My U-verse Review - 2012

[JEFFinINDY]

U-verse has always been intriguing to me. My neighborhood has had U-verse for many years now (it was one of the first areas in Indianapolis to get the hook-up), but my own early in-store observations of the picture quality as well as the plethora of negative reviews of the service kept me planted firmly in the land of satellite TV (Dish for 5+ years and DirecTV for about 9 months). I also subscribed to Comcast for years for my Internet service.

On a recent phone call to AT&T to fix a wireless billing issue, a very persuasive tech representative convinced me to give U-verse a try. With the promise of significant savings for a bundle of TV and Internet along with no contract or commitment I decided to give it a shot. I admit that I'm also getting tired of rain fade with satellite. Here are my thoughts after a week with U-Verse.

U-Verse Installation and Equipment

My house was already wired with coax to each of the main rooms as well as in-wall Cat 5e Ethernet, so the installation of U-verse was very straight-forward. Aside from an issue of cleaning up an excess of coax in the crawl space, the installation was uneventful. I have a coax connection from the NID (the AT&T phone box mounted to the outside of my home) into the house, reusing the existing Comcast coax cable. that was already in place running from the side of the house into my home office. The coax connects to the AT&T residential gateway, which looks like a very large cable modem. From there, everything is Ethernet inside the use using my existing Cat 5e wiring.

For the TV service, I have a 67" Samsung LED DLP in the living room, and a 26" Toshiba LCD in the bedroom. The gateway also directly connects an iMac via Ethernet in the office, and a laptop, smart phone, Apple TV, and tablet via wireless.

My U-verse "profile" allows me 18Mbit/sec down for the Internet service and about 1.5Mbps up. The TV service gives me 3 simultaneous HD streams and 1 SD stream. From what I've read, some U-verse areas allow 4 HD streams plus 1 SD stream, but I must be too far from the VRAD or my neighborhood doesn't have the required infrastructure to support the extra HD stream.

U-Verse Internet Service

After a week, the Internet service has been speedy and reliable. I've had no issues with the Internet connection, and all of my (mostly Apple) devices work without any problems. My tests with speedtest.net give me a very consistent 17.3 Mbps download speed and 1.43 Mbps upload speed, with a ping time of just 37ms. While Comcast rates were much higher, especially the upload speed, the ping time is lower with U-Verse which actually makes it a bit faster and more reliable for me to work from home.

Note that using the TV service does slow down the Internet speed. With several HD streams going, my Speedtest.net results drop to about half, but 9 Mbps is plenty for everything I do, and the latency (ping times) remains low.

In summary, the Internet service from U-Verse is very good. I have no complaints. Those who need higher upload rates may choose to look to a different technology but I think most people will be pleased with what AT&T offers here.

Here are my grades for Internet service:

Comcast Internet: A
U-Verse Internet: B+

U-Verse Television Service

I've read dozens of reviews of U-Verse TV over the past years, and the collective voices of the Internet have not been kind. Based on what I read, I expected an HD picture quality of somewhere between standard YouTube and dog poo smeared on glass. The occasional dissident who would proclaim U-Verse to be BETTER than FIOS, DirecTV, Dish, and every other provider gave me a little hope, but i wasn't confident. As recently as a few years ago when I watched U-Verse in an AT&T store as well as at a friend's house, I noticed a very noticeable "pulsing" of static backgrounds due to the aggressive compression which absolutely drove me crazy.

I'm happy to say that the U-Verse HD picture is much improved from my last viewing, and it's very good in its own right. Is the quality better than DirecTV and Dish? Not quite, but it's very close now. ESPN looks very good. NBA channel and NFL network also look very good. Standard HD channels as well as premium movie channels look great. My locals are not quite as good (especially WTHR - NBC), but the differences between U-Verse and the satellite providers are mostly minor and easily forgettable if you actually watch the show instead of scrutinizing every pixel. I suspect that on a smaller set (mine is 67"), only the most finicky eyes would notice any issues at all with the U-Verse HD picture.

