Product Review – AT&T U-Verse
Original Publish Date: February 15, 2009
Last Update: February 15, 2009
In December 2008, I switched to television, telephone, and high speed internet providers to AT&T U-Verse. For those of you not familiar with AT&T U-Verse, here is short description of U-Verse from Wikipedia:
AT&T U-verse is a suite of Internet Protocol (IP)-based products and services, including AT&T U-verse TV, AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet, and AT&T U-verse Voice telephone, (VoIP) service. U-verse utilizes both fiber-to-the-node and fiber-to-the-point technology to obtain speeds up to 25 Mbit/s to the user’s home. AT&T is attempting to leapfrog current cable systems by offering features like a DVR that can record up to 4 shows at a time and is programmable from any web-connected computer.
Introduction & Background
Prior to switching to U-Verse, TimeWarner was providing my television, telephone (IP based), and high speed internet and my setup was as follows:
- 1 Tivo Series 3 High Definition DVR (on home network)
- 1 Tivo Series 2 DVR (on home network)
- Samsung 46inch LCD (1080P) – (Model: LN-T4661F)
- Sony AV Receiver (Model: STR-DG1000)
- Toshiba DVD Player – Recorder (Model: D-VR600KU)
- Mac Computer hosting music via iTunes and photos via iPhoto (on home network) via Tivo
All in all, I was fairly satisfied with the setup and TimeWarner with the following exceptions:
- The high definition Tivo could not record or access all of the available high definition channels as TimeWarner broadcasts more than half of the high def channel via SDV (switched digital video) which means you have to use a TimeWarner Cable Box and DVR. I could get the main networks, TNT, TBS, and ESPN so I was getting most of what I wanted.
- The high definition stream was very flakey. May times the audio or video would drop out and or hiccup for a second or two. This usually happened at least once per show I was watching (recorded or live) so I don’t think it was the Tivo.
- Since I did not use a cable box on my main family room setup (Tivo with cable cards), we could not access any of the pay-per-view capabilities.
- The quality of the standard definition channels would vary from fuzzy to quite clear.
- The price of the television service, telephone service, and high speed service (plus one cable box and 2 cable cards) was about $149.00 per month. Which was I thought was fairly expensive plus I had a $15.00 a month fee for my Tivo subscription so my total was about $164.00 per month.
In November of 2008, I ordered the U-Verse 200 combo package (TV, telephone, and high speed internet). A few of my friends at work had switched as well as a few of my neighbors. My order specifics were:
- U-Verse 200 package for TV
- U-Verse High Definition Channels (Extra $10.00 a month)
- U-Verse High Speed Internet Pro (3.0 Mbs download – same as I had with TimeWarner)
- U-Verse Digital Phone (one line)
- 1 Total Home DVR Set Top Box (STB) for the family room
- 2 secondary STB boxes (game room and bedroom)
The total for this comes out to be $129.00 a month and was not “contract” to sign. My total savings are $35.00 a month since I can stop paying the Tivo service fees every month as well. AT&T was offering a $200 rebate for signing which makes my rate actually be $112.00 per month for the first year. The week of December 15th my U-Verse system was installed.
NOTE: The installation was a nightmare and which I won’t get into here. I’ll write another article on it at some point.
U-Verse Hardware
The equipment provided by AT&T (each of which is discussed in detail below):
- 2Wire 3800HGV-B Home Gateway
- Motorola VIP1216 Total Home DVR STB
- Motorola VIP1200 STB
2Wire 3800HGV-B Home Gateway
The Home Gateway (HG) box is provided by 2Wire (www.2wire.com). The HG provides the following functions:
- Provides IP connectivity in my house for all AT&T services (TV, phone, internet)
- Provides IP telephone connections
- Internet Firewall and Wireless Access Point
- 4 port ethernet switch
- Provides internal DNS, Router, and DHCP services
AT&T allows you full control and access to the web based administrative settings for the HG. Being a techno-geek and wanting full control over my home network settings, this was very important to me. Kudos to AT&T for not restricting access to the administrative functions of the HG.
