Uverse - Educate Me, Please

dukesteer

dukesteer

5,000+ Posts
I am inclined to make the switch from cable and go the bundling route. However, I have a few questions that I hope can be answered on this board...

Internet Quality/Consistency - I am hearing troubling reports about Uverse's internet performance. With cable my performance has been very good.

TV Picture Quality - Here (in CA), AT&T is touting fiber optics. Of course, that is a superior technology. However, to benefit from fiber optic technology, AT&T has to be able to bring the FO signal to one's home, and then -- in the home -- all the way to the box. Given that the Uverse sales folks quoted an estimated install time of "45 minutes," there is no way that fiber optics will be used. Instead, the Uverse signal must (I would imagine) be coming over the exicting "copper" (coax) system in my house. (Based on the layout of my home, bringing the FO all the way to my TV would be challenging.) If Uverse is using my existing copper system, how would the quality be better than cable?

DVR Boxes - I would assume that each box must be hard wired...? My buddy is telling me that other than the initial box, the other boxes are wireless. Really?

Telephone - Uverse uses VOIP. I love the price and also the international calling packages. But, how reliable is AT&T's VOIP?

Any and all feedback would be appreciated.
 
1. No one delivers a fiber optic signal all the way to your set
2. The HD signal delivered is 1080i, if not 1080p
3. I'm not a U-verse expert but my son has it and right now I'd happily trade my DTV for U-verse
 
I had U-Verse in San Antonio with the fiber optics all the way to my house and I was very pleased with the service. I wish we had it up here in Anchorage.

The good thing is that my mother lives in Waco and has Grande. I was able to use her login info to stream LHN. In other words, I now have LHN.
biggrin.gif
 
I've had Uv for a couple of yrs, and while I can't compare it to a dish, I would never go back to TW or Roadrunner. I think the video and audio quality are better, more standard channel choices (NFL, MLB, LHN), and less expense overall. Some complaints on the ATT Uv site abt losing signal and having to reboot, but the only times I've had to do that was when I upgraded or for instance when LHN was added.

Internet is faster than RR.

Can't comment abt phone service.
 
I got the 18Mbps Internet package with UV and usually get about 12-15 if the speed test sites are accurate. Not bad considering we have lots of wireless devices on the home network. I got better overall speed with Comcast Cable but the UV deal is better. Picture quality seems good to my eyes on a 55 inch Samsung HDTV. We rarely notice any lag on Internet access or Netflix streaming.

Two of our TVs get a wireless signal and the performance there has been fine as far as I can tell. Recording on all TVs has been reliable and I like that I can schedule things remotely with an app on the iPhone or iPad or web.

So far I am quite satisfied with what AT&T has delivered. Getting the LHN this past weekend was a terrific bonus that I was not expecting.
 
A little more:

I went from TWC to U-verse and there is a noticeable difference between the internet even though both delivered/delivers 25+mps. The cable modem produces a smooth interface; the DSL fiber produces mili-second delays. Nothing big and email delivery is the same. Just something noticeable.

The difference between FIOS and U-verse is where the fiber stops. FIOS goes to the house and U-verse goes to the nearest node. HOWEVER this will be changing as FIOS is all but bankrupting Verizon due to the cost of running fiber to the house (especially in established neighborhoods). From reports last week they have stopped all new FIOS work and will be going to the U-verse method, IF they expand FIOS at all.

The U-verse TV is superior to TWC, but the box lacks the reminder feature. The wireless receiver is an issue, and I would wait until version 2.0 comes out. My wireless receiver never worked correctly and went out Saturday morning. Right before the game started, with the help of ATT&T tech support, I got it up again. AT&T was out today to swap the receiver but the guy said there was probably a 90% replacement rate. Cisco makes the wireless receiver, but it appears that they have taken up the Microsoft product release philosophy - get it to 50% reliability and let the consumers fund the remaining 50% of the development.
 
Sent to me:

Ask the question: “how many HD streams do I get?”.  This will depend on their technology in your neighborhood and your distance from the node.  You will not be happy if you are trying to use 4 different sets but find that only two of them can take HD simultaneously.  After those two are used the remaining sets can only obtain SD signals.  I also found this gem below, by someone that really know what he’s talking about.
 
I swtiched to Uverse from Comcast a few years ago and would never switch back. Upgrade in TV, internet and overall service.

LHN is a big bonus.
 
I like to record things. For instance football games. I like to play them back when I wish. Does U-verse allow you to make a dvd of programs, or are you limited to just playing back the recordings that you can make?
 
Arbfarkle, I don’t know of a way to record data off the U-verse DVR onto other media. I doubt they officially support that but there may be a hack somewhere (Google will know!). I think you can retain your recordings on the DVR as long as you like (and you have space for it) but I am not certain of that.
 
