I checked into U-verse here at a storefront that sold it and was told it was not available yet to me based on my phone number, then to my surprise I was told differently. When I asked a technician that came out to repair a problem with my internet about it he said he did not see why I could not get it based on his limited understanding of where it was located. Then I received the a sales call for the service and I accepted the offer and thought that it had become available. I checked and double checked if this was legitimate and got verification. I let them come out three days later. I even took off of work that day for the installation. The installer arrived two hours later than expected and he started the process. I was excited as he explained the technology. He left for a while because he had to go to the drop or something like that and then came back and started working again. It was very hot. I asked him how it was going, and he said there was a problem with the signal, but he thought it could be fixed and kept working. Four hours in to his grueling installation process he received a call that the problem he was observing could not be corrected and in fact I was not going to be able to get this service at this time. I am very disappointed that I could not get this service.I really want this service, because it sounds really cool, the prices could be cool, and I might be able to get a channel or two I could not get with antenna, Dish, or Cox Oklahoma and besides I like to test stuff out and I like variety and choice and my internet which is DSL might get faster for less money. I was already aware their HD picture was not going to be MPEG 2, my personal favorite at the moment, there was no support for Tivo, another personal favorite for use with cablecard and MPEG2, and reportedly the picture on the U-VERSE HD Channels is not as good as cable, my personal favorite for all of it's qualities, and you can always use a backup service. I just wanted more choices than I am having right now.
The date the installer came out was August 13, 2008. After I accepted the offer for the complete U-verse package including the phone I realized U-verse telephone is different from my existing AT&T telephone that I now have and I could not change that service because I needed to keep what I have because my Dish Network receivers must be plugged into a land line if they are not hooked up to broadband. The sales lady did not inform me of the fact that the telephone for U-verse was different from what I have and I guess I was stupid for not knowing, I had to put two and two together. Therefore I had to call back that same day that I accepted the offer for U-verse and ask that my order be changed so that I would keep my existing style of AT&T telephone. The sales guy from U-verse that I spoke to on that Friday in order to request that the telephone not be changed insisted it was too late and that indeed my telephone was set to be disconnected. I told him that I had just ordered U-verse that very day and I could not believe he could not change that. Then he said he did not know I had only ordered U-verse a few hours before and claimed everything would be okay and that he could change my order and that my phone that I have now would remain intact. That was a relief until everything else happened. I will also say on Wednesday when the installer showed up he seemed unsure of the status of my with the change but when I told him he said okay he thought was right and that was the way it was going to be done. I tell you all this because in case it might be related to why my telephone was disconnected some time after the U-verse installer left on Wednesday. I picked up my phone to make a call Friday night and had no dial tone. When I called in about 7:30 or 8:00 that evening to see what was going on I was told my phone had been disconnected. They said I would have to call back the next morning because the sales department was closed and I would have reorder telephone service to get it back. When I called the earliest they said they could get my phone back was Tuesday and that was them doing me a favor to get it back on that soon. Does AT&T not like me? I am amazed at how fouled up this thing is. Fortunately I have a cell phone and believe it or not before the telephone line was disconnected I had my home telephone on call forwarding which seems to have remained in effect even though I do not have a dial tone and cannot make any calls. Incidentally the internet still was working over the weekend.