Note: I’ll write a separate article on the administrative capabilities and web interface for the HG. Basically 2Wire has some work to here as the interface is not as polished and functional as other home firewall / routers from companies such as Netgear or Linksys.
Positive comments about the HG:
- Full administrative access to it
- Ability to change internal IP addressing schema (I run 10.x.x.x on my home network)
- DMZ capability and port forwarding (however awkward to configure)
- Integrated wireless access point (802.11b/g)
- Comes with Battery Backup which should run the unit for at least 8 hours allowing for telephone capability during an electrical outage
Negative comments about the HG:
- A very large box. I am not sure why this box has to be so large.
- No external antenna for the integrated 802.11b/g
- Does not support 802.11n
- Web administration interface needs some work
- Based on the physical size of the box, the integrated ethernet switch should have 5 or 6 ports instead of the wimpy 4 (take advantage of the space)
The AT&T installer ran a co-ax connection from outside my house to my HG to provide the external connectivity. Once he had it HG up and running, the AT&T installer did a quick test on with some test equipment attached to the HG ethernet port for line quality and throughput. My house is about 1800 feet from the main U-Verse distribution box and he said I had EXCELLENT line quality (almost no errors) and exceptional throughput.
From the HG, my phone line is connected to the phone out RJ11 port and I have 4 ethernet cables plugged into the RJ45 ports. These feed my home ethernet network.
2Wire 3800-HGV Home Gateway – Front View
2Wire 3800-HGV Home Gateway – Side View
2Wire 3800-HGV Home Gateway – Rear View
Note: All of my TV STBs (set top boxes) are connected via CAT-5 ethernet not ethernet over co-ax.
The following is a networking diagram of how the various components fit together.
All in all, the HG was very easy to get going and as soon as it came up, the AT&T installer let me login to the Admin web pages and change the internal IP address to the 10.x.x.x range so it would be compatible with my existing home network configuration. I just unplugged my IPCOP firewall and plugged an ethernet cable into from the HG to my main home network ethernet switch, rebooted my system to refresh the DNS configuration on all of my PC’s. Everything came up and worked perfectly the first time. My PCs, Mac, and Linux boxes had internet connectivity with no hiccups.
The AT&T had some hiccups porting my phone number from Time Warner Cable so I didn’t’ immediately have telephone service. I could call out, but I could not receive calls until about a day later.
Motorola VIP12xx Set Top Boxes
Next the AT&T installer and I installed the Motorola VIP1216 STB in my family room. The VIP1216 is the Total Home DVR box and has to be installed first. The installation was simple as I already had an ethernet cable ready for it. We simply connected the component video out cables to my AV receiver, plugged in the ethernet and powered it up. In about 5 minutes the box came up, did a software update and then I had IP based U-Verse TV.
I spent a few minutes flipping channels with and immediately noticed the following:
- Picture quality was outstanding for both standard definition and high definition
- The speed at which channels changed was incredibly fast as well
- DVR TV menu system seemed easy to understand, while different from Tivo, I was impressed with the simplicity of the menu system layout.
Note: As of the writing of this article, the VP1216 can not output 5.1 surround sound via the HDMI output. This is due to a software limitation with the Windows CE software drivers used on the VIP1216. AT&T is supposedly working on this with Microsoft and Motorola. For my main HD TV in the family room, I used component video out and optical audio out to get the HD video and 5.1 surround sound.
Finally we went upstairs and installed the two Motorola VIP1200 STBs (one in the master bedroom and one in the game room). These are the secondary STBs that allow watching of live TV and pull recorded TV from DVR box in the family room. Both of secondary VIP1200’s are attached to 32 inch tube TV’s but they support high definition as well.
