jjgk
Premium
join:2003-01-04
Grosse Pointe, MI
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·Comcast
|  Had 'em all (advance notice: got carried away)
I have read every comment in this thread so far. I am not a techno-geek in fiber to the house for FTTP or FTTH, though I know my ABC's.
I have had everything from 300baud internet through CompuServe to 56k dial-up with TIR, then Mindspring / Earthlink, then xDSL with Earthlink that failed and they removed it to Comcast Internet/Cable to SBC-Global xDSL/Direct TV. Overall, Direct-TV had the most straight-forward menuing system of all of them. Nice feature with Comcast, pre-schedule a show and the TV when on with a warning that it was going to change to the prescheduled channel. If you had your VCR or DVDRW hooked up, all the better. U-verse menuing doesn't compare to Direct-TV. My experience with D-TV was a better picture, very little digitalizing, 2 or 3 freeze-ups over the entire contract and one (1) picture loss due to whether in Michigan...yes MI. That has all happened tens of times with U-verse since my June 4 '07 install. What does ATT U-verse need to do to create an enhanced user interace:
•Don't just scroll a menu up and down, let it wrap so you are not pushing an up and down arrow and waiting for it to do something, unless you know count the options in advance.
•Clean up the picture. I don't have HDTV, so I am not asking for much. Even with little updates I have noticed along the way, I still get some digitalizing or jerky motions. Other times the picture is suburb, so I know they can do it if they want.
•Telco, hands off the pairs at the pole!
•DVR...ha, I laugh at it. Record shows, especially during the holiday and try to watch another one. Okay, everyone, go your room and turn off the box, we wouldn't want to blow out the gateway or anything.
•DVR does not know how to tell time. I think we learned that in preschool!
•The Guide doesn't give you correct programming on what could be called nationwide cable channels. I don't bother much with local channels so I don't know about them. "Getting Info, Getting Info, Getting Info, Getting Info."
•Music...what music. Oh that choppy stuff is part of the rhythm, ya, its the Urge of the music to play to the beat. I guess it keeps the cost down, but how does cable and D-TV use the Music Channels or Siris to bring us "quality" music and quality "choice."
•Internet. 6/1, please. If you can the ATT HSI speed test site to work at all with out crashing all the Tabs in IE 7, good luck. So test with DSLR and tcpIQ. Then post your result! I challenge anyone to get similar download speeds. Over all, upload speeds are fairly closely match as advertised...download, ha, again I laugh. So, whether fiber to the house, FTTP, FTTH, LMNOP, does it really matter with a product that is not yet mature. No doubt financially yes in the long run, but by the time they finish this go-round of installs, new technology will be knocking on our doors. I say pick what works best for you know and just enjoy it because in a couple of years all of this will seem like 300baud and 56k...maybe??? |
