After being with DirecTV since soon after they started, I was very hesitant to make a change but I finally decided it was time. I had been using the old HR10-250 DirecTivo boxes and those old receivers would no longer get the HD channels I was paying for. Since I was going to give up the Tivo anyway, I decided to see what else was out there. After talking to someone at AT&T about U-verse, I began to like some of the features and once they threw a few promotions my way, I decided to give it a try and this last Saturday it was hooked up.
First of all, they had given me a 4 hour window, which I hate, but not long after the start time of that window, I received a call from the installer saying he would be there in about 1/2 hour. I was immediately impressed and it gave me a chance to cook some breakfast without worrying about the doorbell ringing as soon as the eggs went on the skillet. The installer arrived on time, rang the doorbell, introduced himself, and went to work. I was comfortable enough with the installer but after about 20 minutes, he came back to the door and said he wasn’t able to get a signal and there was a tech working on it. He didn’t want to sit around and he didn’t want to start running wires until he knew they were going to be able to correct the problem. Fair enough but I’m thinking I’ve seen the last of him for the day… or week.
Not so. A couple hours later he called and told me they had resolved the problem and he was coming back to complete the installation. From then on, the installation went pretty smooth. He even let me offer some input on where to put the power supply (ie, in my basement rather than the garage) and the router. It took maybe 3 or 4 hours but he even went so far as to program the remotes to work the volume on our TV’s and everything.
Ok, so it was all hooked up and ready to go but how would it work? ….. beautifully! I was impressed with the picture quality immediately. The guide was easy to figure out (after having the Tivo guide for so many years) and my wife picked up on it right away which was nice. I was even more excited the next morning when I had some time to myself to go through all the menu’s and check out all the features like the on-demand weather, on-demand TV and movies, games, and the multiview which is a nice feature where you can watch one show and have a column of shows on the right hand side that you can scroll through and switch back and forth between them instantly. It’s like picture-in-picture on steroids. I can’t wait for football season. I also logged onto my account with my computer to set up some recordings which is a cool feature.
So far there has only been once glitch. Last night we were watching a show and the picture froze for a couple seconds, Hopefully that was just a fluke but even if I had to put up with that happening once every few days, it would be worth it. With the initial delay in the morning and the one freeze up, I can’t give it an A+ but I would certainly give it an A.
A thank you to Mark in Indiana for providing the AT&T U-verse Review.