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OneEye
join:2006-04-15
Peachtree City, GA

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OneEye

Member

what's a retired gent to do?

I've been a BellSouth/AT&T customer since 1965 (the year I got married).

I've had voice, dial up and DSL. Now I'm trying to make up my mind to go with U-Verse Internet. Yet I dispise AT&T and its arrogant manners toward all customers, especially with CAPS and new Terms of Service that really suck.

Yes. I could go with Comcast. But who wants to fight a ring topology network that fails with every car accident that knocks down a telephone pole and with degraded service due to packet collisions.

My need for an Internet fix is really making my life difficult.

Peachtree City, GA
mandogeek
join:2011-04-16
Fayetteville, GA

mandogeek

Member

OneEye:

I may be wrong, but moving to U-verse won't provide an alternate solution to AT&T DSL. The CAPS and TOS are the same. More importantly, the network technology is the same and shared by both services. U-verse is a separate AT&T business unit and allows them to bundle billing for data, digital TV, traditional land-line long distance, and, if your local mini-CO can support it, VOIP telephone service.

U-Verse Internet access, (still DSL), digital TV, and VOIP are all delivered to your residence via the same twisted pair wiring-- just like your DSL service now. The big difference is that U-verse replaces your DSL modem with what they term a Residential Gateway. This is a pretty decent combo modem/router that separates and manages the various services. The twisted pair terminates at the RG which supports:

1) primary internet access,

2) provides a coax I/F to distribute digital TV over your house's existing coax cabling (each TV needs its own U-Verse set top box, for which they charge $7/mo)

3) wireless network support. The wireless capability is excellent with a strong signal. I retired my Linksys wireless router once the U-verse RG was installed.

I was an existing AT&T DSL customer and because tall trees prevent me from going with satellite TV, I jumped at the chance to ditch Comcast, plus U-Verse offered a 6 month promotion which was $30 less per month than what I was paying Comcast. I found that picture quality immediately improved compared to Comcast's. I would have to guess that AT&T's network is superior to Comcast's patchwork held together by duct tape and tie wraps. I really believe it's because Comcast has begun to severely compress its signal in order to cram in another 50 or so home shopping channels over their existing bandwidth. It is far from a lossless compression. You pay for 1080i HD, but you don't necessarily get it. Several lawsuits across the country have been filed because of this Comcast practice.

After the six months were up, I cancelled the U-Verse TV service, installed an antenna and now have only over-the-air channels, FOR FREE. Between those, on-line access, and NetFlix, I'm happy and $100/mo richer. Plus the native 1080i or 720p broadcast signal I receive provides the best picture quality yet. Finally HD TV.

I may be stuck with AT&T. I'll never see any fiber laid in my neighborhood in my lifetime. As bad as AT&T is, Comcast is many times worse. I would NEVER rely on them for internet access or my phone service.

Just my $.02

OneEye
join:2006-04-15
Peachtree City, GA

OneEye

Member

You're right on all your points except one: There is a difference in the CAP level for DSL and U-Verse. DSL is 150 G and U-Verse is 250 G.

Regarding Comcast. As long as Comcast and other cable systems continue to deliver content by a ring topology, information will continue to be compress into a digital blob with more packet collisions than actual packet delivery to the home.

I still despise AT&T's arrogant business attitude toward customers.

Thanks for your input, mandogeek.
OneEye

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OneEye

Member

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