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.

Thanks to Patricia for this review of AT&T U-verse:

On Monday, 4/19, AT&T showed up on time to install my AT&T U-verse, cable, and
telephone service. While the installer worked quickly and seemed to know what he
was doing, he was constantly sending and receiving text messages the entire time he
was there. His training of me was to show me how to turn the TV on and off and how
to record shows. He also showed me where the menu option was and told me I could
figure out everything else from that.

He assured me that he had not done anything that would affect my home security
system, and that I would still operate my e-mail just as I had before. I asked him
to try calling my home phone from his cell before he left, to ensure that it was
working. In fact, it wouldn’t ring in. He told me that was normal and it would
probably be one-half hour before anyone could call me.

Immediately after he left, I tried to e-mail a friend with my new e-mail address,
only to discover that it wasn’t working. Fortunately, the installer was still
parked in my driveway, so I was able to drag him back into the house. He spent less
than five minutes trying to fix it. Told me to go to att.yahoo.com, and my e-mail
was there. He said if I wanted to use Outlook Express, to call AT&T and one of
their tech people would help me set it up. With that, he was gone.

When I ordered this service, I was assured that my e-mail would not change. The
salesperson also told me that the average cost for rental of newly released movies
was between $1.99-$3.99. They, in fact, average much higher and are more expensive
than my previous service.

I spent the next hour and a half on the phone trying to get help from AT&T in
their phone tree from hell. When I finally got a live person on the phone, she told
me it normally takes at least ten hours for anyone to be able to call in after
installation. Having had AT&T before the new services were added, I don’t
understand this interruption to my service. In fact, it was the next day,
mid-morning, before anyone could call in. No one at AT&T warned me of this
inconvenience when I was signing up for the service or during installation.

She then passed me on to technical support for help with getting my e-mail working.
It was very difficult to understand the person I was speaking with, but I did
clearly hear him tell me three times that I would have to pay for help from them -
FOR A NEW SERVICE THEY HAD JUST INSTALLED THAT WAS NOT WORKING CORRECTLY!!! When I
asked to speak with a supervisor, he argued with me and finally hung up on me. I
eventually called Microsoft, signed up for their one-year service plan, and
Microsoft fixed my computer and my e-mail.

Finally, I was awakened by my home security system which was not working correctly.
I had to have someone from the security system come out to repair what AT&T did to
the system. The security repair person told me it was something AT&T should have
reconnected while they were doing the installation.

So, to sum it up, the bargain AT&T offered me for a year has cost me the fees to
Microsoft and my security company to fix what AT&T should have done during the
installation. It has also cost me the aggravation of spending way too much time on
the phone trying unsuccessfully to get help from AT&T, and more time off work for
the security company to repair my alarm system. AT&T assured me that my e-mail
wouldn’t change, that the cost of movies was less than my current service, that
there would be no impact to my security system, and that the installer would take
all of the time I needed to make sure I knew how everything worked – all false.
Sales of their U-verse packages is a priority for AT&T – customer service is not. I
hope and pray nothing happens to my system (TV, Internet, phone) as I have
absolutely no faith in ever being able to reach anyone who can help me. Or, if I do
succeed in getting a human being on the phone, I better have my
credit card out and be ready to pay for the help.

Here is our first AT&T U-verse review….our thanks to Marilyn for sharing her thoughts.  If you would like to share your own review, feel free to drop us a line here….

We’ve only had Uverse for a week or so.  My initial reaction is WOW.  Great TV picture.  Great, speedy internet service.  I’m still learning the phone features, and, other than a small delay in dial tone when i pick up the phone, it seems fine.

Here’s my one point of contention.  And a week ago, it was enough to make me reconsider our decision to go with Uverse.

I began looking at Uverse long before it was available in my city (Springfield, IL).  I’d been dissatisfied with our cable company because they routinely choose not to provide the St. Louis Cardinal ball games on FSN (Fox sport; St. Louis).  Other than that, cable was okay.

We talked to a sales rep at the local AT&T store and mentioned how we wanted the ballgames.  He said, “No problem” and showed us it was included with most of the packages.  I had seen the same information on line, so now all we needed to do was pick a time to make the move.  Someone came into our neighborhood a few weeks later offering the package, so my husband and he agreed on an installation date and we were set.  It was even easy to re-arrange the installation date.  Still all was very good.

Before the technician left, he provided the channel directory (your form # ATT807183UVCD-3 dated 6/09).  About 8 that night, I wanted to watch the ballgame, only to find a message that it wasn’t available with our package.  That didn’t make sense since we’d signed up for the U-200 and our channel directory and previous discussions clearly indicated it was part of not only the U-200, but U-100 as well.  I called technical support.  After a long internet chat and finally a phone call, I was told they’d give me the sports package free for a month and that I’d have to take the issue to customer service.  It took me a couple of days before I could get home from work in time to call customer service, but when I did, the rep. seemed confused by the situation saying she was selling the U-200 package with FSN.  She talked to a supervisor, said she would connect me to tech support where the problem would be fixed.  Once I got to tech support, I was quickly told I couldn’t have FSN with my U-200 package.  Basically, I was back to where I started.  I asked to be transferred to whoever could disconnect the service.  Of course, I was put on hold and didn’t have time to wait.  By the next morning, I thought I should try customer service again.  I was told FSN was not part of the package but I could add the sports package for $10.  Since your service is already costing more than cable, I’m not comfortable committing more of our monthly budget, so I finally just said goodbye.  Luckily, my very bright, college-aged daughter heard the exchange.  She picked up the channel listing and said, “Mom, if you drop to U100 and add the $10 sports package, you’ll actually be saving $5.”

With that, we went on-line and made the change.  My husband isn’t getting DYI network, but I’m getting baseball games.  At the same time, all the sports programming is a distraction to my teenage son and not really what I want for him.  But I made the compromise to just be done with it.  I’d committed several hours to phone calls, my husband committed a full day off work for the installation… and we just need to move on.  But the entire transaction has left me with no “feel good” about AT&T.  As our four family cell phone plans come up for renewal, I won’t think twice about looking elsewhere even if that means giving up our beloved i-Phones.  And when I feel like dealing with another TV conversion,  that could happen as well.

Bottom line, I’m very disappointed that we were sold one thing, and once we made the purchase discovered that we actually were getting something else.  You need to update your marketing materials and make sure your employees know exactly what they are selling or have sold.

Thanks for reading this long message. We have neighbors interested in your service, but I’m not giving glowing reviews to fellow Cardinal fans.  Of course, if you’re a Cubs fan, WGN is in the standard package.  Since an informal survey by our local newspaper shows about and even split between Cards and Cub fans, you may want to re-think your “strategy.”