AT&T U-Verse?

[chemboy2]

AT&T is a newish player in the cable/satellite market (at least in my area); does anyone have experience with them? Their packages seem pretty good and I like their claimed tech features so we're considering them. We currently have DirecTV and cable for internet and we're fairly satisfied with both but wrapping everything under AT&T stands to save us a decent chunk of change.

Thanks!

[slickpitt]

My parents had them for DSL service... it was pretty good. Not as good as my cox cable... but good enough. Can't speak to their other services.

[MGP]

I've had AT&T U-verse for about 2 years now. Had Comcast (Comcrap) before that for about 5 or 6 years for internet and lots longer for cable TV.

AT&T U-verse internet is awesome. They are a real ISP unlike most cable companies. No hidden caps or any other crap like that like. Also fast upload speeds and the download speeds are exactly what they say they will be, all the time (unlike cable). In the past two years my internet has been down for probably less than 10 minutes total.

Their residential gateway has a 4-port 10/100 ethernet switch and WiFi (802.11g, 54mbps) built-in so that's a plus too.

On the TV side I am quite happy also. Their set top boxes work well overall. They have two kinds, one with and one without a DVR. I got a DVR and regular box for free when I signed up, not sure what they do now. The channel lineup and cost is quite good too. $10 a month extra for all the standard HD channels (about 100 or so, including HBO, Showtime, etc. if you have them in your regular package). The HD-only sports and premium HD networks are an extra charge.

Since they use IP-TV and have limited bandwidth into the residential gateway, they are limited to (1) HD stream and (3) SD TV streams at one time. Each stream is a STB receiving/watching TV or recording. Heavy duty HD users see this as a big negative -- I personally don't find this to be a problem, I hardly ever watch more than one channel and record another at the same time although you can actually record more than one show at a time while still watching TV (as long as you don't have more than 4 streams at once).

AT&T actually has more bandwidth available to the neighborhood box and likely into the premises. I know my residential gateway shows enough bandwidth to support at least 3-4 HD streams plus internet. They just have chosen not to implement it yet. I'm sure they will in the future based on competition and once their nationwide buildout is completed.

Overall, I really like U-verse. I'd stick with it even if Comcast was cheaper (which it's not). I'm saving about $40/mo. over Comcast's pricing for almost the identical services.

I was really surprised at how good U-verse is, even their tech support. I thought AT&T sucked as a phone company but I am glad I gave U-verse a try. Good product and in our area nice to have some competition.

[spartyon8]

I have them for everything (phone, cell, net, tv) and have 0 complaints. I love the dvr on every box for no extra fee. I use it all the time. The net for us is fiber and seems to perform well.

[Augster]

I simply cannot wait until U-Verse hits my area. I check every week.

Bundling everything, Internet, phone, wireless, TV, is going to probably save me over $100 per month for what I'm paying for everything separately. And I don't want to switch anything out, because I'm not eligible for bundles because of existing services, and be locked in to another 2-year contract.

I can't wait to get fiber to my house. Fiber is only going to get faster and faster.

I'm glad everyone posting so far likes it so much!

[chemboy2]

Great feedback, thanks!