UVRay
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to justin
Re: Review AT&T U-Verse
Had U-verse internet(upgrade from DSL Pro)/tv installed today. U-verse, it seems is not "Always On" Turned on the tv about 5 hours after installation and there was no signal. Turned on computer- no signal. Gateway light was blinking red(synchronizing with server perhaps?). Just as I was about to call tech support, the led light turned green.
Many channels and clear picture. Will decide whether to keep this after the 30 day promotion. |
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koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs: | The RG is supposed to always keep the connection to the DSLAM. If it is dropping it, you might want to have a tech come out and look at it. |
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UVRay
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to UVRay
UPDATE: Signal went out again around 5:47pm. Waited for a while to see if signal would come back. No signal. Called tech support. Of course , signal came back. Was informed by tech support that someone would be over the next day to see what's going on.
Lost signal around 7:00pm again. stayed up till 11:00pm to see if would come back. No signal.
At 6:30am, still no signal.
Finally, signal is back (broadband/service light lit up green) though not sure when it came back. Just glad that it is back, for now. I'm wondering if signal is good only during the day.
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"Had U-verse internet(upgrade from DSL Pro)/tv installed today. U-verse, it seems is not "Always On" Turned on the tv about 5 hours after installation and there was no signal. Turned on computer- no signal. Gateway light was blinking red(synchronizing with server perhaps?). Just as I was about to call tech support, the led light turned green.
Many channels and clear picture. Will decide whether to keep this after the 30 day promotion" |
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ccallana
Huh?
Premium,VIP
join:2000-08-03
Folsom, CA
| reply to justin
I just got mine installed yesterday, so I don't really have enough info for a full review, but I will add a few interesting bits of information -
My install was set-up for 8am. Last week I realized nobody would be home, so I called and got it moved to 10am, great, no problem, even got an email confirming. On Sunday, a tech came out and did some pre-work in the box on the side of the house. Great - less time I have to be home on Monday during the install.
Well, long story short - I was home basically all day and after 3 or 4 calls, finally got a tech (2 actually) at my house at around 6:30pm - 8 hours after they were supposed to be there. Install went pretty clean until the wireless setup - my old adapter wasn't allowing the new adapter to load properly. I solved it in a few minutes after they left!
If you are getting slow internet speeds, make sure to clean out any old network adapters and use their new ones (if you are going wireless) - I'm on the basic speed package of 1.5/1 and with the old adapter installed I was only getting 700k down, once I cleaned out the old software, installed the new, I'm now much closer, somewhere around 1.3/800... something very bad was happening on the wireless 
So far TV looks good. I can tell a slight difference from my Comcast expanded basic service, but not much. I do notice the slowness sometimes when setting up the DVR to record and I'm still trying to figure out where all the channels are. The channel guides they left are all wrong for the upper HD channels (past the locals) - not sure why.
I will be calling today for some sort of rebate, compensation for spending my entire day to get the service hooked up....
--
"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.... We are far too easily pleased." C.S. Lewis |
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koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs: | The paper guides they gave you are probably wrong because AT&T changed around the lineup on the 15th, so they probably haven't updated those yet. |
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Stratoman
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to justin
Had U-Verse about a month. Installed 3 TV sets, all analog; 1 RF and 2 S-Video connections. 2 PC's with DSL Pro. Subscribed to U200 service.
Installation was unbelievably good--complete re-wire of house with CAT5. Very professional installation.
Dumped Time-Warner for U-Verse and was the best move I've ever made. Had some cockpit trouble and the support helped me correct the problem in short order.
Had thunderstorm two days ago and lost TV & DSL. Tech support arrived on time the next day and replaced a blown router/modem.
The QOS blows Time-Warner away as well at the support. DSL works at rated speed. I would say U-Verse is well worth the money considering the crappy service with my previous provider.
One caviat: Since I work for VZ, U-Verse is just short of FiOS but living in a A.T.&T. city, this is the best we can do for now. |
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Pezboy
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to justin
I signed up for u-verse in July they came out and installed it.I started having issues with freezing and pixilation.I have called repair out 3 times to fix the problem.Each time they came out they changed fittings and tightened connections. I reran new RG6 cable to the tvs and they came out and used them still had issues. This time I ran cat6 cable to all the tvs and to the outside box. I asked to talk to a supervisor be fore the techs came out this time and was told he would call me. I never got the call the call and the techs showed up. they used the cat6 to the tvs but would not use it for the outside from the gateway. they said that this should fix the problem. I am sitting here as my tv freezes. |
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buffalosolja
join:2007-10-23
Gainesville, GA | reply to justin
It sounds like alot of people with the problems are coming over to at&t with copper lines. The system was idealy made for fiber optics. And if you have that you should get better performance. |
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FrustratedInIndy
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to Pezboy
said by Pezboy :
I signed up for u-verse in July they came out and installed it.I started having issues with freezing and pixilation.I have called repair out 3 times to fix the problem.Each time they came out they changed fittings and tightened connections. I reran new RG6 cable to the tvs and they came out and used them still had issues. This time I ran cat6 cable to all the tvs and to the outside box. I asked to talk to a supervisor be fore the techs came out this time and was told he would call me. I never got the call the call and the techs showed up. they used the cat6 to the tvs but would not use it for the outside from the gateway. they said that this should fix the problem. I am sitting here as my tv freezes.