Here's how I would grade the picture quality of the services I've tried:

DirecTV: A-
Dish Network: B+
U-Verse: B
Comcast: B+

U-Verse On Demand seems to be very good. It's much better than DirecTV (which has never worked for me on their flagship HR34 receiver) and Dish (just pathetic no matter how you slice it). The DVR is really fast and fun to use, and has all the features you'd expect from a DVR. So far i haven't had any problems, but it's hard to evaluate a DVR's reliability after a week. I love that changing the channel is nearly instantaneous, just like it was in 1984 on basic analog cable! And audio quality is excellent - I've had no pops, clicks, or dropouts and the Dolby surround sound is perfectly fine.

Here's how I would grade OnDemand/DVR/Audio from the providers I've tried:

DirecTV: D/C+/A (*)
Dish: F/D/B (**)
U-Versie: B+/A-/A
Comcast: A/D/?

(*): I rated DirecTV DVR as a C+ because the HR34 is still so damn sluggish. Yes, it's improved from its initial release, but it still feels like you're slogging through molasses every time you try to navigate the thing. If it were faster, the DirecTV DVR would get an A from me.

(**): I rated the Dish DVRs as a D because they've become so glitchy. As of earlier this year, sometimes there would be no picture when you power the unit on, sometimes the picture would just freeze up randomly, and sometimes you would only get a partial recording.

Conclusion

I've been pleasantly surprised by U-Verse. The Internet service is excellent, and the TV service is very good. I like it enough that I'm going to suspend my DirecTV service for 6 months and give U-Verse a good, extended run. For anyone who has been on the fence about U-Verse after reading the horror stories in some of the forums, I'd say give it a try - there's a lot to like.

 

[lern4483]

U-verse has always been intriguing to me. My neighborhood has had U-verse for many years now (it was one of the first areas in Indianapolis to get the hook-up), but my own early in-store observations of the picture quality as well as the plethora of negative reviews of the service kept me planted firmly in the land of satellite TV (Dish for 5+ years and DirecTV for about 9 months). I also subscribed to Comcast for years for my Internet service.

On a recent phone call to AT&T to fix a wireless billing issue, a very persuasive tech representative convinced me to give U-verse a try. With the promise of significant savings for a bundle of TV and Internet along with no contract or commitment I decided to give it a shot. I admit that I'm also getting tired of rain fade with satellite. Here are my thoughts after a week with U-Verse.

U-Verse Installation and Equipment

My house was already wired with coax to each of the main rooms as well as in-wall Cat 5e Ethernet, so the installation of U-verse was very straight-forward. Aside from an issue of cleaning up an excess of coax in the crawl space, the installation was uneventful. I have a coax connection from the NID (the AT&T phone box mounted to the outside of my home) into the house, reusing the existing Comcast coax cable. that was already in place running from the side of the house into my home office. The coax connects to the AT&T residential gateway, which looks like a very large cable modem. From there, everything is Ethernet inside the use using my existing Cat 5e wiring.

For the TV service, I have a 67" Samsung LED DLP in the living room, and a 26" Toshiba LCD in the bedroom. The gateway also directly connects an iMac via Ethernet in the office, and a laptop, smart phone, Apple TV, and tablet via wireless.

My U-verse "profile" allows me 18Mbit/sec down for the Internet service and about 1.5Mbps up. The TV service gives me 3 simultaneous HD streams and 1 SD stream. From what I've read, some U-verse areas allow 4 HD streams plus 1 SD stream, but I must be too far from the VRAD or my neighborhood doesn't have the required infrastructure to support the extra HD stream.

U-Verse Internet Service

After a week, the Internet service has been speedy and reliable. I've had no issues with the Internet connection, and all of my (mostly Apple) devices work without any problems. My tests with speedtest.net give me a very consistent 17.3 Mbps download speed and 1.43 Mbps upload speed, with a ping time of just 37ms. While Comcast rates were much higher, especially the upload speed, the ping time is lower with U-Verse which actually makes it a bit faster and more reliable for me to work from home.

Note that using the TV service does slow down the Internet speed. With several HD streams going, my Speedtest.net results drop to about half, but 9 Mbps is plenty for everything I do, and the latency (ping times) remains low.

