US Telco Support > AT&T > AT&T U-verse > Review AT&T U-Verse

reply to zelinskj

Re: Review AT&T U-Verse

reply to justin
Wanted to add my opinion. Signed up for Uverse and had it installed yesterday. After 5 1/2 hours after the install I switched back 3 of the 4 boxes to Comcast Digital. I kept the Uverse DVR hooked up to the main TV just to fiddle with it and compare it to my Comcast DVR which is now running along side it on the main TV, before I set the record for fastest Uverse cancellation

There was 1 major issue right off the bat that the sales folks don't tell you over the phone and that's the quantity and quality of FREE on demand programs. There's a good reason for it and that's because it's practically non-existent when compared to Comcast Digital. That was the main Uverse killer for me. Having 2 kids and each liking Caillou, Barney, Sponge Bob, etc and not being able to call it up from any TV was a kill joy. (well, I have to mention that there was 1 Spongebob episode I saw in their free section) I personally enjoy the FREE FearNet, History and Military programs with some being in HD, none of which is availabe on Uverse.

Additional Cons:

2) SD quality was about as good if not worse in most cases than Comcast Digital. (I'm in San Ramon, Ca) I was hoping it would be better since it was the second reason for me to switch. Pity, it wasn't. For your info, I have 1 1080i DLP, 1 1080P LCD, and 2 tube tv's all hooked up.

3) Pixelation, artifacts or packet loss. Whatever you want to call it, it happened too frequent for me. The DVR unit performed pretty well. The regular receivers on the other hand had an interesting problem I discovered. If someone is using the DVR unit, and you turn on another tv in the house, the regular receiver picture would pixelate more often than if the DVR was off. More often would be at least once every minute which is damn annoying. The interesting part occurs if you switch the regular receiver to watch the same SD channel as the DVR, the pixelation would practically go away, but not entirely. To further test this out I would then switch the channel on the DVR and the regular receiver picture would go back to pixelating more often. This occured on all of my regular receivers (I have 3 of them in addition to the DVR). This would seem to be an issue with the way the Gateway handles multi channel viewing or just a bad gateway. Overall just watching SD while other receivers are on, is like watching an almost excellent movie on your PC. It just doesn't have that smoothness.

4) Watching an HD channel from a regular receiver had way too much pixelation for me, to the point I just couldn't watch it anymore. The same box would play fine for the most part if watching an SD channel, and of course if it were the only receiver that was on. Swapping it out with the other receivers didn't fix the issue. Again maybe a gateway issue but interesting that it doesn't seem to have the same affect on the DVR unit.

Other issues:

I asked the Tech if I could power off the gateway to mount it elsewhere. I actually had 4 techs and 2 managers at my house at this time going over the install. One of the managers jumped in and said "No" right off the bat. I was thinking, so what will happen during a power outage? The tech then jumped in and said, well you can power it off but you might have to call tech support to get it synched up again or a line tech may have to come out to get it resynched. Wow, I thought, what happened to the good ol days of just turning your tv back on after the power goes off??

In any event I unplugged the unit this morning to see what would happen and sure enough after waiting over 10 minutes for the flashing red broadband light to turn green, it remained red. I called tech support and after 20 minutes, waiting on hold, and then the tech walking me through the web administration site of the gateway to make some minor changes we had the unit re-synched and working again. It turns out there is a firmware flaw in a lot of units where if set to Auto to determine how it's connected on the WAN and LAN side, it won't resync. You have to specify the type of cable/wire it's hooked to. My question to the tech was, I had 4 install techs and 2 managers at my house and even after I asked them about powering off my gateway they knew there was an issue and therefore must have known the fix for it, but yet they didn't bother to test it and make the simple corrections that I had to do today. Go figure.

Fast channel swapping is over rated and was never a selling point for me. There is still a slight lag between HD channels and a smaller lag between SD channels.

DVR unit control was so freaking laggy. I was laughing when the tech was trying to show me how to select a show for recording. I would press the record button and wait and then hit it again thinking it didn't receive the signal so we were constantly setting record on and off. I literally sat there and decided to count to 5 everytime I hit the record button just to make sure it was going to process it correctly. I guess they put the speed into the fast channel changes

Some Pros:
Menu/Interface was excellent and pleasant to look at, but of course there wasn't much content to navigate through on the On Demand side so it's like a nice Mercedes with no interior.

I would have to guess if given maybe another year that Uverse should have more of the kinks worked out and more content on the On Demand side. With additional features in the works like other folks mentioned, it should be at least a DirectTV killer, but I'm not going to pay for service in the hopes that current features will improve and future features will come around.

