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Review by Sancy1 
Posted: 2 years ago
member for 2 years, 3 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago
 Plainfield,Hendricks,IN
 $40 per month
 "Internet connectivity reliable"
 "HDTV picture not as good as Comcast"
 "Still fairly new, will give it more time before switching to something else"
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Install for whole U-Verse TV & Internet was about 6 hours...included some re-wiring but I didn't have to do any of it.
The internet is more reliable than Comcast but the HDTV isn't as good.
It's still new to the area so maybe it has some adjusting to do or bugs to be worked out. I will give it a little more time before I switch to something else.
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 Review by bassthumpa
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 3153 visits, last login: 171 days ago
Austin,Travis,TX
$60 per month
 about 17 days
"Very clear picture, quick channel change, easy to use"
"None so far"
"Awesome!"
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My installation was scheduled for 8-10 yesterday, but the tech was hung up on another job and didn't make it until around 2:30. That was no big deal for me, I know how that can be sometimes. Once he got to the house, I showed him the rooms and the attic entrance, he got right to work and did a great job. He installed Cat5 to my 3 rooms, and the jacks were very professionally and cleanly installed. Once he finished pulling wire and putting in jacks, the rest was a breeze. Plug in the gateway, then plug in the 2 boxes for my TV. A little while for the boxes to download software updates, and that was it. It took about 3 hours from start to finish.
The service itself is great in the day that I've played with it! The picture was VERY clear, much more so than the picture I got from Time Warner. I invited a couple of friends over to watch the football game, and they even commented on how clear it was. Data speeds on my PC were much faster, and having the additional upload bandwidth is a nice bonus.
Even though it's only the first day, I'm sure I'm gonna love this for the long run. The VRAD is right across the street from my house, so I'm in a prime spot for the service. I'll have to have my neighbors check it out, maybe they'll jump on board too.
Great job, AT&T!
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Review by lonebandit
Posted: 2 years ago
member for 8 years, 1433 visits, last login: 8 days ago
Oak Creek,Milwaukee,WI
$99 per month
about 60 days
"Picture Quality even in SD"
"Crappy customer provided equipment - runs windows CE!"
"Not bad if your patient and have good troubleshooting skills"
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Lots of bumps in the road. I joined around Sept 2007. I have had a multitude of swap outs of hardware and even port changes (after my connection would mysteriously die each night around 12-1am). October was bad too. DVR that would record and show black when trying to play back. Maybe the video was being transmitted to the MOON ?
So..fast forward to November. I have seen 2 new software/firmware updates.
One for the gateway(Modem) and one for the set top boxes/DVR.
This fixed many issues. So far I have only had 1 show that would not play that was DVRd.
The internet version of U-Verse has for the most part been flawless but there is some oddball latency due to the interleaving AT&T has to do. That should only affect gamers and not normal surfers.
all in all, cust service has been great - billing was accurate to the PENNY and tech support was always helpful - even if they didnt know off hand what the issue is/was.
Keep in mind, that eventhough this product has been out for some time, its still dealing with 'growing' pains and one needs to be respectful of that.
But hands down, the picture quality - ALL CHANNELS are fully digital and very clear. Not like Time Worthless - where only a few are totally digital. Channel changing is much faster than TW but not 'instant' like AT&T claims it to be.
Overall, I would give them a 3 out of 5. They are getting better each month and trying very hard and they have to, to stay in the game! - TW never tried this hard for a customer.
I can honestly recommend them now - but sadly I think only 3% of WI people are even able to get U-Verse at this time.
LoneBandit
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 Review by ebaykeith
Posted: 2 years ago
member for 6.2 years, 1289 visits, last login: 18 days ago
San Ramon,Contra Costa,CA
$64 per month
about 6 days
"Awesome channel line up, 1MB Upload Speeds on DSL, NO TECH or SVC CHARGES EVER!!"
"Took a few hours to set up, but the quality was worth the wait. Not available everywhere."
"Great product!!!"
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First Day with Uverse.
