either get the dumb or the great people. The wait time wasn't too bad but they like to swap you around to other people a lot. When we recently asked for new equipment there were no questions asked, quick and easy. We got our equipment the next business day.

Update: Got 3 free remotes. Declined offer for free wireless receiver upgrade.

Update: 6/28/2013
Service is still running good with no downtime. Line seemed to have dropped in quality VERY slightly. I get a couple thousand corrected blocks over time in my RG's error table. Random link retrains/ DSL Training errors on bootup.

I'm hoping we get the new RG in our area soon. Still no RG firmware update for our 2wire 3801 and Motorola STBs.
- Got the RG firmware update today - 6/29/2013

Was offered Max Turbo for $33 for 2 years but didn't take it at this time. Will look later to see if Comcast can offer me Blast for $34.99. Hopefully AT&T decides to speed up their upgrades.

Update: 11/27/2013

Still only U300 + Unlimited Home Phone

No real issues still. Dreading the annual price increases. The price has gone up by quite a bit since almost 5 years ago.

Line stats at the time of this update:
Downstream Upstream
Max User Rate 59785 kbs Not Available
Noise Margin 19.2 dB Not Available
Attenuation 10.3 dB Not Available
Output Power 14.3 dBm -21.2 dBm

Update: 2/17/14

Have U300(3 receivers) + Unlimited Home Phone + Max Turbo now

Got into another promotion and everything together totals $124. May downgrade to the 200 minute plan.

It's been 5 years now of having U-verse.
Update: 7/28/14

I recently upgraded our broken VIP1200 to an ISB7005 which is must faster. I also downgraded from Max Turbo to Max Plus(getting 23/2). We also downgraded to the 200 minute plan a few months ago. My bill is now $109.

Line stats at the time of the update:

Down/ Up
Max User Rate 60168 kbs Not Available
Noise Margin 19.4 dB Not Available
Attenuation 10.8 dB Not Available
Output Power 14.2 dBm -20.7 dBm
Update: 8/30/14

Since the last review we replaced our second VIP1200 with a ISB7005 and our VIP1225 with a VIP2250.
Update 10/23/14

I will no longer have AT&T U-verse in a few days. I will soon be on Frontier U-verse(or however they will call it) due to the Frontier transaction for Connecticut.

member for 11.5 years, 6596 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 9.4 years ago


Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17

Darknessfall

Premium Member

Update - Data Collected for 15 Hours

-

ImpldConsent
Scouts Out
Premium Member
join:2001-03-04
North Port, FL

ImpldConsent

Premium Member

Re: Update - Data Collected for 15 Hours

Good review. Detailed and a good read. My only confusion is why the screenshot with only 15hrs of time? It'd be more helpful with about a week of data collected.

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

Darknessfall

Premium Member

Re: Update - Data Collected for 15 Hours

said by ImpldConsent:

Good review. Detailed and a good read. My only confusion is why the screenshot with only 15hrs of time? It'd be more helpful with about a week of data collected.

I just reset my gateway then decided to post it so it was too late . I'll probably post another error table soon to replace it. Still looks the same at the time of this post.