In summary, the Internet service from U-Verse is very good. I have no complaints. Those who need higher upload rates may choose to look to a different technology but I think most people will be pleased with what AT&T offers here.

Here are my grades for Internet service:

Comcast Internet: A
U-Verse Internet: B+

U-Verse Television Service

I've read dozens of reviews of U-Verse TV over the past years, and the collective voices of the Internet have not been kind. Based on what I read, I expected an HD picture quality of somewhere between standard YouTube and dog poo smeared on glass. The occasional dissident who would proclaim U-Verse to be BETTER than FIOS, DirecTV, Dish, and every other provider gave me a little hope, but i wasn't confident. As recently as a few years ago when I watched U-Verse in an AT&T store as well as at a friend's house, I noticed a very noticeable "pulsing" of static backgrounds due to the aggressive compression which absolutely drove me crazy.

I'm happy to say that the U-Verse HD picture is much improved from my last viewing, and it's very good in its own right. Is the quality better than DirecTV and Dish? Not quite, but it's very close now. ESPN looks very good. NBA channel and NFL network also look very good. Standard HD channels as well as premium movie channels look great. My locals are not quite as good (especially WTHR - NBC), but the differences between U-Verse and the satellite providers are mostly minor and easily forgettable if you actually watch the show instead of scrutinizing every pixel. I suspect that on a smaller set (mine is 67"), only the most finicky eyes would notice any issues at all with the U-Verse HD picture.

Here's how I would grade the picture quality of the services I've tried:

DirecTV: A-
Dish Network: B+
U-Verse: B
Comcast: B+

U-Verse On Demand seems to be very good. It's much better than DirecTV (which has never worked for me on their flagship HR34 receiver) and Dish (just pathetic no matter how you slice it). The DVR is really fast and fun to use, and has all the features you'd expect from a DVR. So far i haven't had any problems, but it's hard to evaluate a DVR's reliability after a week. I love that changing the channel is nearly instantaneous, just like it was in 1984 on basic analog cable! And audio quality is excellent - I've had no pops, clicks, or dropouts and the Dolby surround sound is perfectly fine.

Here's how I would grade OnDemand/DVR/Audio from the providers I've tried:

DirecTV: D/C+/A (*)
Dish: F/D/B (**)
U-Versie: B+/A-/A
Comcast: A/D/?

(*): I rated DirecTV DVR as a C+ because the HR34 is still so damn sluggish. Yes, it's improved from its initial release, but it still feels like you're slogging through molasses every time you try to navigate the thing. If it were faster, the DirecTV DVR would get an A from me.

(**): I rated the Dish DVRs as a D because they've become so glitchy. As of earlier this year, sometimes there would be no picture when you power the unit on, sometimes the picture would just freeze up randomly, and sometimes you would only get a partial recording.

Conclusion

I've been pleasantly surprised by U-Verse. The Internet service is excellent, and the TV service is very good. I like it enough that I'm going to suspend my DirecTV service for 6 months and give U-Verse a good, extended run. For anyone who has been on the fence about U-Verse after reading the horror stories in some of the forums, I'd say give it a try - there's a lot to like.

What a great in-depth review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Having all three services, I think your mostly on target. Uverse unfortunately gets a bad rap. Depending on where you live your uverse experience can differ greatly.
When they first came to my area 4 years ago they were not very good. Now they are almost on par
With the two sat providers. In some cases better.
I think overall they offer a better package.
In my case I would rate dish HD over Direc. The new hopper somehow made the picture better. It use to be Direc. Not now. But uverse has improved so much that on some channels it looks as good as if not better than Direc.
I too would like to suspend Direc but I have purchased the NFL ticket. Plus I love their tennis coverage. I'm not happy with Direc customer service these days. If only uverse could get more sports.

 

[llzel]

I just switched to Uverse the guide (compared to Dish) sux. Small font, hard to see across the room, and no option to change.

 

[lern4483]

I just switched to Uverse the guide (compared to Dish) sux. Small font, hard to see across the room, and no option to change.

Uverse is not for everyone.
Dish equipment is the best no doubt.
However i love thst Uverse gives you so much for your money.

