Uverse

[fxeditor]

I had Uverse's TV/internet package for 2 years and recently dumped the TV service. I wasn't happy with the image quality on Uverse. Unlike Fios, Uverse is NOT fiber to your door. It is only fiber up to the hub, where it is then distributed to the house via standard copper. The result of this is Uverse doesn't have nearly the bandwidth of Fios. To compensate for this they apply a ton of compression on their channels. It wasn't so bad at first (I was a very early adopter), but as the channel lineups grew, the compression artifacts on stations, even premium ones like HBO became unbearable. That, coupled with the fact that I hated paying for a bunch of channels I had absolutely no interest in, spurred my decision to " pull the plug" on the TV service. I instead got the 6 meg internet service, and am now getting my TV via over the air or legal internet sources. As an added benefit I am saving over $70 per month and will recoup the cost of the home theater PC equipment in under 6 months.

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by fxeditor

I had Uverse's TV/internet package for 2 years and recently dumped the TV service. I wasn't happy with the image quality on Uverse. ...That, coupled with the fact that I hated paying for a bunch of channels I had absolutely no interest in, spurred my decision to " pull the plug" on the TV service. I instead got the 6 meg internet service, and am now getting my TV via over the air or legal internet sources. As an added benefit I am saving over $70 per month and will recoup the cost of the home theater PC equipment in under 6 months.

DVR or Tivo is a must for me. I priced out a new HD Tivo around $350 and would love it, but then I remember that I would lose Speedtv and a couple of kids shows. I really need to stop wasting so much money on phone and TV. If Uverse didn't have poor picture quality, I would be all over it.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by fxeditor

I had Uverse's TV/internet package for 2 years and recently dumped the TV service. I wasn't happy with the image quality on Uverse. Unlike Fios, Uverse is NOT fiber to your door. It is only fiber up to the hub, where it is then distributed to the house via standard copper. The result of this is Uverse doesn't have nearly the bandwidth of Fios. To compensate for this they apply a ton of compression on their channels. It wasn't so bad at first (I was a very early adopter), but as the channel lineups grew, the compression artifacts on stations, even premium ones like HBO became unbearable. That, coupled with the fact that I hated paying for a bunch of channels I had absolutely no interest in, spurred my decision to " pull the plug" on the TV service. I instead got the 6 meg internet service, and am now getting my TV via over the air or legal internet sources. As an added benefit I am saving over $70 per month and will recoup the cost of the home theater PC equipment in under 6 months.

I kind of agree with you on signal quality. My parents have Time Warner and I could swear their HD is just a tiny bit crisper than mine.

[jcunning]

I have Uverse and I'm almost perfectly happy with it.
I have not noticed any of the signal problems others have explained.
Perhaps I'm not picky enough or some areas are worse than others. What shows does this show up on the most?

I also found that you can record 2 HD channels and 2 SD channels at the same time which is not advertised that well. One negative is that the DVR isn't as easily upgraded as a Tivo. Therefore I'm forced to record some tv shows in SD to keep space available for long races or multiple football games.

The search is actually not that bad compared to TV. You cannot create auto-record wishilists, and you cannot set a maximum number of episodes, but other than that, it is very good.

I really like the remote viewing option. It is cool to be able to watch the same DVR shows upstairs. TivoHD cannot do this.

Another negative is you cannot watch shows on your computer like you could with Tivo. You have to have an extra box and a slingbox to do this.

The one big factor for me was that I could get more HD channels with UVerse than what TimeWarner offered, including NFL Network. I did save around $20 a month and that included faster internet as well!

I still have my lifetime service, upgraded, HD Tivo sitting in the cabinet though. Just in case UVerse screws up I can switch back to Time Warner if needed.

[azasadny]

We have had UVerse for 2 years and we're very happy. TV, Internet and phone and no glitches or (major) price increases. I was glad to get rid of DirecTV and there's no contract with UVerse.

[mattdavis11]

Just got it 2 weeks ago. $94 a month with U200 package plus HD service, two receivers (one DVR) and internet.

It's frozen up on me once or twice for a second or two, seems they were having a bad night or something as it hasn't happened since. I like it, it's better than cable and I refuse to pay for something that's already in my back yard (satelite).

[fxeditor]

Originally Posted by Neilk

DVR or Tivo is a must for me. I priced out a new HD Tivo around $350 and would love it, but then I remember that I would lose Speedtv and a couple of kids shows. I really need to stop wasting so much money on phone and TV. If Uverse didn't have poor picture quality, I would be all over it.