I just got AT&T U-Verse (U400 package). Install took a while (pretty much most of the day), but the techs won't even leave until everything is working perfectly and you completely understand how to use the service.
So far, my speed tests for DSL have been 5600+ down, and 900+ upload (yes I am getting just barely under 1MB upload. Incredible)
I have more channels than I ever dreamed of (like around 300), and HD to boot.
I also like that if anything goes wrong, I just call, they fix, no charge, EVER!!! Finally doing something right and just giving the customer service, with no hastle. I like that.
Followup comments:  etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
Dallas, TX
| Is this the same uverse I had ??? Wow,
Your review is the complete opposite of my experience with uverse. Pixelation, lockups, digital artifacts and software bugs are among the 'few' problems I had with uverse.
I was intrigued by your review but by reading your profile I found the answer.
quote:
IT employee at ATT, as well as, a subscriber of ATT services. My goal is to use the products we provide our customers and identifying improvements so they can be the best products available.
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eric_n_dfw
join:2001-10-22
Euless, TX
 ·EarthLink
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| Re: Is this the same uverse I had ??? Actually, my UVerse TV quality is great and internet connections are rock solid and full speed. My only beef is the crappy DVR software. See my review for details. I do have a co-worker in an older neighborhood that had pixation issues with it though. My theory is that the TV quality is highly dependent on the copper between the VRAD and your house. | |
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heights houston
@sbcglobal.net
| artifacts are nearly unwatchable i noticed something peculiar with uverse's image quality when i first installed it on my 50" standard def rear view projection. the picture looked really pixely, like a low quality streaming video you often find online. it wasn't so terrible to not use the service, but cable's quality was far sharper.
i recently bought a 65" dlp and can finally watch hd channels. the uverse receiver outputs both in 720p and 1080i and i've fiddled around with both. at 1080i the audio desyncs with the video by a fraction of a second and makes any type of speech unbearable.
anyways, with uverse, neither signal is watchable. both produce huge screen encompassing artifacts and essentially blur the whole picture to the point where you'd either throw up or pass out. in fact watching standard def channels looks just as good if not better than their hd counterparts.
i dont know if its because my signal is too poor for an hd stream or if god just hates me, but for me, uverse's picture quality is infinitely worse than even the worst comcast service quality | |
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 Review by brobertsleo
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 3.7 years, 533 visits, last login: 42 days ago
Detroit,Wayne,MI
$104 per month
about 5 days
"Excellent service, great picture quality, much better value than cable."
"RG is freaking huge (not that big of deal), remote is IR instead of radio."
"ATT U-verse provides a pretty solid service for the money. I'll never go back to cable, if I can help it."
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I finally got my U-Verse installed 2 days ago and it has been wonderful. The install took a little over 8 hours but that was due to them running all new CAT5e cabling. The picture clarity of U-Verse is amazing. I haven't been experiencing pixilation on my screen at all. The STB is pretty good but there are some minor bug fixes that are due. I think that in due time they will be taken care of. I love all the cool features from Yellowpages.com to U-Bar. The Yahoo! games are also a big plus. I don't have HD so I can't comment on the HD quality but I've read some reviews about the quality being bad so I'll hold out until they release the new encoder. Overall, my experience has been good. I've found that not using coax (even from the STB to TV) saves alot of hassle and gives a much better picture and better sound. I'll be keeping a look out for any negatives and will give updates as needed...
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Review by ashakouri1
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 7.2 years, 499 visits, last login: 4 days ago
San Diego,San Diego,CA
$55 per month
about 7 days
"Great service, reliable, lots of channels, free DVR, Lots Cheaper than cable"
"Channel change is slow sometimes, Remote is IR and not Radio, channel placement is annoying"
"Great Service for 2/3 price of cable, free DVR, but some issues"
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I had u-verse installed about one month ago. Great service. Channels look good, free DVR, 3 set-top boxes for free.
