Review: AT&T U-VERSE

[Cegarrett]

Home Networking ??

If you can only have one DVR can all of your receivers play from that DVR or are you stuck watching all of the DVR events in one room?

Also, Your review said that the DVR is connected Via Cat5 But the non-DVR is connected Via Co-Ax. Did I miss read this?

Thanks,
cegarrett

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

No you can only watch the DVR recordings on the DVR not on the other receivers.

The DVR is connected by Cat5, but it can be connected by Coax, the 2WIRE gateway converts the VDSL into a signal usuable over coax and sends the same "data" out the coax which is also going through the ethernet ports. (In fact they use a diplexer to hook everything together)

 

[ToddD]

Interesting product. Thanks Scott for the review. I can only see 2 problems and both are driven by the same decision. The a t and t people are somewhat handcuffed by their leaders- stupid, cost only, short sided decisions about internet speed. To even offer the highly laughable 1.5Mbs internet speed is nothing short of sad. But now we see the wholeness of why this is so stupid. 1 HD stream at a time. ARE THEY KIDDING? In a day when 2 tuners in your HD DVR’s are commonplace they think that only 1 HD stream per house is going to cut it? This is like trying to swim with a concrete belt on. Not in my house!
Sad news to the leaders of this project…..your company is going to have to pony up for FTTH in the end, I do not understand why you want to pay for this VDSL stuff and then pay again for FTTH……take a look at Verizon….they get it.

 

[Ramy]

Great review.

 

[james_k_p]

Awesome review.
After reading the first bit of it and seeing the word FIBER, I was thinking FIOS type internet speeds.....but alas.....I guess not.

At least not yet.

 

[manhole]

The speed packages for U-Verse enabled internet are as follows (taken from at&t U-Verse website):

Express ($19.95)
Downstream up to 1.5 Mbps
Upstream up to 1 Mbps

Pro ($24.95)
Downstream up to 3 Mbps
Upstream up to 1 Mbps

Elite ($34.95)
Downstream up to 6 Mbps
Upstream up to 1 Mbps

While the downloads are not quite up to par, the 1Mbps upload is nice.

As far as being able to watch and schedule recordings from the non-DVR boxes, this is supposed to be enabled in a future software upgrade, along with the ability to watch 2 HD streams at a time.

It seems that many are bashing this technology, but please remember that competition is good for all of us. While this service may not suit 100% of the population, it probably is sufficient for 80%+, and the cable companies / satellite providers know this as well. I'm sure that given some time many of these issues will be ironed out (hopefully by the time it is available to me )

 

[cybertrip]

Nice review Scott. Glad to see the pics of the back of the boxes. It looks like they are little more than NIC cards & hard drives. If at&t (please, AT&T does not exist anymore) would have gone for fiber to the prem, then this would have been a deadly blow to basically every other provider in the US.

Actually, they are AT&T by name. The lower case at&t is only part of their logo and is for marketing only. Their marketing team was trying to make it more modern and tech savy as alot of internet websites use lower cased names. It's the "cool" thing...

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Please understand I am not bashing the technology, I think its very cool. I am just reporting my finds and feelings on the service as it is now.

Given time this can be a powerhouse product.

 

[manhole]

Please understand I am not bashing the technology, I think its very cool. I am just reporting my finds and feelings on the service as it is now.

Given time this can be a powerhouse product.

Scott,

I was not referring to your review in any way when I said bashing. I really appreciate the fact that you did this, I have been looking for a in-depth review of the service for the last several months and could not find one anywhere. I am glad to see you reporting the truth about the product/service as it stands now.

 

[Jhon69]

Actually, they are AT&T by name. The lower case at&t is only part of their logo and is for marketing only. Their marketing team was trying to make it more modern and tech savy as alot of internet websites use lower cased names. It's the "cool" thing...

What cool "thing"?.I find it a necessity where can you go that's not lower case no space?.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nah I know you did not mean me, I just wanted to clarify the air, I know some people think that because I run a site called SatelliteGuys that I would be automaticlly leaning twards satellite. This is not the case at all, I am a technology guy and enjoy new technologies.

I was the first paying customer of TCI / AT&T's Digital Cable service a long time ago in West Hartford, and I use to run a website devoted to Digital Cable information. (Digital Cable was first called AllTV back then and AT&T was actually the cable company, my how times change.)

 

[Ramy]

What is their website? I want to see if this is available in my area.

 

[Jhon69]

Please understand I am not bashing the technology, I think its very cool. I am just reporting my finds and feelings on the service as it is now.

Given time this can be a powerhouse product.

What I find interesting is this product needs at&t high speed internet.I enter my
phone number in the website.It tells me I qualify for their high speed internet,but
do not qualify for UVerse or Homezone only Dishnetwork.

 

[rad]

What I find interesting is this product needs at&t high speed internet.I enter my
phone number in the website.It tells me I qualify for their high speed internet,but
do not qualify for UVerse or Homezone only Dishnetwork.

These are two completly different products and how they are transported to your home. If you can get UVerse, broadband internet is just one of the options, but qualifying for DSL doesn't mean you can get UVerse.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

http://uverse.att.com is the address to check if its available in your area.

 

[Jhon69]

These are two completly different products and how they are transported to your home. If you can get UVerse, broadband internet is just one of the options, but qualifying for DSL doesn't mean you can get UVerse.

Thks rad did not know that thought it was all the same.Doubt if I qualify anyway but will check it out.There are some drawbacks to living out in the boonies.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well folks last night I was watching some Video On Demand Help videos and decided to order the basic 1.5 service from them. I want to try some of the online features which are available including remote DVR programming and remote picture viewing.

I want to be able to review those features for you as well.

What is silly is they need to come to my house to turn it on. I have all the equipment there in place except for the wireless adapter, so they must come and put that in as well. So they are coming in on Saturday to put that in.

 

[scooby2]

As the early 'showtime' pic showed, Scott's copper pair is capable of nearly 70mbit/s. Eventually this should be enough. Give it two years and I bet mpeg4 and VC-1 are much improved. Until then its just another niche alternative like FIOS until they get it rolled out everywhere.

my 2 cents,
scooby

 

[ComcastOgre]

I hate to ask this of somebody because I'm sure it's a daunting task, but I was wondering if anybody may be able to post the channel line-up for U-Verse if you have it. There website makes no mention, and I probably saw 10 or 15 channels from Scott's attachments. Thanks for the review Scott. Well done. Since Fios is a LONG way from me in Podunk, Indiana I hope U-Verse has the right stuff cuz that may actually be available in a year or two.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Here is the channel lineup for our area. (Note is IS out of date as they do not list NESN nor YES Network and they now carry both.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=13789&d=1167249951