Is U-Verse worth the switch?
A few weeks back we reported on AT&T’s cable service, U-Verse, now being available in select areas of Fayetteville. After a little deliberation and some comparison shopping between Cox, Dish Network, DirectTV and U-Verse, I made the decision to go with AT&T’s U-Verse.
In order to make the switch, I went and spoke with an AT&T representative at the store in Fiesta Square. I had several questions and they were all answered to my satisfaction. In order to make the switch, the following criteria had to be met:
- Local channels must be available in HD
- It has to be significantly cheaper than Cox Communications
- The # of HD channels must be comparable to Cox’s offerings
- Installation must be free
Thankfully, all of my basic criteria were met… which meant that we could switch and it wouldn’t be too big a deal. Continuing to discuss what AT&T U-Verse offers that Cox doesn’t, I uncovered a few things that sold me on making the change in cable providers. Below are the offerings that pushed me over the edge:
- The DVR can be accessed from any TV in the house with a U-Verse box($5/month per extra box). That rules
- The Guide, Menu and On Demand functionality is much smoother, more intuitive and much more robust than Cox’s
- If you have a Flickr account, you can stream your photo sets on the Flickr Channel
Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it is good. I’ve been enjoying U-Verse for just under a week now and can safely say that I’m impressed. However, there are a few things you’ll need to know before making your decision; things they won’t tell you(or at least didn’t tell me) when they’re trying to sell you on U-Verse.
- You’re only given 2 HD streams. What this means is that you can watch HD on two TV’s simultaneously, but not on three. Or, you can record one HD channel and watch one at the same time, but all other TV’s must watch SD content. Or, you can record two HD channels at the same time, but you couldn’t watch any HD channels while doing so. Make sense? This peeved me a little bit when I first uncovered the issue, but it happens so rarely that it’s not anything to worry about
- The installation can take from 4 to 6 hours, so you’re gonna have to take some time off from work for the install
- Once installed, if you decide you don’t like it, it’s not as simple as canceling U-Verse and getting Cox again. When they install U-Verse, they gut Cox’s setup, so it’ll take a Cox technician some time to re-install everything… and I imagine it won’t be free
So, if you’re considering jumping ship from Cox to AT&T’s U-Verse, I hope that my experience will help you make your decision. If there are any other U-Verse subscribers out there, please fill us in on your experience with AT&T. We’d love to hear what you think.
Comments
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The Truth
February 9, 2009
I’d love to try it… but it’s still not available in my part of town. Blah.
Me
February 9, 2009
A slight correction to your disclaimers: I got it installed and they did not touch the existing Cox system I have. In fact, I didn’t cancel Cox until I was convinced that I like the Uverse service so for a week I actually had both systems and could plug the uverse box into my TV or the cable from the wall. I am quite satisfied with AT&T so far though so no worries anyway!
Wiff Rightly
February 9, 2009
@Me – Huh. I was told that the Cox stuff would be “torn out” and replaced with AT&T’s… I didn’t bother trying my cox equipment after the install because I was told it would no longer work. Maybe it depends on how new or old your Cox setup is? Oh well, like you, I’m also quite satisfied with AT&T.
Lankford
February 9, 2009
Here’s something that might help a few folks as well. I checked the U-verse website to see if it was available at my apartment and it said no. Then I checked the other units around me and it WAS available. What that means is that there is an error in their system that lists available addresses. If it happens to you, call them and let them know. They have to file some forms with their tech department and they should contact you when it’s available.
Beebs
February 9, 2009
@Me – You’re the second person I’ve heard about where they had both Cox and AT&T at one point so I bet it does depend on how your house is set up. I’m having mine installed next week so we’ll see how mine goes.
Jeremy Sharp
February 11, 2009
I’m pretty sure i’m going to make the switch. But i have not pulled the trigger just yet. Two of my friends just did.
One note there is a little bit of a wait for installation. As of Monday 2-09-09 they were out 12 days or so on when they could come to your house for installations.
Beebs
February 24, 2009
Well I’ve got it installed and everything is working. So far I like it. The install took forever but i expected that. They also didn’t have to touch my Cox setup so i was still using my Cox connection right up to when they had me test the AT&T one.
kirby sanders
June 23, 2009
South Fayetteville can’t get U-verse service because AT&T hasn’t replaced the old-school wiring with fiber optic. South Fayetteville desn’t get Cox High-Speed internet or digital TV because they haven’t replaced the old-school wiring with fiber optic.
U-verse and Cox Digital are both scams for the Yupies that leave the actual Fayetteville Community paying more for less.