Only real problems are that the install times available are only 8:00-12:00, nothing after those hours, and weekend installs are very limited, so it will be a waste of one weekday. The install only took about 2-3 hours for me, but my complex had some equipment already setup so expect at least 3 hours plus for install. Also the channel changing is slow sometimes, a little bit more lag than digital cable. Also channel lineup is weird, the channels that most people watch are allover the place. The should put the entertainment and local channels is one area. I want my local channels, entertainment channels and news channels all within one area, then the sports and premium channels. But right now the selection is all over the place, and the lag in changing channels gets annoying when all your favorite channels are not near each other.
But I have to say that factoring in the price, this service is excellent. I got a special so I pay $55 for U-300, for the next six months then it will jump to around $70-80. But for comparable cable service and internet, I was paying $100+. Also I get one year of Showtime and Starz for free.
If the price stays relatively cheap, then I have no intention on going back to cable.
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 Review by bky
Posted: 2 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 2119 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Arlington,Tarrant,TX
$98 per month
about 15 days
"Watching TV is cool again, connection reliability is rock solid as it has to be."
"Interleaving make gamer smash!"
"Not FTTP, but I still love it."
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I'll start with the TV service where I have the U200 package. Wow, I don't think I will ever go back to standard cable after my experience so far. The on-screen UI is just awesome to say the least. I can't get over how much I love the channel switch preview box and other features. The dvr functions are great, allowing you to record up to 4 programs simultaneously and schedule recordings remotely through your yahoo homepage. I've noticed that my HD/DVR box will sometimes peg it's resources and cause some aggravating latency when using the UI, often a 5-10 second delay between push-button on the remote and the function actually being carried out. I thought this was only when viewing HD programming at first, however that does not seem to be the case. I think it might be related to 1080p screen configuration, which I only hope could be fixed later on with a software update.
The internet, well, it's fast DSL and it works. I have the 6Mbps/1Mbps 'Elite' tier, which was a downgrade from 10/1 on cable. One thing that I did not realize before switching to U-verse is that the DSL utilizes interleaved signalling (»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleaving) for data transmission. This is great in regards to delivering the unforgiving medium of video/television over IP, however it adds a noticeable amount latency to the internet connection compared to traditional DSL service(to put this in perspective, imagine that on ADSL you would ping 10-20 to a local game server, whereas on u-verse VDSL you would ping 25-40). Now, the only reason I picked up on this is because I'm an online gaming enthusiast where I found that my latency was actually a small amount higher than my previous RR cable service. If you are not an online gamer and/or don't care about low response times, then don't worry at all about this.
The cost for the service was too sweet not to switch. It cost me absolutely nothing for setup/installation. My monthly bill is actually a few dollars cheaper than what I was paying for base digital programming from time warner, who with I didn't even have a DVR or HD service.
What would u-verse have to do in order to make me a completely happy customer?
Allow customers to opt-out of using interleaved signalling with VDSL (if this would even be possible). Do I think they will ever do this? Hell no, but that's the bottom line.
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Review by warped_bird
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 2.1 years, 5 visits, last login: 2 years ago
Dallas,Collin,TX
$140 per month
about 23 days
"A Install Technician Named Mike"
"Everything"
"I hear its good but after taking one week off from work to get a simple install, gave up"
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I ordered this service hearing some mixed reviews. I tried to order online and the online system kept crashing. This should have given me a taste of what’s to come.
I had to call online support to finish the order because my order got stuck online so I couldn't finish is and waited on the phone almost 2 hours to have the service rep figure out how to get my registered and an install date.
Order completed on October 9th and install set for Oct 23rd 12-2pm.
Installer calls at 12pm on the dot on install date. So far so good.
Installer comes in and runs a series of test which takes about 30-40 minutes and gives me two thumbs up on signal quality and service.
He begins testing internal cable lines and cat five cabling in the house. He spends about 2-3 hours replacing older cable connections with newer ones.
Service person is very friendly and helpful and answers a slew of questions about the service and seems eager to help any way he can.
At 6 pm he finishes and turns on the residential gateway. Gets green light for broadband and service but no connection possible. Calls in and finds out that software for processing service is down and can't complete job till service is activated on other end. Tech leaves and tells me to call 800 # tomorrow.