 

[riffjim4069]

Nice review. As mentioned, it's not for everyone...but it's certainly another option and more choice is good.

 

[rick999]

Word of warning to those considering moving to Uverse

The main reason I was changing from DISH to uverse was for the Internet. I was using Dish and Cox, Dish was PERFECT but COX Internet is the worse service I have experienced in my entire life....continually going up and down, and despite a 3 year battle trying to get them to fix the infrastructure in the neighborhood....it was MY PLEASURE to dump them.

Unfortunately the $300 installation fee for ordering uverse internet on its own, was bit too much to swallow, so I took the bundle pricing where they waived the fee.

First up, it took MONTHS for me to get uverse installed in a comedy of error with ATT......continual stream of techs who needed "the other guy" to finish his work first. I tried dozens of times to escalate it up the chain but never was able to, and I just had to put up with their general incompetence.

Turned out ATT also had infrastructure issues in the nighborhood and we were not able to get the bandwidth after the install, and had plenty of problems, where the pic quality was low and we could not record more than 2 HD shows at once. Only with a lot of yelling was I able to put some fire under them to get it fixed which took nearly a month.

An interesting thing, when the internet was down one day I discovered that you CANNOT use the DVR!!!!! I wonder if anyone else has discovered this?

Now that we are all settled in, here are my complaints, and as a result I will most definitely be cancelling TV service after the 12 month contract is up.

- On a positive note, the picture quaility is crystal clear, noticeably better than DISH. However it can diminish at times...I believe that bandwidth might fluctuate now and then causing resolution to be lower
- I believe the above is accurate because when we were having trouble with the streams because of lower bandwidth after install, once they fixed the cable splice down the road the picture dramatically improved....like going from 720 to 1080.
- Billing issues, despite several calls the billing comes in wrong, minor stuff approx 8$ per month too much, but cant seem to get it fixed
- Billing **EXPENSIVE** movies are 6$ a pop and then a large $7.20 "local video service franchise video fee"....I ended that with a Amazon account. Movie choices are really lacking
- Menu Navigation ** A FREAKING NIGHTMARE** to do ANYTHING!!! For instance I used to be able to go and check off multiple recordings on DISH and delete, but with ATT you have to do it SEPARATELY for EACH deletion which makes you go through several selections!
- After 2 months I am STILL fumbling through incoherent and illogical menus to find recordings, previously purchased movies ETC. It is HORRIBLE
- Watching one station and then seeing if anything else good is on is a NIGHTMARE. As soon as you press the guide the channel you are watching is covered up and you only hear sound. Channel surfers beware!
- Unlike others I see no new/better programming available. I had the largest package on DISH and now I have the uverse 450. We still wonder why we have so many channels with nothing on!
- inexplicable errors in recording. Recording is set but it does not record. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out why now and then a recording will not record or will record something else as if the Guide is wrong. (I am talking about weekly Series recording)
- Remote Control is TERRIBLE ergonomically speaking. Even after 2 months I still find myself fumbling all over trying to find buttons, jostling around the remote reaching for buttons that are in odd places...it is just a BAD remote...difficult to use with button placement that is simply ILLOGICAL....DISH remote is FANTASTIC...well laid out, easy to use.
- One of my biggest beefs is the MUSIC programming.....WOW...IT IS TERRIBLE!!!! Sure they seem to have a channel for every type of music, but the MUSIC PROGRAMMING SUCKS!!!! I used to change the channel on my DISH receiver all the time to music during the day.,.....now...NEVER....the programming resembles a cheap 5$ music CD from a discount outlet you buy in the bin. BAD!
- Channel layout HORRIBLE!!!! On Dish the HD and regular definition were side by side, and you could turn the low def off by simply depressing the guide a second time. Makes it EXTREMELY easy to find what you are looking for and to surf the channels. This is particularly important because some shows are ONLY in low and not in HD. So now I have to surf through a HUNDRED channels betwee 3 and 990 to see if there is anything worth watching and then go up to 1100 and surf the HD channells.. JUST STUPID! Everything seems harder to find on uverse guide.
- FAVORITE channels....I dont know whey they even bother....DISH was so EASY to setup and you could have multiple lists which you could find just by depressing the GUIDE button several times to move back and forth through different favorites such as NEWS, FAV CHANNELS and MUSIC. Made it really simple, Uverse COMPLICATED!
- Internet, and this is what led me to find this site today. My speeds are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Yes at least it doesnt go down 5 times a day like COX but I am not getting my 18 meg down and 1.6 up. Also it varies WILDLY, and I get as low as 3 - 5 meg down during portions of the day, which affects my personal VOIP phone system at times. I now believe after reading other posts here, that when we are recording 3 streams at newstime, it affects the internet and we get the lower speeds.
- Router....unsophisticated....nowhere to update the bios, and it has no settings for QOS. Many other features that most wireless routers have is missing for advanced settings with ports, wireless etc.
- UVERSE INSTALLERS WILL NOT...I REPEAT WILL NOT set up any wireless/router settings for you!!! They simply turn it on and use it for the uverse wireless set top boxes (we have 2) after that you are on your own with your internet config. I am technical but I thought this was odd given they were charging a $300 install fee if you do not take the bundle!
- NEVER EVER COULD get the OUTGOING mail servers working. I had to use other OUTGOING mail servers for sending OUTLOOK MAIL. Technical support IS AMONG THE WORSE I HAVE EVER USED. ATT technical support, and I hate to use these words, but they are uneducated buffoons. I escalated this issue up to their "SENIOR Technicians" and their answer was for ME to "REINSTALL OUTLOOK" DUH....I DON'T THINK SO!!! I spent days on this with them.....and get this....they use the YAHOO MAIL SERVERS...wow, that makes me REAL confident! After several days of arguing with them and trying to prove to them that the problem was on THEIR END...I gave up and decided to use an external OUTGOING server, even though THEIR outgoing should work. CLEARLY NONE of their people are technical, they simply read off of scripts and have VERY LITTLE technical knowledge. Some of the things they told me to do to fix the problem was so rudimentary and not pertinent, it was simply laughable.