Here are some of the key features of the Total Home DVR (VIP1216) system that I really like:
- Ability to record 4 channels simultaneously (2 of which can be high definition)
- Ability to view recorded video from the VIP1216 from a TV using the secondary VIP1200 STBs
- Ability to pause live TV on the VIP1216
- Ability to access pay-per-view channels from any STB (VIP1216 or VIP1200)
Here are some key features that I believe are missing from the U-Verse Total Home DVR system that I really think AT&T should add ASAP:
- Ability to initiate recording of programs from the secondary STBs (VIP1200)
- Ability to delete recordings on the VIP1216 from the secondary STBs
- Ability to pause live TV from the secondary STBs
- Better management of scheduled recordings, especially series recordings
Even with these short comings, I was very impressed with the system especially the HD quality.
Motorola VIP1216 Total Home DVR – Front View
Motorola VIP1200 Set Top Box – Front View
Motorola VIP1200 Set Top Box – Rear View
Note the VIP1216 and VIP1200 have almost identical rear connections.
All in all, I am very satisfied with the U-Verse hardware and its capabilities. There are some software things that need to be addressed, but the system is very usable and I really like it.
U-Verse TV Image Quality
The two following photos were taken with a high resolution (10 megapixel camera) of my Samsung 1080p high definition TV displaying the U-Verse television output.
Standard Definition Image – CNN Headline News (channel 203)
High Definition Image – CBS (channel 1005)
As you can see, the picture quality is outstanding even with Standard Definition programs.
U-Verse TV Menus and DVR Functionality
The U-Verse remote control is functional and works perfectly well (IR based), but I have always been a fan of Logitech Harmony Universal Remote Controls. So, I quickly configured my Harmony 510 Remote Control to work the VIP1216 STB. It was quite simple and it works perfect compared to the standard U-Verse remote control. I had to add two additional items to my Harmony remote which were “List of Recorded Shows” and “Back” as the U-Verse system has a special back key different from the left arrow button.
Standard AT&T U-Verse Remote Control
Note: The U-Verse remote control can be programmed to work with other devices such as DVD players and audio receivers.
Logitech Harmony 510 Universal Remote Control
As stated earlier, I find the U-Verse TV menus fairly intuitive and easy to use. I won’t cover all of them below are some screen shots of some of the key menus and DVR functionality.
Note: All of the screen shots were taken using my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 digital camera, then cropped to the proper size.
U-Verse TV Screen Capture #1 – TV Guide
The following is a screen capture of the live TV guide.
A couple of important things to point out about the Guide:
- A live preview of the channel you highlighted in the Guide shows up at the bottom with program details (video only, no audio)
- The current program you are watching stays live in the background (audio and video)
- HD channels begin at channel 1000
- If a standard def channel has a HD channel, then just add 1000 to it to get to the HD channel. Cool!
- Programs in HD are indicated with the small “HD” icon
- A small red circle will indicate the program scheduled to be recorded
- There small overlapping circles indicate that the program is scheduled to be recorded and it is part of a series recording (season pass for all of you Tivo users out there)
U-verse TV Screen Capture #2 – Program Summary
Pressing the “Info” button on the remote control will bring up the detailed information about the selected program
Notice the additional submenus at the top of the info window (Summary – People Search – Alternate audio – Subtitles). The “People Search” is cool. If there are any actor or actress names in the information summary, “People Search” will automatically search for other programs with these names. You can watch, record the episode, or set a series recording from this window as well. Very easy to use.
U-verse TV Screen Capture #3 – Recorded TV List
Pressing the “Recorded TV” button will bring a list of all of the recorded programs stored on the DVR.
As you can see from the top menu in the screen capture, you can view recorded programs by “date” or “title”. Furthermore, you can add a recording manually and view what is scheduled and your series recording settings as well. If you have more than one recording of a specific program, they are grouped into folders keeping your list well organized.
U-verse TV Screen Capture #4 – Scheduled Recordings List
After pressing the “Recorded TV” button, there is a submenu titled “Scheduled” which is the list of programs that the DVR is configured to record.
