![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
FEBRUARY!
1 replies
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-270741-100x100.png\")
@ds143: Ditto!
\"AT&T Raising U-Verse Rates Februray 1st\"?
The new Overlords will NOT be pleased....unless this was some sort of obscure jab at Blu-ray.
FEBRUARY!
@ds143: Ditto!
\"AT&T Raising U-Verse Rates Februray 1st\"?
The new Overlords will NOT be pleased....unless this was some sort of obscure jab at Blu-ray.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-128794-100x100.png\")
I canceled it a about a year ago now, I went without cable for a while but then decided I had to have internet. Now I pay $50 per month for their DSL service and watch my favorite shows online. Uverse was ok but it never really worked as I went through a few set top boxes so I basically got tired of paying for something that never really worked.
I pray for the day when you can just pay for the channels that you want. :-)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-44505-100x100.png\")
@NTC-Brendan: You must know they won't let you order just internet, but here's what they will allow: order the whole thing, cancel the tv and phone portion and leave the internet on. I've been on Uverse internet for about 2 years with no cable/tv service from them or anyone else.
@Jim:
Yes AT&T will let you order just internet. It is called DSL Dry Loop and they sell it separately in every state they offer service. Just call up and ask to cancel home phone service and keep DSL going as DSL Dry Loop.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-230561-100x100.png\")
I heard rumors about U-verse getting dry loop Internet here (Internet w/o TV or Phone). So far it is not listed for our zip code but if the rate hikes are coming already I think I will stand fast with what we have. It is only a $60/year hike but at some point enough is enough. Voting with my wallet.
This is a bummer, I really like our Uverse, I wonder if threats to cancel will do anything even though we've only had it for 6 months.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-487473-100x100.png\")
I guess now I can add Cost to the one big reason I won't get AT&T's U-verse: security
U-verse is essentially an IP multicast of MPEG-4 data being sent down stream, and then on to the client boxes. The funniest part was when a friend of mine and I discovered the video packets themselves were being sent downstream seperate from the authorization data packets. After discovering this, we quickly wrote a script, attached a packet sniffer to the line, and over wrote all of my roommate's episode of Charmed with 2girls1cup.
Moral of the story: Computer Knowledge + Passive Aggresiveness + Free Time + Piss-Poor security = Wonderful example of why you should be concerned about the security of your television service.
@tgrwillki That's not going upstream to other customers though. You could fuck around like that with cable if you had the right equipment.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-38030-100x100.png\")
How about the tipster letting us when U-Verse will be available in Detroit? Not metro-Bloomfield Hills-Detroit, but Comcast-has-us-by-the-balls-Detroit???
Here here. I live about 1.5 miles from the heart of downtown and I saw AT&T installing the fiber optic over a year ago and still no U-Verse option. Detroit proper has always been an after thought for the utility companies. We didn't even get cable offered until 1988ish.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-53233-100x100.png\")
I hope that UVerse comes to this area. Not because I feel a need to give even more money to AT&T but to scare my local cable company into improving their act. As it is right now, I'd probably change to UVerse just out of spite alone.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-70279-100x100.png\")
I never liked how SBC treated its customers. Now that they're pretending to be AT&T, I'm not finding any differences in their behavior. With them, I find their top priorities to be their shareholders and their executives. I can't speak for the employee side of things, but it is pretty clear that SBC doesn't mind giving customers the shaft to benefit their other interests.
I like my uverse, but I have had several problems with my service since I got it a year ago. The difference is they fix it, and are helpful. Not like satan aka TWC who would do everything in their power to avoid helping you, and would increase rates constantly without explanation. Even with the $5 increase I'm still almost $40 cheaper.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-29449-100x100.png\")
Is there ANYONE who can explain to me why people get VOIP service from these companies, even as part of a bundle, at $30+/month rather than using Skype at about $30/year?
Trust me: the sound is NOT better.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-196743-100x100.png\")
Do not fail to do your research on Uverse. A friend recently had it installed in southern CT and I was a witness while the installer fumbled through the install. Depending on your distance to \"the box\", you will only get two simultaneous HDTV 'streams' to your house at the same time, and no more. You may have five boxes in the house, and three HD TV's, but one of those HD TV's will have to watch the same HD program as one of the other two. Some customers further away from the box on the pole will only get ONE HD stream into the house at once. The set top boxes actually ask you if you want to kick another set off the system in order to view a new HD stream. Just try to find that 'feature' in any of the fine print on their website (the only way to sign up). And you won't be told of this by the installer until after the system is installed and he's setting up the boxes. He actually made it sound as if he was doing the homeowner a special favor by making two HD boxes work instead of one: \"You're only supposed to get one HD stream, says so here on my work order. But I'll make a phone call and get a second stream provisioned for you...\"
Also this installer, when presented with a household wired with a standard telephone company punch-down block and color coded wiring, could not figure out Telco Wiring 101 to save his life. He left the hardwired phones in the house unworking after fumbling around with the the most basic part of the installation, the phone connection, for nearly eight hours. The homeowner basically threw the tech out of the house after he refused to get his supervisor on the phone to speak to the homeowner.