Which brings me to my conclusion.....

While there are some advantages, even the nice small set top boxes, it almost seems as if this is a product/service that is immature. When compared to DISH or even DIRECT TV which I had at our second home, Uverse has a lot of growing up to do. It is too hard to use, and the menus and remote are ergonomic disasters. The music sucks, which for me, a music lover is a huge setback.

I simply have to give HUGE creds to DISH. I now realize that this was a big mistake. I have 3 other members of the household who concur and want to hang me up on the yard post for switching to Uverse from DISH. But....our internet issues are basically solved, though the speeds are not there at times, it is at LEAST STABLE compared to COX!!!!

Finally....I have dealt with ATT for years in a business capacity. I also have 4 iPhones on a business account. There has been a NOTICEABLE DETERIORATION in ATT customer and technical support over the past 5 years!

They are QUICKLY becoming the SPRINT of the communications industry. I feel they have lost their way and cannot handle support any longer. I have been in a battle with ATT wireless for 8 months now to improve the signal at my home. I cannot make a cell phone call in or outside of my home and nearby. Despite "promises" for call backs, technical reviews, etc. I never ever get a call back, follow up or anything. As a result, next week ATT will lose all of our cell phone business....nearly $400 a month to VERIZON who seems to now be the leader in customer service and network quality. ATT wireless support is as BAD as their Uverse support...they are NOT technical in the very least.

As for uverse, once the contract is up I will most definitely return to DISH for television, and keep the Internet.

The uverse picture is a bit better than DISH, but not worth all the other troubles.

Now I feel much better getting this off my chest!

 

[lern4483]

Word of warning to those considering moving to Uverse

The main reason I was changing from DISH to uverse was for the Internet. I was using Dish and Cox, Dish was PERFECT but COX Internet is the worse service I have experienced in my entire life....continually going up and down, and despite a 3 year battle trying to get them to fix the infrastructure in the neighborhood....it was MY PLEASURE to dump them.

Unfortunately the $300 installation fee for ordering uverse internet on its own, was bit too much to swallow, so I took the bundle pricing where they waived the fee.