Selecting any of the scheduled programs allows you to cancel the recording as well as the details of the program will be recorded (program information).
U-verse TV Screen Capture #5 – Scheduled Series Recordings
Another submenu available from the “Recorded TV” screen is “Series”.
The “Series Recording” list displays the program series that will be recorded. (For TV Users, this the ‘Season Pass’) Again, you can drill down into each one, edit, delete or view the settings for recording series.
U-verse TV Screen Capture #6 - Menu
Pressing the “Menu” button on the remote control will bring up the U-Verse TV main menu.
The Menu button provides access to all functions available on U-Verse TV:
- Live TV – live television (the “Guide” as explained above)
- Recorded TV – the list of recorded TV (as explained above)
- Video on Demand – lists of purchasable and free programs on demand
- Interactive Functions – allows access to the following “online” capabilities: 1) Weather 2) Online Photos via Flickr 3) Online Games 4) U-Verse Bar 5) Yellowpages
- Services – Ability to view telephone call history (not reviewed in this article)
- Options – set top box configuration such as system settings, channel setup, & parental locking (not reviewed in this article)
- Help – Help for menu system and DVR functions (not reviewed in this article)
U-verse TV Screen Capture #7 – Video on Demand
U-Verse Video on Demand allows you to select from popular and recent DVD movies and shows. There are even some “free” on demand programs available however that selection is very limited. The VOD for popular movies allows you to rent movies in both standard definition and high definition formats.
Standard definition movie rentals cost $4.00 while high definition movie rentals cost $6.00. Most movie rentals are available for 24 hours so you can pause and finish the movie later. Some movie rentals are available for 3 days.
U-verse TV Screen Capture #8 – Video on Demand Movie Listing
The follow shows current movies available.
U-verse TV Screen Capture #9 – Interactive
The Interactive services from U-Verse are probably the most disappointing features of the entire product. From the “Menu” select “Interactive” and you get the following menu choices:
- Weather
- Online Photos
- Yahoo! Games
- AT&T U-Bar
- Yellowpages
U-verse Interactive TV Content
All of the interactive programs are EXTREMELY SLOW in loading! So much so that I rarely use them. AT&T really needs to fix this.
Weather on demand is useful and has the forecast out to 6 days as well as radar views. Again, just very slow to load.
Online Photos I have not gotten working yet as I don’t use Flickr. I use Google’s Web based Picasa which is far superior to Flickr. AT&T has a partnership with Yahoo! which owns Flickr so don’t expect any integration with any Google products any time soon.
Yahoo! Games is very slow as well and almost unusable.
The AT&T U-Bar is a joke. It is tied to your AT&T U-Verse Yahoo! account and you set your weather, zip code for traffic reports, and stocks and sports scores. However, it is very strange to configure. If I tried I could not build a more un-intuitive system for setting this up. Nice concept, extremely poor execution!! I don’t know who created the design AT&T or Yahoo!. Whoever did it, needs to be fired. Horrible usability.
Yellowpages is so slow, I never use it.
As I said earlier this part of the product is absolutely awful. AT&T could do some really neat things here but the tie to Yahoo! makes it hard to configure, the speed is too slow, the configuration is painful and the content is extremely shallow. Nice try AT&T, but poor execution.
NOTE: It is my belief that the slowness of the interactive services is the underpowered Windows CE set top box and is not bandwidth related at all.
U-Verse Web Based DVR Management
AT&T does provide a fairly nice web based interface for managing recordings for the U-Verse DVR. Due to the relationship between AT&T and Yahoo! the page is hosted by Yahoo!. AT&T and Yahoo! want you to access through your AT&T Yahoo! portal page (http://att.my.yahoo.com/) which is a pain in the tail. The direct URL for accessing the DVR management page is: http://u-versetv.sbc.yahoo.com/
As you can see in the screenshot above, the web page provides the following capabilities:
- Program Guide
- List of recorded programs
- Scheduled Recordings
- Scheduled Series Recordings
The program guide is functional but missing some key features such as:
- Fast scrolling both vertically (channels) and horizontally (time)
- First run indicators are not correct or just not listed for many shows
- The entire web application is formatted for low resolution so my high resolution desktop and browser has lots of blank space and I am stuck with lots of slow scrolling
- When you click on a series subscription recording, you get no details such as the channel or other information like you get from the on screen guide.