Their TOS that you agree to during sign-up also gives them the full permission to cut, reuse, and even remove any existing wiring in your house as part of their install. So if you have a working satellite or antenna system in the house before the install, don't count on it working afterwards. This homeowner specifically instructed the installer to NOT reuse the Dish wiring as he was planning on using it until the end of his contract, but guess what? Uverse installers are not allowed to run new cables if it involves anything running over a roof or takes more than a simple stepladder climb. This turkey even broke into a locked Charter cable junction box on the side of the house and spliced into one of their cables to make his life easier.
Picture quality is good, data speed is screaming, but he has to reboot the gateway regularly about once a day when it just dies and that kills everything-- TV, data, and phone. Also he lost a lot of caller ID data on some of his regular incoming phone callse. Says \"unavailable\" most of the time now.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-723408-100x100.png\")
@scoosdad: I haven't had any problems with U-Verse, either. I called them after Time Warner made a mess and left me with no internet service after the install. They also left cables all over my yard and stretched into my neighbor's yard as well. AT&T fixed everything and were very professional. I just wish I could choose channels a la carte.
@scoosdad: I haven't had any issues with Uverse. The installer was professional, I told him feel free to use my existing coax wiring (which Charter had made a mess of, but he was able to figure out their \"work\"), and the very first thing he told me when he got to my place was that I could only get 1 HD stream because I was too far. Despite having 2 HDTVs, I was fine with that because anything is better than Charter. My U-Verse service is great.
if the consumerist knew how to use google instead of lounging in their consumers' union chairs all day they'd also note that ATT's agreement with dish network ends and the agreement with directv goes into effect on - you guessed it - february 1! i wouldn't be surprised if directv made this one of the conditions of that deal.
@lastingsmilledge: wow ouch! Are you mad at consumerist for being sold?
Anyway uverse is not the same as the AT&T+satellite bundles. Uverse is what AT&T offers in the 17 or so homes where they have laid \"fiber to the node.\" the other 99.999% of AT&T's coverage area, if they ask about tv, they sell them cobranded satellite service like you say.
PS: can you tell who I'm mad at and why? ;)
I got U-Verse a month ago in the Chicagoland area. I was just thrilled to get rid of Comcast. I got the U400 and it's pretty good. For $140/month, I got 4 receivers (all HD), 3Mbps Internet, and regular phone service (not VOIP.) Picture quality is good (I have a 1080p 52\" LCD) and there are some really neat features. The down side is that none of the other boxes, except the main DVR, are able to pause, rewind, or record live tv. You can only do that from the main box. Also, you can't watch/record more than 2 HD streams at a time. Other than that, it's a great system at an amazing price.
Love my uVerse internet and TV service here in CT. I've had it for a full year now. I'd never consider going back to Comcast. $5 more a month? No problem. Still better value.
I received 3 postcards alerting me to the new $2-per-box increase.
My issue with it? My uverse install is scheduled for January 22nd. I don't even have the service and yet here they are, raising rates and putting their cost right up there with what I have now. Switching to AT&T from Comcast + AT&T in order to save money was the point. Now I'm having second thoughts.
I was sold phone + 200 level TV + 10mbs Internet service in October. I have two written quotes showing this bundle costs under $140 in my area, a savings of $40 over my previos service cost. What am I actually being billed? $175 just for TV and Internet plus phone service billed separately at $44, almost $80 dollars a month over my signed quote. Check your bill to if you're really paying what the salesman quoted you.
Also, I've had over half a dozen calls from service teams trying to get me TV that works properly...I've had outages of ten minutes during prime time and frequent stutters. I'm overpaying and beta testing service here in the Atlanta area.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-13994-100x100.png\")
My housemate and I got U-Verse a few months ago, and that \"3 services for under $79 a month\" is a total joke. Just for the U200 package, the 3.0mbps Internet, Home Phone bundle, and HD service, everything adds up to about $120 a month after all the taxes and fees. Now I'm guessing if we had the U100 package, it would be about $100 a month. Turns out they bill the home phone line separately too, for some bizarre reason. Well things get even more screwy if you bundle a cell phone too. All in all U-Verse ends up being just as expensive as the cable company. Not much competition if you ask me. We're probably going to get rid of U-Verse this month if they raise our rate.
@dougm: I never saw \"three services for under $79.\" However, you're ordering twice the minimum channels, an internet connection twice the speed of their basic service, and HD on top of that -- plus you might have the unlimited phone service instead of the 1000 minutes/month one. Of course it's going to cost more than the bare minimum quote.