Made the switch to Uverse...whoops, not

[zoothorn]

With their recent expansion to 2 HD/2 SD channels and the features of Home DVR I figured it was worth pricing things out on Uverse. With TWC I currently have 1 HD DVR on the main HD TV and two HD TVs upstairs but no HD service on them as I don't want to pay for two more boxes at $8 per month each or $17 each for a DVR on them.

Right now TWC is $115.30 for TV and RR after they give me $15 off per month because of my complaining after last years price increase. With Uverse I get the same speed internet and HD boxes on all three TVs (one with a DVR) and the capability to pull up a recorded show from the DVR on any of the TVs for $114. To get the equivalent service from TWC it would cost me either $35 or $50 per month more depending on whether you count the $15 discount I'm getting (and up to $168 if I put DVR on all TVs) I did a bunch of reading on Uverse then took the plunge and scheduled an installation. I signed up on the internet getting $200 off my first few bills, another $50 for doing it that day, and when I chatted with a rep online and hesitated for a minute he said he was authorized to give me another $50. That's almost 3 months free with no commitment and no teaser rates. I was in.

They scheduled it out about 2.5 weeks, which was this past Tuesday. They must have called me three times to thank me and confirm the installation date and time. They showed up about 30 minutes into their 2 hour arrival window, put on their little blue booties, and started to check things out and talking through the installation. I was pretty impressed.

As we were talking one of the installers said he wanted to check the signal as I was 5 blocks away from the VRAD. I pointed out I thought there was one on the corner, about 200 ft away. He said that wasn't what that was (though it did go in when the put the cable in last spring) and that he needed to check. As he's flipping through the paperwork he said 'oh, they already have you set up for a 'low profile' installation'. I asked what that was and he said because I was more than 3000 ft from the box I could only get a 19mbps stream instead of 25 and oh, btw, that means I'll only get one HD signal at a time...'say what?' I say...1 HD stream at a time is all that's possible. Ugh. I was willing to deal with 2 streams but 1 just isn't going to cut it.

It wasn't the installers fault...I told them to take off their booties and bag the install. They said they understood. It would have been nice if somewhere along the line with all their great communication they would have said 'btw, you are low profile because of your distance'. Could have save us all a bunch of time.

They just got to two HD streams for most people so I imagine it will be some time before they get another boost that would get me to 2. Back to TWC for the duration it seems...

Thought I'd post in case anyone else is heading down the same trail. Maybe be worth quizzing them early in the process if you are 'low profile' or not.

Zoot

[Danno321]

I thought the VRAD was supposed to fix the DSL distance issues.  Guess not.  Time to sh#t can the copper.

[browndeermythtv]

Consider yourself lucky.  I went through with the install three weeks ago.  It hasn't worked right since day one.  According to the diagnostic screens of the 2wire DSL modem/router they installed, in the last 24 hours it has done 124 DSL Link Retrains.  That means that on average, we're down for 4-5 minutes at a time, and up for about 8 minutes at a time.  Try watching TV, surfing the internet, or talking on the phone under those conditions.  It's pointless.

I called and scheduled a tech to come out, but he never showed.  Called again to complain the tech didn't show, rescheduled, and another no-show.  Called again, another tech scheduled, another no-show.  Yes, three no-shows.  Called again, complained again, scheduled again, guy shows up, replaces some components, still loosing the DSL link every few minutes.  Tests out at the drop and determines the trouble is somewhere between the drop and the VRAD.

He schedules someone else to come out and troubleshoot that, but that hasn't happened yet.

Before I forget, if you get two phone lines and want a different caller ID for the other line, it can NOT be done.  They can't even split it out into two accounts because they limit you to one account per address.

AT&T U-Verse makes TimeWarner service look good, if you can believe that.  It's unbelievable.  To add insult to injury, I was notified by email that AT&T is mailing us our bill for this.

Don't do it.  You'll regret it.

[UncleMeat]

Consider yourself lucky.  I went through with the install three weeks ago.  It hasn't worked right since day one.  According to the diagnostic screens of the 2wire DSL modem/router they installed, in the last 24 hours it has done 124 DSL Link Retrains.  That means that on average, we're down for 4-5 minutes at a time, and up for about 8 minutes at a time.  Try watching TV, surfing the internet, or talking on the phone under those conditions.  It's pointless.

I called and scheduled a tech to come out, but he never showed.  Called again to complain the tech didn't show, rescheduled, and another no-show.  Called again, another tech scheduled, another no-show.  Yes, three no-shows.  Called again, complained again, scheduled again, guy shows up, replaces some components, still loosing the DSL link every few minutes.  Tests out at the drop and determines the trouble is somewhere between the drop and the VRAD.

He schedules someone else to come out and troubleshoot that, but that hasn't happened yet.

Before I forget, if you get two phone lines and want a different caller ID for the other line, it can NOT be done.  They can't even split it out into two accounts because they limit you to one account per address.

AT&T U-Verse makes TimeWarner service look good, if you can believe that.  It's unbelievable.  To add insult to injury, I was notified by email that AT&T is mailing us our bill for this.

Don't do it.  You'll regret it.

Your experience sounds similar to mine.  Sometimes I miss a few of the features of UVerse... but when things went wrong it was usually amazingly bad.