- When you select a scheduled recording the details of the program episode are lacking.
- Conflict resolution is not easy and the information the application gives you is lacking.
Basically, the web interface for the DVR is good for scheduling recordings (if you don’t have a conflict) and deleting stuff that has already been recorded. Don’t try to go back and and edit anything with the web application. AT&T just doesn’t give you enough information to make good decisions on your edits. You must use the on screen guide for edits. Furthermore the web interface is slow.
U-Verse Internet Service (DSL)
AT&T U-Verse offers a variety of internet service levels to fit your needs. I opted for the “Pro” level as it was a match for what I had with Time Warner.
I conducted a speed test with Speedtest.net and achieved the following results.
The speed results are almost identical to what I had with Time Warner cable. I didn’t record my latency times with Time Warner, so I don’t have hard evidence, but the latency to establish connections with AT&T U-Verse seems less than it did with Time Warner.
As with most home ISPs, I am given a dynamic IP address. This is not a problem as the web server I host at home for my personal use is configured to use DynamicDNS from www.dyndns.org.
In summary, the internet service from U-Verse is fast, solid and trouble free.
U-Verse IP Telephone Service
I have to say that I am very pleased with the IP telephone service from U-Verse. The sound is crystal clear and the quality is outstanding. I had an IP based phone with Time Warner and there was always a faint but strange background noise. However, since AT&T is first and foremost a telephone company, the IP based phone service should be 1st class. Here is a list of the standard features included in U-Verse IP based telephone service:
- Call waiting
- Call forwarding
- Three-way calling
- Caller ID
- Call waiting ID
- Safe or selected call forwarding
- Call blocking
- Anonymous call blocking
- Hosted voice mail
- Do not disturb mode
- Locate me / follow me
- Web access to call activity
- Web access to voice mail
- Email notification of voice new voice mail messages
What I really like is the web access to call logs and the ability to get email notifications of new voice messages. This is an outstanding feature.
U-Verse has a centralized management web site for U-Verse features called “U-Verse Central” which can be reached via http://uversecentral.att.com. U-Verse Central is where you go to manage all of your IP telephone settings, view call logs, and retrieve voice messages via the web.
Upon logging into U-Verse Central, select “U-Verse Central Voice” and you get the web page displayed above. This is like a dashboard for the voice services were you can easily see key settings and if you have any messages in your voice mail inbox.
Clicking on the “Voice Messages” button will display your voice mail inbox where you can listen and delete voice messages.
Clicking on the “Call History” button will allow you to browse and search your call history such as missed calls, received calls, dialed calls, etc. The call history lists the caller ID information as well as the length of the call, etc..
Finally, clicking on the “Settings” button allows you to customize the many features of the U-Verse IP telephone service such as call forwarding, etc.
In summary, the IP based telephone service from U-Verse is great. I like the managability via the web and the voice quality is superb. My only complaint is the web pages load a little slow. However, AT&T was very smart to construct them so they are compliant with most browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari on the Mac.
U-Verse Review Summary & Closing
All in all, I am very happy with my U-Verse service. However this does not mean it is perfect and there are some areas that need improvement. Here is my summary review of the U-Verse service.
My Top 10 U-Verse Wish List
- Ability to attach external storage to DVR
- Ability to schedule and delete programs from auxilliary set top boxes
- Ability to pause live TV from auxilliary set top boxes
- Better user interface for DVR management web page
- Better series recording capabilities – more like the Tivo season pass
- Fix the 5.1 surround sound issue when using HDMI
- On TV screen Caller ID
- More HD Channels
- Increase number of simultaneous HD streams (3 or 4)
- Fix the interactive services speed, usability, and content
Now if you have found this review useful and plan on signing up for AT&T U-verse, do me a favor and go to AT&T Referrals (http://attreferrals.com) and use my referral code – CH1419119 – so I get some points & credits.