So long as the Yuppies are happy, both companies make money by supplying substandard service at higher prices to much of the city. Welcome to Capitalism — NWA style.
-k-
Me
June 23, 2009
@ Kirby – What a hateful comment! Especially since you obviously wish you had these services and are jealous of those that have them. I also like how you throw in some conspiracy theory for extra flair. Well, I guess I’m a just a happy yuppie that would gladly keep a jerk like you stuck in the dark ages. Welcome to horrible capitalism… unlike all those communist countries that have U-verse and digital cable for everyone (for free, too, right?)!
kirby sanders
June 23, 2009
Glad to know the yuppies are happy. The facts still exist — both Cox and AT&T refuse to upgrade service in the older parts of town because the installation of new service is cheaper than is the upgrade of service in established neighborhoods.
If you can make more money on depreciated capital improvement than you make on the installation new infrastrucure, the profit-line improves.
It ain’t hate — it’s corporate dollars. Old guard capitalism.
Me
June 23, 2009
Ok, so a for profit company runs it’s business in a manner that they believe will be profitable… what is the world coming to? I suppose if you owned a business, you would just run yourself into the ground trying to make sure everyone everywhere was satisfied? So are other businesses that make money old guard capitalism corporate dollar hoarders? Anyways, I bet those corporate dollars contribute much more to society than you do.
burgerboy
June 23, 2009
I’m all for Fayetteville moving towards having municipal utilities like electricity and cable. SWEPCO has proven it doesn’t give a rats ass about our community. Cox Cable isn’t much better, I’m sure.
kirby sanders
June 23, 2009
FWIW-
I personally believe the governments should not have interfered with the pure domestic capitalism of Chicago in the 1920s-30s. Neither should they interfere with the pure international corporate capitalism of the various “cartels” to date.
If you believe that government interference in pure capitalism is a “bad thing”, I assume you would agree that the pure capitalism of Al Capone was a “good thing.”
Capone actually established several soup kitchens for the unemoloyed and employed a vast number of people in his various enterprises — before the government stuck its nose into his capital enhancement enterprises.
Pick one. Pure capitalism or regulated capitalism for the benefit of the society as a whole. It’s a simple choice.
-k-
-k-
mischki
July 2, 2009
I thought about switching from Cox to U-Verse. I was trying to save some money. But AT&T couldn’t even FIND my address, let alone tell me whether I could get the service or not. That’s what I get for living out in the middle of nowhere I guess.
I wish they would let us pick and choose which channels we wanted and just pay for those. All I ever watched was the Science channel and History International. But I had to buy the Expanded Digital with an extra Tier just to get those channels. And I decided I didn’t want to pay 50 bucks per channel anymore…
So I’m actually “killing my TV” and turning Cox off. Completely. Well, except for the interwebs… I’m going to figure out how to connect my laptop to my TV and Hulu it for awhile.
sofresh-n-sogay
July 31, 2009
uverse does have some problems with aspect ratio. my tv is 16:9, but no matter how I have the tv and uverse setup, many channels are too stretched and look awkward unless I mess with the settings, in which case the channels are displayed with black bars on all four sides, turning a 32 inch screen into a 13 inch. This ain’t right, so I tried upgrading to HD service to see if it would be better. My tv can do 1080i, but the resolution of some of the HD channels actually looked worse than the SD channels, and the aspect ratio was worse on EVERYTHING. Oddly, even the aspect ration of the uverse channel “guide” displayed improperly.
I’ve still got uverse, since I’m getting a few better channels (sundance, bbc america) and only paying a few more dollars than cox, but it does have some major problems that need to be resolved.
David L.
August 2, 2009
The service crews did not show at all for their first appointment. My second appointment was only slightly better. The rep showed several hours late.
The content overall is considerably better. The lack of PEG channels is a a low point.
I agree with sofresh-n-gay the formatting is terrible.
Timmy
August 2, 2009
I switched to Uverse about three months ago. So far it’s been great. The service tech showed up when they were supposed to and spent more than half the day on our setup.
The main reason we left Cox was that they for some reason were incapable of sending us a paper bill in the mail-even after several calls and a reset of our account. That and their counter clerks lied directly to our faces on a couple of occasions.
moondawg
August 9, 2009
It isn’t just south Fayetteville – I live in central Fayetteville, close to the VA, and AT&T can’t deliver high-speed DSL in this part of town. About 760 kilobytes a second download is the max, which really sucks. But I’m not about to pay Cox for anything.