AT&T U-verse

[scottmandue]

Anyone using AT&T U-verse? How do you like it?

TIA

[fxeditor]

I am currently using it for my ISP and LOVE it! I had it for a couple of years for my TV service as well and was happy overall but decided I no longer wanted to pay for television service so I dumped it and am now saving almost $1000 per year! With the high speed internet I get everything I watch from Hulu or Netflix.

If you have any specific questions on the Uverse service I'll do my best to answer.

Good luck,

Michael

[scottmandue]

You opened an interesting can of worms.

Why not just get high speed Internet and watch streaming video?

Here is the catch, I run all my video through my home theater receiver... can I get 1080p and 5.1 sound via the Internet? (yes I'm a video snob )

Just get a computer with a kick a$$ video card and hook it up?

Or if I want all that should I stick with U-verse? The DVR is appealing.

AT&T website says I can't get it in my neighborhood... however my neighbor told me she got Internet with AT&T (and their website told her it couldn't be done) so she said to go to the store and talk to a person.

[Pazuzu]

U-verse is very very picky about how long the wire is between your TV and the local "node". Someone on one end of the street might get great service, while the house 2 blocks down gets no service.

I have Uverse, and get great service. I can't compare to any other service, since it replaced about 10 years of rabbit ears.

[regency]

I currently have U-verse and hate it, really. I've had it for about 1 year and when the service is working, it's fine, no complaints. However, for reasons unknown to me, the service will just quit. Sometimes on all (4) TV's or just one or two?? I then have to call the service center and that then becomes a hour + call while they do their trouble shooting from their end. So far, I've had to call four times in less than a year and I'm tired of dealing with it. Two of the times I called, I had to deal with a guy in India. I had a difficult time understanding both which only added to my frustration level. I now wish I had my "Dish" back.

I'm planning on terminating the whole AT & T / U-verse package, just don't know when I'll pull that trigger.

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

[rfuerst911sc]

I've had it for almost 2 years now and running 8 TV's plus internet . Knock on wood never had an outage but occasionally will have a 30 second freeze but that rarely happens. I would get it again.

[widebody911]

I have it and I like it. It took them a while to get their 5h!t together, so for the first month or so, the service sucked. I still don't get the b/w I'd like, but I think the tiered b/w model is a scam to start with.

[scottmandue]

Just had the epiphany that all I need is a high speed Internet connection and an Xbox or PS2

[ErVikingo]

We love it

[azasadny]

We love it, it's fast and reliable. We use it for the TV, home phone (VOIP) and Internet. Not cheap, but very fast and we hardly ever experience an outage.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Just had the epiphany that all I need is a high speed Internet connection and an Xbox or PS2

eh...

I have Uverse, a Roku box, and a Western Digital TV box.
Between the Roku and WDTV I *could* watch almost anything I want (if i use torrents). HOWEVER...

I cannot tell when something new comes along. I cannot flip channels and find something a bit more obscure. I cannot watch live sports (watching a soccer game 6 hours later just ain't the same, and I usually know the results by then...).
There are 6 or 8 shows that we now watch which we never knew about except for having an active guide on the TV, and trying something new. Roku and torrents don't give you that.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Anyone using AT&T U-verse? How do you like it?

TIA

We used to have U-Verse.

The good:
Everything generally worked. DVR controls are pretty good. Pretty good tv selection.

The bad:
$120/month for what I think was their lower tier tv package, not terribly great internet and no phone. Boxes didn't last long. We went through 3 in two years. They're free, but you have to schedule a time when they can come out and set up a new one. HDTV didn't look as clear as over the air broadcasts. I could spot the compression.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

We are in their GREEN zone of highest coverage. Zero reception, unable to obtain signal. THEY wanted ME to pay to put up a repeater on MY land so THEY could increase their signal and sell to more customers.

People in this area complain about a lack of service, spotty reception, and high prices. Of course all the carriers receive the same complaints so your results may vary.