Useful U-Verse Web Links
Here are some useful U-Verse web sites:
- http://uverse.att.com – main U-Verse Product Web Site
- http://utalk.att.com/utalk/ – U-Verse U-Talk Peer Forums
- http://uverse.att.com/uconnect/ – U-Verse U-Connect (subscriber content) web site
Comments Welcomed
Your comments are welcomed. Use the form below to provide me any feedback you might have or your thoughts.
Thanks,
Chris Gaskins – Austin, Texas
Loading ...
I agree with the vast majority of your findings, Chris. And while the DVR features may not be quite up to the TiVo standard I have to say that compared with the offerings from TW and the satellite providers I think U-verse definitely gets the “close second” ranking.
One thing I wish it would support is the ability to stream content (i.e. pictures and MP3s) from network shares. I mean, this is a network device, on the same network as all of your computers and yet it has no ability to see or access media on those devices. Silly oversight.
One thing I’ve noticed lately is that my playback quality for HD recorded programs is getting spotty. Frequent pixelation/picture breakup and momentary pauses/freezes are common. I’m not sure whether this is caused by the recorder itself or by the broadcast (I almost never actually watch TV in “real time”) but it’s getting frustrating and might prompt a call to service if I don’t see improvement soon….
Superb review… best I’ve seen on U-verse thus far. I’m still in the process of getting my install. First weekend, they couldn’t get decent quality and had to string a new line from the pole to the house. The 2nd weekend, (this past weekend) they failed to show up at all. I wasted another entire Saturday waiting and calling and being on hold on the phone to see why no one showed up. I’ll be spending a 3rd Saturday it seems, for AT&T to get their act together. I’m steamed but after escalating the issue to an AT&T rep yesterday to a manager, who could actually understand, apologize and do something, I was I believe “taken care of”. We’ll have to see how the 3rd try goes.
I’ve heard its great once installed.
Please let us know about your hellish install. I have to wait 2 weeks before they can get back out on a Saturday to finally get me going… so almost a month from start of install to finish.
Very well done review Chris.
I would add to the wish list; mutiple favorite channel lists.
Great review. I just had viturally the same set of services installed yesterday in the San Francisco Bay area. I went for the Elite internet service and am getting 5.5mbs download speed.
My installer was great. A nasty rainy day, he was in and out multiple times, very tidy. He was always very pleasant and did a terrific job of first cleaning up my phone and coax lines, then installing all the services. I do not have ethernet between family room and home office area, but do have coax, which is what he used to connect the DVR boxes to the HG.
I moved from Comcast and SBC DSL. Comcast has a better local TV station selection than ATT, but not a deal breaker.
My wants,
1) Why not allow Netflix downloads from PC to the DVR?
2) Also, why not allow digital photos either as a download, or as a show from the PC.
2) How about using the ethernet port on the DVR for connecting either a comuputer or Apple TV?
Again, great review.
Dave G. brings up a good point. I’ve had Dish Network for about 10 years, and that whole time, they’ve always had customizable favorites… Custom Name, custom color of menu, and you can have up to 4 different favorite lists. Favorites, even have a button on the remote.
Oh, I also have a service I use between my Windows Media Center PC and my Xbox 360… called Playon… it is from themediamall.com… You can stream Youtube, CBS, ESPN, and HULU, and there is talk about getting other services like ABC, MLB, NBA and others in the coming months. It allows you to stream Internet/PC video from your PC to your Xbox360, and works very well, they even have a PS3 version. Costs $39.99 now.
Excellent review, I just installed and pretty spot on with my analysis.