Our TV freezes several times a day..sometimes briefly, sometimes for several minutes. Occasionally, we have to reboot the entire system, which is really becomming very old.  |
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zamboni99
join:2007-10-29
Novi, MI
| Unfortunately pixilation isn't unique to U-Verse. I'm waiting for U-Verse to become available in my area because I have the same issue with Brighthouse - not only pixilation but also audio fallout at the same time. It gets so bad at times that watching TV is impossible. I end up disconnecting the STB and watching analog. I'm paying for digital and watching analog. I complain, they send out servicemen, change out my DVR, but, nothing changes. Over time the problem goes away, only to return. One serviceman finally told us there is a problen in our "run" and finding that is like finding a needle in a haystack.
So, I guess as soon as U-Verse becomes available in my area of Michigan I will trade the evil that I know as Brighthouse Networks for the evil that I don't know (U-Verse). |
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UndecidedUser
@sensorlogic.com
| reply to justin
OK, I've had the service for 2 weeks now, and have been a Dish customer for 7 years, and a TW cable modem customer for broadband. In short, I'm still undecided whether I'm going to spring for Dish's HDTV service, as it will effectively cost me $30/month more for roughly the same channel selection as uverse may be adequate for my viewing needs (Probably what AT&T's hoping for, at least they're charging in the right range for their offering. See below for why).
First the good: AT&T's 3/1 broadband package blows away TW's 6+/512 cable broadband (the fastest upload I could get). Downloads are as fast, as almost no one allows you more than 3Mbps download anyways (that's almost 400KB/s). Note that AT&T's service is also half the cost of TWs, and I just can't stand TW's clustered web interface and support sites.
On TV, recording multiple simultaneous channels is good. Digital component outs are good, as I have an "older" HDTV that depended upon the original digital component inputs for DTV (4 sets of inputs!). My Samsung T151 has been serving me well there until now.
The Bad:
only 1 HD channel
the remote/menu system and operation is
•slow
•remote's layout is definitely in need of some user friendly ergonomic engineering
•queues commands it receives, except for fast forward
•fast forward is in 30s increments, but has frames you're skipping and from locations ahead of your skip show up across about a 3s per forward skip. Going backwards is instant, so this is obviously done on purpose, probably to force viewing images of commercials
•no usable "favorities" guide
•remote requires line of sight
•guide only holds about 10 hours of info. Using the FF key to hit the next day results in a good 10-20s wait while the guide loads. Once loaded, you can skip back and forth pretty quickly, but apparently the guide is dumped as soon as you exit the guide.
In addition to those issues, there appears to be packet loss in the stream, resulting in 0.5 to 2s drops noted so far. Changing channels is "slow" IMHO, as compared to Dish channel changes, which are almost instantaneous.
As for the HDTV box itself, checking into the system info area, the box is running with only about 6MB of RAM, and 14MB of virtual space with 4-8MB virtual in use. (You wonder why the damn thing's so slow? There you go) It's also Windows CE, and MS being the dunces they are probably explains the Guide's slow response, as I'll bet a nickel that they're waiting for the guide PIP stream to kick in before allowing you to go to the next channel. You get a couple of click in, but then you get to wait for the receiver to "catch up" and the PIP shows up and you can click again.
As for PIP, supposedly there's a second TV channel out (SD only) which can be hooked up to a second input (or TV) for dual receiving and allows for TV based PIP. I haven't bothered, since PIP is not high on my list.
So why with all these negatives am I considering uverse as my TV service? Because after 7 years of DVR usage, I've discovered that I almost never watch live TV, nor do I use the menu system for much. We also almost exclusively watch all programming on a single TV, so multiple TVs, especially simultaneous multiple TVs, are not often an issue. The only problems that really irk me is the forward skip hesitations and remote line of sight and queuing behavior. |
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bky
moof moof
Premium
join:2002-07-05
Austin, TX
| reply to justin
I had U-verse installed over the weekend and feel like I now have a good enough feel of it to write a proper review. 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 about 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.
Bottom line:
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.
Overall happiness:
It's not FTTP, but I still love it. |
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UndecidedUser
@sbcglobal.net
| said by bky  :It's not FTTP, but I still love it. I'm confused by this. Why is it not FTTP? I'm running fiber to the house, where it gets converted to Cat5e cabling. Is that the issue? Cat5e cabling is good for at least 2Gb/s full- duplex speeds up to 300 or so feet (4 TPs, only 2 TPs are required for ethernet so you can multiplex on a single cable). |
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ccallana
Huh?