24th:
Call 800# and reach tier 1 support quickly. I explain what happened and why tech left and i am escalated to tier 2. tier 2 takes over 20 minutes to get online but tier 1 stays online to let me know every 2 mins that they are still waiting to transfer.
Reach first tier 1 support for day and he puts me on hold for over 40 mins and never checks back. Have no clue what he is doing or if he’s just trying to get rid of me.
Call back and wait about 20 mins more to get to new tier 2 person. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing and can't figure out what to do. Looks at my record and tells me he needs to send someone out and he will prep everything so the install tech just has to make sure I have proper connection at hardware end.
Later that evening I call back to confirm next day appointment. No record found for dispatch. Support person sets new support date for November 4th. I insist he should try and get one out sooner. No dice.
I hang up and call again and get a more sympathetic support person who immediately calls dispatch and says he got a confirmation for next day at 12-2pm.
25th
I take afternoon off from work to meet tech at 12-2pm. Call every 30 mins to make sure tech did not call wrong contact number then leave. No record of attempt as of 2:30pm. I call 10 mins before and I am told there’s no dispatch record for me that day. No one was supposed to come out but they escalate me to tier 2 support again.
I am on hold most of that day and finally get someone who seems helpful around 6pm.
There's nothing he can do but he begins to shift blame to install guy and says he needs to dispatch someone again.
This time for Friday 12-2pm.
26th
I get home at 12pm and start calling to confirm appointment and also that tech hadn't tried to call again. Same thing as day before but when I call at 2pm they tell me tech just called and left because no one picked up the phone.
I say I'm home and no one called so they call dispatch and route someone as an emergency call.
Tech arrives around 3pm. He checks everything and says I have no live connection. He calls tier 2 to get assignment and provisioning port at network junction. He checks my port and its dead. Looks at install document and first tech has me on correct port but somewhere in the system it says I should be on a different port. Tech calls MLAC to get port assignment and is assigned new port address. He installs me on new port and gets great signal.
Service won't work. He calls tier 2 and after about going back and forth for over 4 hours a tier 2 tech tells him I'm on wrong port which is not even the one I was installed on to begin with.
Install guy goes down and switches me to the port the system says I'm on.
Service finally works at around 10pm. Install guys was there really late to make sure everything worked.
He leaves mission accomplished.
27th
Call customer support and tell them of my experience and tell them I ended up taking almost a week vacation time just to get my service up. CS tells me they understand my frustration and offers me $10 per month discount for 6 months and hangs up.
Services works pretty good till Sunday when service goes down unexpectedly. I call and told there is an outage.
28th
I call back a couple hours later and now am told there is no outage. Only my system is down in my area.
Tier 2 tells me my order is all wrong so he deletes my order and starts over. After 2 hours on the phone, he says he will call me back.
29th
On Monday I still have no service. I speak with 3 more tier 2 people who don't know what’s going on.
Says someone will come out on Tuesday to fix everything for good.
30th
I call at 12 and they can't find my dispatch record. I make a fuss and somehow they find it and says its from 12-2 and its only 12:30 so be patient. I call every 30 mins to makes sure tech doesn't call wrong number no record of tech support making their way out. After 2 pm find out no one is scheduled to come out at all.
I'm really pissed at this moment and start just yelling at them for being so stupid. Somehow this tactic works and they dispatch the same guy who got my service working on Friday.
He arrives and checks everything and the port I'm connected to is dead.
Meanwhile the tier 2 guy I was speaking with is the first guy in over a week that seems to know what he’s talking about and he makes the tech come out by escalating the ticket. His comment after reviewing my order, “This is wrong, just wrong! How can something so simple become so bad?" I agree!
He also mentions the problems I'm having are software issues and something he should be able to fix remotely but needs time. Doesn't want to cancel tech coming out just in case because no matter what he wants me to be up this day.
After 2 hours, tier 2 guy gets my gateway to go green. I connect my services and finally get broadband and TV again.
The tech says just in case he will call back next day in case of any other problems.
15 minutes after service is live and I get off phone with tier 2 guy, the service goes dead.