First up, it took MONTHS for me to get uverse installed in a comedy of error with ATT......continual stream of techs who needed "the other guy" to finish his work first. I tried dozens of times to escalate it up the chain but never was able to, and I just had to put up with their general incompetence.

Turned out ATT also had infrastructure issues in the nighborhood and we were not able to get the bandwidth after the install, and had plenty of problems, where the pic quality was low and we could not record more than 2 HD shows at once. Only with a lot of yelling was I able to put some fire under them to get it fixed which took nearly a month.

An interesting thing, when the internet was down one day I discovered that you CANNOT use the DVR!!!!! I wonder if anyone else has discovered this?

Now that we are all settled in, here are my complaints, and as a result I will most definitely be cancelling TV service after the 12 month contract is up.

- On a positive note, the picture quaility is crystal clear, noticeably better than DISH. However it can diminish at times...I believe that bandwidth might fluctuate now and then causing resolution to be lower
- I believe the above is accurate because when we were having trouble with the streams because of lower bandwidth after install, once they fixed the cable splice down the road the picture dramatically improved....like going from 720 to 1080.
- Billing issues, despite several calls the billing comes in wrong, minor stuff approx 8$ per month too much, but cant seem to get it fixed
- Billing **EXPENSIVE** movies are 6$ a pop and then a large $7.20 "local video service franchise video fee"....I ended that with a Amazon account. Movie choices are really lacking
- Menu Navigation ** A FREAKING NIGHTMARE** to do ANYTHING!!! For instance I used to be able to go and check off multiple recordings on DISH and delete, but with ATT you have to do it SEPARATELY for EACH deletion which makes you go through several selections!
- After 2 months I am STILL fumbling through incoherent and illogical menus to find recordings, previously purchased movies ETC. It is HORRIBLE
- Watching one station and then seeing if anything else good is on is a NIGHTMARE. As soon as you press the guide the channel you are watching is covered up and you only hear sound. Channel surfers beware!
- Unlike others I see no new/better programming available. I had the largest package on DISH and now I have the uverse 450. We still wonder why we have so many channels with nothing on!
- inexplicable errors in recording. Recording is set but it does not record. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out why now and then a recording will not record or will record something else as if the Guide is wrong. (I am talking about weekly Series recording)
- Remote Control is TERRIBLE ergonomically speaking. Even after 2 months I still find myself fumbling all over trying to find buttons, jostling around the remote reaching for buttons that are in odd places...it is just a BAD remote...difficult to use with button placement that is simply ILLOGICAL....DISH remote is FANTASTIC...well laid out, easy to use.
- One of my biggest beefs is the MUSIC programming.....WOW...IT IS TERRIBLE!!!! Sure they seem to have a channel for every type of music, but the MUSIC PROGRAMMING SUCKS!!!! I used to change the channel on my DISH receiver all the time to music during the day.,.....now...NEVER....the programming resembles a cheap 5$ music CD from a discount outlet you buy in the bin. BAD!
- Channel layout HORRIBLE!!!! On Dish the HD and regular definition were side by side, and you could turn the low def off by simply depressing the guide a second time. Makes it EXTREMELY easy to find what you are looking for and to surf the channels. This is particularly important because some shows are ONLY in low and not in HD. So now I have to surf through a HUNDRED channels betwee 3 and 990 to see if there is anything worth watching and then go up to 1100 and surf the HD channells.. JUST STUPID! Everything seems harder to find on uverse guide.
- FAVORITE channels....I dont know whey they even bother....DISH was so EASY to setup and you could have multiple lists which you could find just by depressing the GUIDE button several times to move back and forth through different favorites such as NEWS, FAV CHANNELS and MUSIC. Made it really simple, Uverse COMPLICATED!
- Internet, and this is what led me to find this site today. My speeds are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Yes at least it doesnt go down 5 times a day like COX but I am not getting my 18 meg down and 1.6 up. Also it varies WILDLY, and I get as low as 3 - 5 meg down during portions of the day, which affects my personal VOIP phone system at times. I now believe after reading other posts here, that when we are recording 3 streams at newstime, it affects the internet and we get the lower speeds.
- Router....unsophisticated....nowhere to update the bios, and it has no settings for QOS. Many other features that most wireless routers have is missing for advanced settings with ports, wireless etc.
- UVERSE INSTALLERS WILL NOT...I REPEAT WILL NOT set up any wireless/router settings for you!!! They simply turn it on and use it for the uverse wireless set top boxes (we have 2) after that you are on your own with your internet config. I am technical but I thought this was odd given they were charging a $300 install fee if you do not take the bundle!
- NEVER EVER COULD get the OUTGOING mail servers working. I had to use other OUTGOING mail servers for sending OUTLOOK MAIL. Technical support IS AMONG THE WORSE I HAVE EVER USED. ATT technical support, and I hate to use these words, but they are uneducated buffoons. I escalated this issue up to their "SENIOR Technicians" and their answer was for ME to "REINSTALL OUTLOOK" DUH....I DON'T THINK SO!!! I spent days on this with them.....and get this....they use the YAHOO MAIL SERVERS...wow, that makes me REAL confident! After several days of arguing with them and trying to prove to them that the problem was on THEIR END...I gave up and decided to use an external OUTGOING server, even though THEIR outgoing should work. CLEARLY NONE of their people are technical, they simply read off of scripts and have VERY LITTLE technical knowledge. Some of the things they told me to do to fix the problem was so rudimentary and not pertinent, it was simply laughable.