Premium,VIP
join:2000-08-03
Folsom, CA | In most neighborhoods, U-Verse is not fiber all the way to the house, its fiber somewhere close to the house with copper running the last bit. |
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NotHappy wATT
@sbcglobal.net
| Just got U-Verse coming from ComCast and I must say the HD TV is horrible. ATT's bragging about more channels is obvously the result of far higher compression rates. compression artifacts abound. I have an LCD HDTV and I might as well go back to a standard TV with what I'm seeing on ATT U-Verse.
I'll be contacting ATT to remove their product. fortunatly I haven't yet disconnected my ComCast.
And please don't think I'm a ComCast apologist. I changed in hopes of something less expensive with as good or better service. Unfortunately the ATT is so bad I'll go back to paying 40 more per month. |
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VideoR123
join:2007-10-28
Brentwood, CA
| reply to justin
Have installed in Tracy, CA. 1 DVR and Two Receivers. took three days for the techs to get it right ! Credit goes to AT&T techs although new at this, they were out their to help.
SD picture great on my 58 Pany
HD is a bit flat compared to Dishnetwork which has a lot of depth on HD. Internet is surprisingly up and down , it seems to slow down in the morning and late evening they have a great 2 Wire Gateway, which replaces my 3 year old 2wire 1800.
I have cat5e installed in my home so that made it easier for the techs. to install the system. the gateway was installed next to my smart box in the closet, from there they installed a netgear switch, with 8 ports which ran the cat 5e to separate room. So far I am satisfied with the system, cheaper and better than comcast and dish. |
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bky
moof moof
Premium
join:2002-07-05
Austin, TX
1 edit | reply to UndecidedUser
Apparently you are pretty special if you get FTTP w/ u-verse. For most of us, fiber ends at the pole/node and from there it's a POTS single-pair copper VDSL connection to the house. |
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Fermin Diaz
@Level3.net | reply to justin
i don't owe you people $7.50 stop bothering me, good gosh what does take you people to understand this Fermin Diaz |
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YpsiDK
| reply to justin
I got Uverse installed last Monday and have had to call customer service almost every day since. I was using Comcast, and wasn't dissatisfied with the service, but did want the Big 10 Network, which isn't currently offered through Comcast.
I want to like AT&T. I like the features on the DVR better than Comcast's. And I like that you can record more programs at once than you can with Comcast (even though not being able to record two HD programs at once is a pain). Additionally, I work out of my home, so the Elite Internet package really appealed to me as I typically conduct quite a few web-based meetings every week.
Unfortunately, the service has not worked for me at all. I expected some bugs and glitches since they just rolled out the service in southeastern Michigan, but the only consistent element so far is its inconsistency. The Internet has not been stable, and I can't typically stay connected for longer than 30 minutes at a time. I was disconnected from my VPN 27 times in one day. We have yet to record a program without chunks of the programming missing. During one half-hour show, we lost 32 seconds at the beginning, 5 minutes at the end, and at least 3-5 seconds a handful of other times during the show. And I can say without any exaggeration that it’s been the same story with everything we watch or record. There hasn’t been one show in the week we’ve had the service that has not had segments of sound or picture that didn’t come through.
The picture quality isn't bad, but my HD digital tier with Comcast was definitely clearer. And I can’t tell much of a difference between AT&T’s digital tier vs. standard channels. So either the regular channels are really good, or the digital channels aren’t as good as they should be. I suspect it’s a combination. We also haven't been successful getting HD sound out of the box, but that might be our own wiring issue.
Five times since the box was installed, the entire system froze up and I had to unplug every cord and let it sit before I re-plugged and tried again. I’ve also had to reset the gateway a few times as well.
Technical support keeps trying to identify the problem, but they just keep telling me that everything "should" be working fine, as their tests of my signal strength indicate that I'm getting the speeds required for service. I'm happy that everything should be working, but it's frustrating to have such consistent issues that can't be resolved.
I'm glad I haven't canceled my Comcast service yet, as I will probably call it quits with AT&T if they can't provide some resolution to the problem by the end of the week. I might be able to get over the annoyance in the TV programming if they could give me some assurance that it will improve. But I can’t work on the Internet. And because the problem seems to be occurring at the gateway, I can’t even hardwire my computer to get more constant connection speeds. I’d give them another chance in a year or so when they get some of this service issues resolved. But I can’t justify paying $125 a month for service that works just 50% of the time. I’d rather pay slightly more per month with Comcast and get reliable service. |
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jwwgold
@temosunrooms.com
| reply to justin
WOW! Only 1 day for the install? That's good. Besides that, it took an additional 3 days to get the other two units to come up then another 3 days to get the On Demand to work. I am going to keep this service even though the issues mentioned are also seen here. I had the highest speed internet and HBO and a HD DVR from Comcast and paid $238.00 a month. Here I am paying $119.00 a month for EVERYTHING under the sun. I can live with those numbers. I can take a soft HD image. The freeze here and there and the hesitation of the remote is a bit at times. The remote responds well most of the time. I'm in Detroit. I've had Uverse completely up and running for a week. I have CAT5 to the boxes. |
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