Well... there already seems to be plenty of info on this thread to read through so I will on add this to it. It depends 100% on where you live, how old your existing infrastructure, and how far you are from the node.

I had Time Warner in two different neighborhoods and it was night and day. At one, it was blazing, at the second it was crawling and constantly needed to reboot my router. In my new location, UVerse internet blows TW Road Runner out of the water as well at at my in-laws. I have enjoyed UVerse thus far much more than Time Warner.
 
I don't understand about 90% of what you are attempting to communicate due to various high-tech acronyms, terms, etc.
Basically, only AT&T U-Verse has LHN in my area, so they are a monopoly, and they are likely overrun with new subscribers, so they can get away with treating people any way they want like any other monopoly.
Here's the question I want to ask before calling them up-how do they run the line to your house? Do they use the old TimeWarner coaxial (I think that is the correct term for the cable line that now enters the house?).
I am asking this because I replaced the siding on the house, and hid the cable inside the walls, instead of having ugly cable stapled all over the outside of the house.
Is AT&T going to send someone over who will try to staple a 200 feet of cable all over the outside of the house, or can it use the old cable? Probably a dumb question.
I like that ooma idea for the phone service. I assume it won't show the incoming caller id on the TV screen, which is a nice feature of the TW bundled service (?).
 
Accurate -

Uverse will use telephone cabling on the outside of your house. Telephone wire is 2-pair wire.

From the pole you should have a hefty insulated wire line to a box on an outside wall of your house (AKA a 'NID', or Network Interface Device' ... it's just a box with screw down terminals inside it, to which the hefty cable-from the pole enters.) From there, your home telephone wire should exit the 'NID' and go into your house, to all the telephone wall jacks. (This is the standard for landline phones it's always been done in this manner, except the physical placement may vary... in the NorthEast, this setup is in basements). Now, this phone line will be used as an input to a Uverse 'gateway' (other nomenclatures exist for this) box, inside the house. Then every TV set will have its own set-top box, which can be connected back to the 'gateway' by various means - by ethernet cable, by the coax cable (but this is usually inside your walls) or - the latest and greatest - by wireless. So the gateway box is a central device to which everything is connected to.

That is, unless your house, by some stretch of the imagination has had the old-style landline phone cabling removed during remodelling? Then yes, they would have to run telephone cable on your siding... and they will implement this the quickest way possible.

Short answer: No your Time Warner coax cable on your outside wall will not be used. Is the coax cable you hid go to your Tv's ? or is it from the pole to your house (from the pole to your house - UVerse wants telephone wire for this part).
 
Yet more info... Ok here is your answer in simplest terms. Your existing cabling in your house may be reused depending on the AT&T Tech that installs it. Basically on the outside of your house You may have a cable from Time Warner that feeds into your house and then is distributed via a splitter to all the other TV sets. This would be the same case if you had Satellite Service.

The UVersse system is brought into your house via standard 4 pair telephone wires unless you are fortunate to have fiber all the way to your house which very few do. This cable will either terminate to a phone jack or will be split to the AT&T UVerse DVR Unit. The install Tech may choose different options to get the signal to the other sets. He can set you up with the wireless set top boxes in which case no new cabling will be run. Or he can hard wire them vis standard Cat5 cabling (network Cable). In this case... he will have to run cable in what ever means possible. Last option is to hook everything up via COAX but they don't do that very often.

You will probably get the wireless option because its the easiest for the tech to install. So... to sum it up... its at the techs discretion to determine the best install option. You probably will not have new wires on the outside of your house.

The main challenge will be the DVR unit... this one will cause the most headaches depending on placement. If you have a Phone Jack close by, then you will be good. If not... then the routing of cable to this unit will be the headache.. possibly resulting in a line that runs anywhere you may not want it.
 
OK, thanks for the ideas. But...there are no telephone poles in our neighborhood. The power comes up from underground, the phone lines come up from underground. and the cable comes up in the corner of the yard near the fence, and is buried underground until it gets to the house.
All these enter in one corner of the house, and I neatly routed them through conduits, which I painted, and they go through the blow-in foam insulation to the attic, then they can be split or worked with to drop into the interior walls to jacks.
I know they added the AT&T to our neighborhood, I guess through underground cables in the streets, but I'm not sure how that gets to the house, and through the walls into the attic where it can be managed. Yes , I am somewhat anal about cables stapled everywhere, I think they are ugly as aggy overalls.
I am about to contact AT&T, so I will find out their modus operindi in my neighborhood. Maybe I will be lucky and it could be mostly wireless!
 
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