Which brings me to my conclusion.....

While there are some advantages, even the nice small set top boxes, it almost seems as if this is a product/service that is immature. When compared to DISH or even DIRECT TV which I had at our second home, Uverse has a lot of growing up to do. It is too hard to use, and the menus and remote are ergonomic disasters. The music sucks, which for me, a music lover is a huge setback.

I simply have to give HUGE creds to DISH. I now realize that this was a big mistake. I have 3 other members of the household who concur and want to hang me up on the yard post for switching to Uverse from DISH. But....our internet issues are basically solved, though the speeds are not there at times, it is at LEAST STABLE compared to COX!!!!

Finally....I have dealt with ATT for years in a business capacity. I also have 4 iPhones on a business account. There has been a NOTICEABLE DETERIORATION in ATT customer and technical support over the past 5 years!

They are QUICKLY becoming the SPRINT of the communications industry. I feel they have lost their way and cannot handle support any longer. I have been in a battle with ATT wireless for 8 months now to improve the signal at my home. I cannot make a cell phone call in or outside of my home and nearby. Despite "promises" for call backs, technical reviews, etc. I never ever get a call back, follow up or anything. As a result, next week ATT will lose all of our cell phone business....nearly $400 a month to VERIZON who seems to now be the leader in customer service and network quality. ATT wireless support is as BAD as their Uverse support...they are NOT technical in the very least.

As for uverse, once the contract is up I will most definitely return to DISH for television, and keep the Internet.

The uverse picture is a bit better than DISH, but not worth all the other troubles.

Now I feel much better getting this off my chest!

That's some in-depth review.
Problem with Uverse is unlike dish or
Direct is that it's not consistent.
From one block to the next quality can
Differ. It all depends on your distance to the vrad.
I can tell you when Uverse first arrived
In my neiborhood quality was spotty to just bad. Three years later the service
Is on par with dish.
I think in a way you can't compare
Any equipment to dish. Dish tops them all.
That said, you might give Uverse a chance. It has some great benefits.
My internet speed is very fast. No slowdowns. Tv has been solid for years now. In my area they have made upgrades. The HD is on par if not slightly better than my Dish picture. Also the Vod
Service is eexcellent.

Best part is no contract. Unless you received a special 12 month deal.

In any case if your not won over by
The end of your contract go back to dish.
Both are great services.

 

[Mfinchv1]

I had Uvserse for 3 years...about eight times a month..wed had days of the tv in all the rooms...going frame by frame. Sucked ass...even recorded stuff would lag big time. The final straw was when hoodlums...stole the att copper wire from there building locally. Tv and internet was out for five days...lol. Got Dish a year ago today...zero frame by frame...only went out in heavist of storms...but girlfriend/kids dont even know that....switched to dvr before it went out...lol. I seen it happen reciver in bedroom. Ive personally had dish for bought 8 years...so knew it woukd go out. Girlfriend says...its never went out.But i told her..before dropping att it wouldnt go out....so it hasnt in her eyes...lmao. Yet when it did go out..only for a min at most.