[911_Dude]

Ive had u verse for over a year. About to switch back to insight cable. The service has been good. I like these TV channel guide, good picture, internet speed, etc. But Im paying over $200 /mo for tv and internet and the other cable co is only charging $65 for the same service with a 5% per year increase cap, or something like that.
Also, ATT is good until something breaks. Then your on the phone for hours.

[Don Plumley]

Have it for Data, TV, Telephone. We are close to a brand new fiber line. Very happy so far. I like being able to control my DVR from a website.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Scuba Steve

We used to have U-Verse.

The good:
Everything generally worked. DVR controls are pretty good. Pretty good tv selection.

The bad:
$120/month for what I think was their lower tier tv package, not terribly great internet and no phone. Boxes didn't last long. We went through 3 in two years. They're free, but you have to schedule a time when they can come out and set up a new one. HDTV didn't look as clear as over the air broadcasts. I could spot the compression.

Dish network signal is crystal clear... and cost about a third of that.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

eh...

I have Uverse, a Roku box, and a Western Digital TV box.
Between the Roku and WDTV I *could* watch almost anything I want (if i use torrents). HOWEVER...

I cannot tell when something new comes along. I cannot flip channels and find something a bit more obscure. I cannot watch live sports (watching a soccer game 6 hours later just ain't the same, and I usually know the results by then...).
There are 6 or 8 shows that we now watch which we never knew about except for having an active guide on the TV, and trying something new. Roku and torrents don't give you that.

Therein lies the rub... I watch mostly esoteric odd crap... documentaries, PBS, food network, etc. don't care much about sports... well, I would watch motor sports but my minimum satellite package doesn't have SPEED or any other racing (ok, I get horse racing... whoo hoo!).

On the other hand there are the folk who have disconnected the TV and say it is the best thing they have done for the quality of their life.

I'm thinking a game box might be a nice compromise.

This is all a cost cutting program, cut the satellite bill, roll Internet/TV/phone into one small bill (not the high $$$ bundle the cable providers want to foist on us)

[nostatic]

I just dumped Time Warner and switched to FIOS. I had already been using FIOS for internet (25mbs up and down) and phone. Adding TV ended up being about $30/mo vs cable which was $80 then climbed to over $90 for whatever reason (and that without pay channels). So far so good.

[fxeditor]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

You opened an interesting can of worms.

Why not just get high speed Internet and watch streaming video?

Here is the catch, I run all my video through my home theater receiver... can I get 1080p and 5.1 sound via the Internet? (yes I'm a video snob )

Just get a computer with a kick a$$ video card and hook it up?

Or if I want all that should I stick with U-verse? The DVR is appealing.

AT&T website says I can't get it in my neighborhood... however my neighbor told me she got Internet with AT&T (and their website told her it couldn't be done) so she said to go to the store and talk to a person.

I built a kick ass home theater PC for about $600.00. Got a good video card, 8 gigs of RAM, and a cool, silent, and super thin case. The system, with it's 4 terabyte hard drive, provides me with a DVR that's impossible for me to fill!

I get my broadcast TV "over the air" using a cheap set of rabbit ears although I will invest in a roof antenna this year. Once you see how good HD looks straight from the networks you'll never go back to the compressed crap the cable, dish, phone companies give you! As far as Internet TV goes, Hulu is 720p but Netflix can be 1080p, but currently only through the PS3 (I hope that changes soon) and yes, you can get 5.1 from them.

As far as the software I'm using, I currently run Windows Media Center as my front end with Boxee and Hulu Desktop accessible from it. I may try Plex one of these days now that Boxee is no longer supporting software only versions. I still use a web browser to get Amazon's video store when I want to do some "pay per view" so I think I might get a 99 dollar Roku box.

It just occurred to me that a Roku might be the perfect thing for you to start with! Here's the info: Amazon.com: Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player: Electronics

Good luck!
-Michael

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Aerial antennae! One cost, lasts for years!!!

Local library has a killer video collection.

Go with a computer or game box.