The install guy is still at my house and can't believe his eyes. He calls in and tries to see what the problem is. Tier 2 guy reads notes on my order and can't believe how screwed up everything is.
Reads final note from OMA who notes that they need to bring down service for short duration to do maintenance and will get order up as soon as possible. That was around 5pm today.
As I am writing this no one at ATT can explain why my service is down and explains there would be more delays.
Blames software for my problems now. I'm told that I may need to meet tech again. I tell them I ran out of vacation time and can't take any more time off from work.
Although this may not represent the typical service installation, I found that when it comes for ATT to show their stuff and in the face of so much screw ups and in competencies in-house they refuse to escalate my order to be handled immediately with the exception of the second install guy (Mike) and the tier 2 guy who got people on the phone while he had me on hold and wouldn't let them leave until he got what he needed from them, no one in ATT seemed sympathetic to the fact that I had to take off 1 week from work and still have no service and despite all that my ticket is treated like any other call that comes in.
Not that they can't escalate, but tier 2 to escalate obviously requires a lot of work because they have to file a report and report it to their manager and have manager get involved as well as following through on their tasks. Its easier to make promises and get you off the line as its impossible to get same rep again.
After 1 week, I can't vouch for the quality of the broadband or cable service but the tier 2 people are pretty much morons who step all over each other and don't know what the right hand is doing from the left hand.
Just pray you get the service up and running and you don't have an issue that requires you to be transferred to tier 2 support. They actually made my problem worse it turns out because no one seems to read what previous tier 2 people wrote and they all want to cancel the order and start it again so at one time they had 7 backordered tickets to cancel my order and restart process and after Fridays success all 7 tickets hit which is why service went down.
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Review by edr
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 2.8 years, 18 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
Waukesha,Waukesha,WI
$74 per month
about 31 days
"Value, potentials, WOW very clear TV picture, channels & recorder access availabilities, EZ install"
"Minor signal TV & internet connection deviations"
"Better in all aspects than any I have used - exceeds expectations"
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I was not happy with cable their limitations in channels and pricing. Up until 2 years ago I was an antenna only user. Then reception was weak and took time to improve. Cable was the solution then. I went back and forth between cable and antenna forced to cable, we live in a very low lying area. I remained with basic cable. U-verse contacted me. I am former A&TT customer and I prefer not to use large companies. I researched u-verse and because it sounded better and required no contract and offered a 30 day trial. I joined. I have 1.5MG internet and U200, which is more than I wanted but has programs we like. This internet speed work great for us. Yes I enjoyed higher speeds but, being a previous dial up user, I do not download many files over 100mgs. The choice was simple at this time. I can change the package as needed too. Not perfect. Importance flexibility and no contract and I will continue to check out my options.
Outages at various levels do occur from time to time. Potentials outweigh this aspect as with any untested and new technologies. Trial and error require perseverance, communication, and endurance.
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Review by ct_mike
Posted: 2.2 years ago
member for 3.1 years, 978 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Hamden,New Haven,CT
$124 per month
about 12 days
"U400 has a lot of channels, Elite speed upload is very nice."
"None so far."
"Works just as well as Comcast Digital for less money."
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The wife was uncertain of U-Verse technology and how well it would work for tv, so I made her a deal. We would get U-Verse and keep Comcast. We would talk about it after a week and decide which one to cancel. Three days into that week she asks when we will be returning the Comcast boxes.
The install took a long time, mainly with issues in AT&T's wiring from the VRAD to my house. Out of a 6.5 hour install, hooking the boxes up in the house took less than an hour as I had Cat 5 to all the tv's already. They had major issues trying to get the gateway to talk to the network, it would get service then drop it. After moving my connection to the second card in the VRAD, all worked perfectly and we have not had any dropouts in the past 10 days.
The only minor issue we have had is that the dvr in the living room has shut itself down twice. It came back after a reboot, and I believe the problem to be heat buildup in the entertainment center. It should be better now that the Comcast dvr is gone as that was generating most of the heat in the cabinet.
Overall a very good service as long as one researches the limitations before hand and ensures that they can live within those limits.
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