Hope this was helpful,
Kenny

reply to justin
i do not have att service and uverse is not yet available in my area but i must say..to everyone who is complaining it's time to stop. verizon fios went through the same growing pains when it rolled out 2 years ago. att will fix this in due time. be patient. newer technologies take time to perfect.

Except this is a crippled technological stopgap compared to FiOS (sorry, couldn't help m'self).

reply to sozekizer
So are folks suppose to not make bad comments about a service and should only post good ones? How are folks suppose to make an educated decision on whether to go with a service or not if all comments are one sided? Reviews need both good and bad comments other wise the reviews section wouldn't be about reviews but more about free advertisement for the vendor

Of course AT&T is going to fix these issues, but folks need to know, that depending on what they're expecting there may be problems or shortcomings for them, and based on what their needs are, decide whether they should pay for this or just stick with their current provider until AT&T does fix these issue.

You may think that there are too many negative posts and that it isn't justified since Uverse is a new technology, but how is AT&T suppose to improve or fix these issues if no one were to complain that would deter other folks from signing up for their service?

Realize also I'm not bashing AT&T. I think they'll have a great service once they work out the kinks and add more content. My neighbor next door actually works with them as a consultant on the Uverse project (We live in San Ramon, AT&T is down the steet). They're taking all feedback seriously and really want to improve the service, but they need the feedback. The more negative feedback the more they know they have an issue. It's just how things work, if you don't complain it won't get fixed

If they keep track of posts on »www.uverseusers.com and their own »utalk.att.com, they will see the ups and downs of the product real fast.

reply to sozekizer
Its time to stop complaining?
They rush a half ass product, make statements that are not true and then are not sure how to fix it... yea I am good with that, I love wasting my money for crap service.

AT&T may fix it over the next few years and it may be ok, but my experience with them was pretty bad and I don't care if they fix their problems or not I will never go back.

reply to justin
I just got mine installed today. Two installers (one training) and 4.5 hours later and everything seems ok. I have the U300 Elite. The following are my thoughts based upon a few hours of playing with the service.

Our apt building was built in 1939. We have one TV in the bedroom, one TV tuner card (WinTV-Radio) in the living room desktop computer, and a USB 2.0 PVR on a laptop in the living room. I had coaxial coming into the living room and split into three other coaxial lines. One ran to the bedroom tv and the other two when to the computers.

When the installer looked at our phone jack, he was surprised to see two wires instead of four. He looked in the box attached to the building and saw a lot of other apts wired the same way. He then stated that they couldn't install it because they use the second line, black and yellow wires, to run Uverse and Lightspeed, while Red and Green are for voice. I asked, "What about the jack in the bedroom. Some years ago, someone ran a phone line with 4 wires from the box, along side of the building, and to the bedroom. He pretty much refused to run a CAT5 to the STB to the bedroom and laptop. Only the desktop STB got CAT5. Each STB is connected to their TV/Tuner cards by RCA or S-video.

The platinum glove guy came out too and showed me how to use the TV. I have never even heard of any cable or satellite company sending someone out to show a customer how to use a DVR, Guide, or service. He was very professional and taught very well.

The picture looks great! I have a hard time digesting digital artifacting. I would rather see snow or ghosting more than pixelization. If there is almost any kind of motion, pixelization occurs. The channels do switch fast. The UI is very intuitive...but it can be VERY slow at times. When I saw something on the guide, it was very easy to set it to record. I like the size and position of the remote buttons. I live being able to see what is going to be on the current channel by pushing the right arrow. I like the back button.

Some things I don't like: The Series recording is ALMOST like Tivo's Season Pass. It can look for show on any day at any time, but only on the specified channel. By default, it only records at specific time. I have to actually edit the setting which is a pain. I had their Elite ADSL. I got about 4988/623. Now I get 56xx/942. Of course, I really don't notice any speed upgrade unless I am uploading. Billing is on two different bills. Not only that, I don't see an option to "go paperless" like I have done with my voice AT&T bill. Also I get a message stating that I am not eligible to pay online. I can with my other AT&T bill. Maybe because I don't have a Uverse bill yet? If I log into my AT&T homepage or account manager, the uverse.att.com site will not let me log in. I log out of my AT&T homepage, uverse.att.com still won't let me log into it. It says that I am still logged into 'another AT&T management site.' So I clear all of my browser cookies and I can log in. Obviously, they need to have one central account manager or two sites that can set two different cookies. I can tell that paying the two bills are going to be a pain. I will probably just use my banks free bill pay. Another option would be to cancel my voice service...hehe.

There is actually an option to go paperless billing with U-verse.

If you go to the U-verse Central site (»uversecentral.att.com) and click on Change Billing Info, there will be an option to sign up for paperless billing.

reply to justin
Lol. After they came over, I just played with it for a few hours while I was cleaning up. I played with the site even less than that and I was tired. Like you said, the setting is pretty out in the open. I can't believe I missed it.