Would like to second all of your missing features (especially those around the secondary boxes, 1-3) and those in the comments, specifically:
1. Network media streaming, especially movies – I rip my DVDs and getting access at any TV in the house would be fantastic.
2. Netflix streaming.
3. On the season pass front, allow the Tivo-style keep maximum X episodes.
Chris,
Great review……I have a question you might be able to answer. I have a Universal Remote model MRF-250 and cannot seem to figure out how to use it to accomodate the Cisco WHDVR to work with it. If you have any ideas or codes that I need, please advise. Thanks in advance.
MikeF
GREAT review. I opted for the 18Mbps service which I love since I work out of the house and everything I do is internet/network related. The latency is low and I’m seeing speeds just a little bit below 18Mbps. I’ve been a subscriber now for about a week and they just had to come out and swap my dvr (it cradered during an update from the U300 service to the U400 service), other than that, I’ve had no other problem. Coming from TIVO as well, there are some things missing, but there’s a lot I like. One thing missing that I didn’t have on TIVO but was hoping was part of Uverse is multi-picture viewing. Prior to signing up for UVERSE I actually went on Microsoft’s site for mediaroom (http://www.microsoft.com/mediaroom/) (which the Uverse platform is based on). They have a feature called Multiview that basically allows you to view 6 different screens at one time. I don’t know why they didn’t include it considering the included 90% of everything else. So my wish would be for a future release to include that as well as including the ability to pause television on the non-DVR boxes.
I have a question, can the gateway be connected to a RJ-11 phone line instead a coax in, I live in a Condominium complex, please let me know
Fantastic review, Chris!
I live in the Nashville area and was approached by an AT&T U-Verse rep at my doorstep two days ago. I was quite impressed with what he had to say and what they were offering compared to Comcast (my current provider).
It makes me feel kind of special that there are only a few select cities that are being offered this “alternative” to standard cable services. I opted for the Elite 450 Package and am scheduled for installation next Thursday. I hope all goes well seeing as the installation process seems to be somewhat of a hassle from reading your review and some of the responses.
I’m anxious to see for myself how everything goes with this new service. I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.
Thanks again for the very detailed review, Chris. It reassured me of my decision to give U-Verse a try.
A very impressive review, and honest! Not some trumped up propaganda that I was expecting. I myself have recently been introduced to Uverse. Am renting the upstairs of a house that already had this service installed. I’m not crazy about it, in comparison to the Cablevision service I had in my old residence. I’m having constant wifi connectivity issues with both of my computers, I hate the fact that I have to use the TV on the main level of the house to access the higher DVR functions and you have to run multiple LAN cables to any room that you want more than one kind of service in. Even setting up networked computers and devices (network printers) tends to be anything but ‘conventional’ when you throw the Uverse service into the mix… not impossible, but tedious. Yes, there are ways around running two seperate LAN cables… but IMHO I feel that this Uverse service has far too many shortcomings which outweigh the diminutive handful of advantages. Given the choice, I’d be inclined to stick with conventional cable services when I soon get my own place. I’m just glad I got to give it a ‘test drive’ beforehand. Had I simply gone with this service blindly on my own, I would be even more disappointed with it than I am now (at least this isn’t my account).
Great review Chris. I am frustrated at various details my installer could not help me with, and perhaps you can. I also U300 service.
1) I changed from Dish Ntwk to ATT, and previously I could bring my TV outside (had cable extended into my arbor) and using separate cable, could watch TV outside. With the ATT installer still present, I brought my TV AND new box outside, but still was not able to get service. He was able to suggest how to get it working, have you any suggestions?
2) I went from ATT DSL to elite, which I presume is JUST wireless, but now with no phone lines, I’ve lost my ability to fax?
I appreciate any help you can offer.
Thanks!!
Great Review…I’ve had the same complaints about their interactive offerings. Also – one of the “useful links” doesn’t seem to be correctly linked: the U-connect site link actually goes to the U-verse link. The link I use is uconnect.att.com
Thanks for the review. I’m contemplating this switch (from Time Warner Cable). This was extremely helpful.