My home theater PC has a great DVR built in to the Windows 7 Media Center. The menus and guides are very elegant, much nicer than the ones on Uverse and I can record HD channels and view them on any computer in the world (thanks to Orb.com). I also have my entire music library, Pandora, Netfix streaming, and tons of video podcasts. All this without paying anything other than my internet bill.

I'm not saying this is a solution for everyone, but for my family it's been great.

Michael

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

Just installed. Ditched the home phone, 3Mb DSL and saved about $20 a month.



Very nice!

Let the downloading begin.

what speeds did you have before?

I have basic Comcast and i regularly get average speeds higher than that..

[rattlsnak]

heres a quick test i just did..

[gr8fl4porsche]

Nice numbers!

Medium speed DSL pulled down 2800 / 384 numbers.

[dtw]

Installed yesterday. Great install tech, really impressed.

The outside install guy called me yesterday morning to let me know we were all hooked up, and said I was going to be really happy. 599 feet from the node. 32mbps down, 5 up.

Haven't had much time to play with it yet but what I saw last night blew me away.

Not to mention, I finally have Fox News - so I watched Dennis Miller on O'Reilly last night and laughed myself silly. Damn he's funny.

Where are y'all getting that benchmarking tool? I'll run it and see what I get.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Speakeasy Speed Test

[gr8fl4porsche]

Here is my blazing work DSL connection. About 17,000 ft from the hub.
Other than a T1 type dedicated line or satellite, I have no other options.
AT&T DSL is our only provider on this stretch of road.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by BRPORSCHE

Sniper, it's not cheap I know that. I think it's 49.99 with the basic bundle with no home phone. Just internet and tv.

I just looked and uverse isn't available where I live...tear.

Weird, ATT is constantly trying to get me to move to U-verse. I've got Comcast digital cable w/DVR and the top of the line DSL (old school style) at 6Mb. I've looked at U-verse. For me to get the same service, the cost would end up being pretty much the same. I know the quality of my service now. My DSL and cable rarely go down or have problems.

For me to switch, considering I've got good service now, I'd have to save some money, but I don't think I'd do that.

I tried to get it turned on a couple of years ago. I spent about 1-1.5 hours talking to some guy on my front porch about it one night and talking to the activation chick on the phone. They told me it was in my neighborhood and scheduled a turn up day. The guy shows up and can't get it to work. He calls another tech that's got the right tool, to eventually determine, that I'm too far away from the fiber.

Nah, they're going to have to do something really special to get me to switch.

One thing, I read back when I was thinking of switching. The HD channels are more compressed than they are on regular cable, so supposedly the HD quality isn't as good as cable. Other than that, it's supposed to be great.

[dtw]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

Here is my blazing work DSL connection. About 17,000 ft from the hub.
Other than a T1 type dedicated line or satellite, I have no other options.
AT&T DSL is our only provider on this stretch of road.

I tried three locations, my best were:

11485 down
1469 up

Pretty consistent across all three test servers. Am really happy w/the service so far. Used the online chat last night to diagnose a problem with a weird beeping noise on the downstairs receiver. Prefer the chat window so I can surf & work while responding to the chat droid as needed. Beats struggling to hear through someone's accent across a trans-pacific line, which is usually a hellish nightmare. Anyway, we tracked it down to the cordless base station/answering machine sitting next to the receiver - static interference. Pretty good service - Earthfink CS was always a drag.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by masraum

Weird, ATT is constantly trying to get me to move to U-verse. I've got Comcast digital cable w/DVR and the top of the line DSL (old school style) at 6Mb. I've looked at U-verse. For me to get the same service, the cost would end up being pretty much the same. I know the quality of my service now. My DSL and cable rarely go down or have problems.

For me to switch, considering I've got good service now, I'd have to save some money, but I don't think I'd do that.

I tried to get it turned on a couple of years ago. I spent about 1-1.5 hours talking to some guy on my front porch about it one night and talking to the activation chick on the phone. They told me it was in my neighborhood and scheduled a turn up day. The guy shows up and can't get it to work. He calls another tech that's got the right tool, to eventually determine, that I'm too far away from the fiber.

Nah, they're going to have to do something really special to get me to switch.

One thing, I read back when I was thinking of switching. The HD channels are more compressed than they are on regular cable, so supposedly the HD quality isn't as good as cable. Other than that, it's supposed to be great.

Why aren't you running Comcast Internet? I switched back today, and even though I have to pay $60/mth, I saw 27Mb/s today.

I bought my own modem, a DOCSIS 3.0 unit Motorola Surfboard, to make sure I had good speed.