There are a few other things I forgot to mention. When the TV is connected to the box via coaxial, the volume is very low and the background his is high. Switching to RCA/S-Video, component , or HDMI solves those problems. I wish there was a button for the favorites on the remote. I wish that I could set a channel to my favorites through the guide. Also, I wish the box had a sleep timer...hehe.

reply to kenu
How do you complain when customer service is either

a. never working
b. unable to get through "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."
c. on hold for literally hours!

I would have never changed from Comcast if I'd known there would be so much trouble. We didn't even bother to get the phone service because by the time we figured out they'd screwed up on the initial order, we'd already been without a phone for two weeks. We just increased our cell phones and use that exclusively.
To cancel and go back to comcast would just cost even more money, which is why we switched in the first place - to save money.

Hm, I always get right into tech support (even sales) whenever I call. The queue lines are not very long either when I call.

Tech support is 24x7, but sales works during 'normal business hours'. I am hardly ever put on hold for longer than 10 minutes or so...but my good experiences with customer support doesn't mean everyone will have a good experience.

reply to justin
U-Verse Crap? I don't know! I spent an hour with the sales guy, took to whole day off to be there for the install, cancelled my other service and stopped all email correspondences etc to those accounts, and after all that - IT DIDN'T WORK!!! The techs just had to leave and say sorry. WHAT CRAP!! WHAT STUPIDITY!

o.k. ATT is not going to please everybody just like folks voted for Bush and I did not!!!
The U-verse system will have kinks to iron out, just like you had kinks your wife had to iron out, or not.
If a company can please everyone, there would be no competition. Look, you get what you pay for, but I will take this one to the sky with me, The UVERSE System is a better bargain for your money. And a PLUS, what other service provider is sending articulate representatives out to make sure that you understand how to use your remote and also the consultant is very professional. ATT, ROCK ON cause I am surely buying stock....

reply to LoneCoyote

reply to justin
OK, so I'm at the fork in the road right now. An AT&T rep was at my house three days ago explaining everything to me and I have had a chance to see the UI on the television side. The price looks quite good compared to what I'm currently paying for Dish Network ($120.00 for HD on 2 TV's, DVR and SD on two others) and Comcast internet ($60.00 for Premium Plus (8mbs down, 768 kb up). Although most of the comments on this thread seem to be negative, is there anyone here that is happy with U-verse?

reply to justin
I'm presently using DISH (SD NOT HD)and I love that I can use my 1 DVR to watch recorded shows in 2 rooms. Unfortunately, the U-verse DVR is limited to only work in the room it's located in so I'd have to give up this DISH luxury. Does AT&T offer an additional DVR unit to compensate for this? This would almost seal the deal for me....

Has anyone found out if you can export recorded video from the dvr via a usb connection, etc?

Also, has anyone had experience with how much interior cable running they are willing to run? I need some run in a recessed ceiling and I'm curious if they will give me grief about it.

Thanks!

reply to justin
I switched from Time Warner Cable to U-verse last week. I currently have 4 TVs connected to it and 3 computers. I have the U200 package with Elite 6mb/s download. My download speed is steady at 5.75mb/s and upload at 958 mb/s. Far more stable than I have ever had with Time Warner Road Runner. As for the TV quality I had basic Cable with Time Warner so getting digital with a DVR and 12 months of free movie channels for the same price as Time Warner basic is a deal. I do not have HD on any of my TVs so I cannot say how well that works but the Standard TV reception appears fine to me.

I also have a VOIP phone connected to it using Packet8. The phone works great with U-verse much better than what I experienced with Time Warner.

reply to Preacher35
Just replying to the person with dish. I also had dish before switching over to uverse. Just so you are aware you can only watch and record from the tv that the dvr is hooked up to. Its not set up like dish where you have tv 1 and tv 2 branching off of the dvr and you could record and watch from both. If I would have realized i wouldnt have switched over. They say by jan. they might have the whole house dvr which would allow you to watch but not record from all. But i highly doubt it

reply to justin
I just got U-Verse last week, and after a bump in the road, it seems to be working pretty good. The on demand channel is much faster than Time Warner, the picture to me is a lot clearer, even on the basic channels. The only problem I am having is when using an HDMI cable for my HD TV, the sound will cut out for a second then back on. When talking to a very knowledgeable person at tech support, she said that it is a software issue, the picture feed is faster than the sound feed (I have an optical cable hooked up to a surround receiver). She said that switching to component cables should solve my problem. I never really have a problem with pixelation. The internet seems to work fine. All in all I am very happy with the switch over, and also happy that I have more HD channels to choose from. Thought I would post a positive one here.