 

[Mfinchv1]

and heres my dish dvr...uverse one sucks compared to Dish

 

[jerryez]

My neighbor got UVerse yesterday. There was one truck allday and a second truck for the last two or three hours of the day. I went over this morning and it was not working. The TV says no usable signal detected. Yet his dvd play which they run the Uverse through works, but when you turn off the dvd player, the no usable signal screen pops up. The dvd player is not passing through the Uverse signal. I run setup on the tv and did a channel scan and it says 0 signals found even with the dvd player on. Also, you can call out on his phone, but when someone calls, the phones(three of them) do not ring. I phoned the number that the installer left, but got no answer and it was not set up to take messages. Looked behind the tv and the cables all seem to be connected.

 

[Mfinchv1]

That sucks. Good Luck

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using SatelliteGuys

 

[jerryez]

Yesterday, two ATT trucks showed up at my neighbors house and were there most of the day. I don't think these guys are very well trained. I guess they fixed his problem, since they are not there today. Plus, they did not come on the weekend. I guess that if you had trouble, it better not be on a Friday.

 

[lern4483]

Yesterday, two ATT trucks showed up at my neighbors house and were there most of the day. I don't think these guys are very well trained. I guess they fixed his problem, since they are not there today. Plus, they did not come on the weekend. I guess that if you had trouble, it better not be on a Friday.

Gotta say I love that If you have an issue with Uverse they drop everything
and shoot right over. Their customer service rocks!

 

[Mfinchv1]

Dont matter how fast they arrive. They have no idea. Ive had zero dish techs at my house. 10 uverse techs over several years. contact me at 812-340-5860 to get dish today

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[jsb1980]

I signed up with U-Verse mainly for the internet service. I needed an internet service that was totally reliable and that would allow me to work from home when I needed to. My only other choice in my area was a company I had never heard of called "Access Media 1". Did some research on that company and could not find a single good word about them. My original choice had been Time Warner Cable, but it was eventually determined that I could not get service from them out where I lived. The time from order to install was really slow. I was having to wait almost 10 days to get that set up. After I spoke with their customer care, they got it down to five days. The set-up was nice and fast once it did occur....they were there less than an hour. I've never had a problem with billing and payments. Service has never had any issues, aside from one evening, and even after a call to their call center, it was resolved quickly. I've used their movies a couple of times....and even then, it was with their free movie codes that they send out from time to time. Amazing! Would I go back to Dish or DirecTV? No. I do keep a pair of rabbit ears plugged in mainly for the ATSC OTA channels and subchannels in the DFW area that UVerse does not carry. And I'd rather go back to that full time than go to Dish or DirecTV.

 

[lern4483]

I signed up with U-Verse mainly for the internet service. I needed an internet service that was totally reliable and that would allow me to work from home when I needed to. My only other choice in my area was a company I had never heard of called "Access Media 1". Did some research on that company and could not find a single good word about them. My original choice had been Time Warner Cable, but it was eventually determined that I could not get service from them out where I lived. The time from order to install was really slow. I was having to wait almost 10 days to get that set up. After I spoke with their customer care, they got it down to five days. The set-up was nice and fast once it did occur....they were there less than an hour. I've never had a problem with billing and payments. Service has never had any issues, aside from one evening, and even after a call to their call center, it was resolved quickly. I've used their movies a couple of times....and even then, it was with their free movie codes that they send out from time to time. Amazing! Would I go back to Dish or DirecTV? No. I do keep a pair of rabbit ears plugged in mainly for the ATSC OTA channels and subchannels in the DFW area that UVerse does not carry. And I'd rather go back to that full time than go to Dish or DirecTV.

Glad your liking Uverse!
Im enjoying it with no issues whatsoever.
Its gotten better as its matured in my area.
Its been in south Florida for 4 years.