FYI – The TV Guide, etc looks very ‘VISTA Media Center’ like – same for the remote. I guess, since it’s run by Windows CE it doesn’t surprise me.
Thanks for taking the time!
Question, on an 18mbps plan, can 4 TVs viewing HD at the same time and a computer upstreaming video on FTTP be supported by this 18mbps plan?
I’m planning on changing from Dish Network to the Atts Uverse and this is very important. I need to transmit videos online while others home are watching TV.
As I understand it, HD consumes 5-8 mbps per TV. Is there a cable dedicated to the Internet and another dedicated to the TVs.
Thanks for your help before I make the final decision!
I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.
Hey Chris.. Check out the latest version of Web Remote Access. Many of the issues mentioned in your review are addressed along with a few other new features.
If you still have the U-Verse service, I think you should tweak your review to reflect the new software update that allows you to schedule and record programs from auxilliary STB, a new web remote design, and 5.1 audio over HDMI.
I had the U-Verse Internet+Phone package installed last week, in order to replace my hard-wired phone & DSL. I let them talk me into the cost-free 30-day TV offer, (to perhaps replace DirecTV) and have some initial observations to post.
Pros:
- New u-verse HD DVR has twice the HD recording capacity (65 hrs) of the older units, and more than DirecTV (50 hrs)
- U-verse DVR is smaller and runs at MUCH lower temperature than the DTV HR20 DVR
- 1080i picture quality is identical between the two (HDNet used for comparisons, with some fast action scenes used – no blurring / pixelation to report at all). Apparently, quality issues reported a year ago have been resolved (at least in my neighborhood). I’m 2900′ from the VRAD
- Many more premium channels with u-verse 450 package, for essentially the same price as the HD + DVR + HBO+Sho+Starz package from DTV
Cons:
- No slow motion / single frame advance with u-verse
- No 15-minute skip-to marks in playback with u-verse
- Not possible to set up an item to “auto-record”, as DTV allows; If a title or actor does not appear in any entries in the 2-week guide, you cannot set up a recording request for it
- Category filtering is not available in searches with u-verse
- Remaining disk space indicator is buried in the system menu, with only total available shown (not percentage); With DTV, used / remaining space is displayed via a graphic bar below the recorded items list
- Guide does not allow skip forward / back by 12-hour increments, as DTV does
I realize that some of these sound really nit-picky, but they are features to which I have grown comfortably accustomed with DirecTV, and would miss if I were to switch before ATT adds them. However, whenever ATT makes the upgrades above, I’ll be back.
I’m using AT&T u-verse TV for a year now and i’m not agree with your comment on picture quality of u-verse
specially on high defenition.I am using 1080p 42 wide screen and i notice the video quality are not good as directv( my carrier before )why if you wacth close to your t.v you can notice a bit framing and lot of motion artifacts , now on standard defenition on 1080i upconvert are more worst,Seem you are wacthing VCD movies lot of vertical jagged . Maybe you think why i moved to AT&T uverse because i have no choice Directv can’t get HD signal on my new location because of a lot of high trees and we are not allowed to put dish on our rooftop.But AT&T uverse are much better than Comcast on picture quality and price.
PEDRO !! My Answer is yes AT&T uverse can use RJ-11 instead of coax
Any updates to U-Verse boxes to add functionality since the review? Can you pause live TV from one of the auxilliary STB?
You have waaaaayyyyy too much time on your hands!
I noticed a picture of a Harmony Remote. I use a Harmony One now. Do you use one with the U-verse service?
Great review I already ordered the service before reading this or I would of used you as a Ref, if I still can let me know how and I will. Hey One Q My install is in a few days I have the ability to run cat 5 is this the best way to hook this Up?? or will the Ethernet over coax be as sufficient? 2nd Q where do the cat 5s from each box go to?? the gateway??
thanks for the Detailed review
Att owes you Big time