The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

My wife is wanting to switch.   It will save us about $60 per month.   

She is pretty pissed that Cox raised out rates $30 per month recently and did not bother to notify us, just slipped in the bill.

Has anyone been using ATT Uverse?   Do you like it? 

What have your internet speeds been like? 

The DVR is similar to Cox's DVR. The PQ is similar. You can record up to 4 SD shows at once using the Uverse DVR. Uverse has more channels.

Oh, I forgot to mention the Internet speeds. I had the 10Mbps service and usually saw about 9Mbps. Pretty standard for DSL.

If I weren't so wedded to TiVo, I probably would have kept it, although it's not really any cheaper than Cox. I liked the extra channels, but I hated the DVR. Not as much as I hate Cox's DVR, though.

Get ready then, because Uverse, from what I understand from a friend I have at their call center, is going up in kind later this quarter.  It's one or the other.

But I'm sure I'll get the standard treatment from Tim H in 3...2...1

I was kind of throttled when I got the gratuitous and unannounced rate hike myself.

I had to replace my cell phone today so while I was at the AT&T store at 14th & Lewis I thought I'd see if they have Uverse in my new 'hood.  They do, but without the cash-back, pricing is pretty much the same as Cox for like services, unless he misunderstood what I want in my bundle.  I'm also still not 100% clear what channel line up I'd get.  I like my Cox line up and I've not been using their DVR service.  That's likely something I would take advantage of with Uverse.

I'm really a pretty low-tech person, and I'm familiar with Cox since I've used them through all the permutations dating back to the old Tulsa Cable Television days so changing to something different isn't something I do easily.

Know Nothing knows sumptin.

Went over this just yesterday with an audiophile/techead who likes his broader bandwidth capabilities and I came to the same conclusion.

There is a small box behind each tv?

Coax to the box and splitter for HD from there?

Not much rewiring necessary.

could someone clarify...
With ATT, does each TV analog-tuner require a set-top tuner?  How about TV's with digital tuners?
I've got COX..  looks, like at best I'd save about $10, but I'd like to try and bargin COX down...

Just tell Cox you're thinking about switching to DirecTV or UVerse.  They'll discount you if you've been a long time customer.

Much more on this topic:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=11730.0

All TVs require a box with Uverse. With Cox a TV with a QAM tuner can get CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, and OETA in HD and in SD digital without a box. (If you can find them) Sometimes a few other channels can be found unencrypted, also, but they come and go.

Other than the DVR, I found the HD fee annoying, but what annoyed me even more was that you have to pay yet another $5 a month to get all of the non-premium HD channels. They have a few that they refuse to throw into the base HD package. (Universal HD, MGM HD, and one other I forget now)

Oh, and just FWIW, the menu speed on the DVR is slightly better than on the Cox box, but it's still nothing anybody should be proud of. The only technically interesting thing about it is the near instant channel changes. It still misses recordings (although fewer than the Cox box) and still has a hard time getting only first run episodes.

The most annoying thing about the total home DVR is that you can't program it from other boxes, so if you see something you want to record while watching TV in the bedroom, you have to either hoof it out to the living room right then or risk forgetting. And why they couldn't put 256MB of RAM in the non-DVR boxes and give them trick play features, I'll never figure out.

Thanks for the info everyone.  We are going to give it a whirl.  I'll let you know what we think. 

I'm a technophobe, but was going to sign up for U-verse with my upcoming move to a remodeled house since they keep bullying me lol.  So, my question is, do I need any phone jacks or coax only?  There are a few phone jacks in the house, but they aren't exactly where I'd want them.  But I don't really care about having a landline, so I wasn't going to add any or move any.  I know with my current dishnetwork, I had to have phone/coax at the box.  So confused about how to wire this thing up.  Can someone tell me if I have coax jacks where I want my TVs, is that all that matters?  I had the electrician put new coax jacks at each TV location - so each is new and will be run back to a central box.  Also, I assume my desktop computer will need some sort of coax jack?  Or what?  I need a "_______________ for Dummies" to explain this to me.  I will ultimately have 3 or 4 TVs, a desktop computer and a laptop.  Can the desktop and laptop both be wireless?

You only need a phone line for the gateway, everything else can run over coax or phone, it doesn't matter. They'll run a new line for free (or included in your setup fee) if you want the gateway somewhere there isn't a phone jack, as long as you're getting TV and Internet both.

Your desktop can use wireless if you have a wireless card. Hopefully there's at least a coax where you're putting the computer. Then the gateway can go there and you can use regular Ethernet for it and the gateway can backfeed all the TV boxes over coax from there.

We don't have a land line in our house.  I had cat5 jacks all throughout the house.  They hooked the gateway up via Cat 5 that was in the living room.  They hooked up both the dvr and other set top box with ethernet and ran HDMI to both TV's.  They didn't use coax at all on my setup.  I kept them for 30 days, but when it boiled down to it, I decided to keep my directv.  You can have Cat 5 drops ran pretty reasonably back to a central location with a local electrician if you don't have any within proximity.


Both systems had their pros and cons, but the cons outweighed the pros on Uverse for my fiancee and I.  Not to say thats how it will be with you and your family, but it wasn't for us.  The total home dvr was nice, but other features that Directv had were lacking on Uverse.  If you want more details, PM me. 

Our fun with Cox and Direct TV has finally run it's course.  For the last 5 years we have shopped services every Spring.  We typically call Cox and Direct TV and tell them that we are shopping, and they reward us with a year of free something.  For the last couple of years we have been given free HBO and Cinemax from Direct TV, and the medium bandwidth internet for the price of the standard bandwidth from COX.

uVerse has just informed us that they are available in our neighborhood and made us a deal that beats our "special" discounts from both companies with a lock on the price for two years.

This is an old thread, so I'd like to get everyone's opinion of uVerse today.  Are there any problems that we should be aware of before making the switch?

We switched from DirectTV to Uverse a few months ago and are very satisfied.  I can't say that it's "better", but we like the combined billing of phone/Internet/TV, and it's cheaper than having disparate services.  It seems like the picture quality is better also, but that could just be perception because I like to save money.   :)

Direct TV is our choice. A TulsaNow poster DolfanBob got us a really good deal and we get $10 off each month for tem months for each referral. If I could convince any of you guys, I would use my savings to buy you food and beverages.

Good Ol Mike. He's right. I can get you either DirecTV or Dish. Satellite internet finally has high speed, 12 mbs. But they have a data limit. Until it gets to unlimited. I only suggest it to rural customers.

Of course I only hear the horror stories about U-Verse. I have never had it or seen it in action. So I am not a good gauge on it's reliability.

The one thing that I won't do is sell you a product that is not going to be a good fit for you and you're family. Angry customers are the worst. And so is bad word of mouth.

First off, let me say I have never had Uverse so what I am telling you is technical and I don’t know what the actual end user experience is like. Your experience is going to vary anyway based on your location and your specific use pattern.

Uverse is a FTTN service meaning that there is a fiber optic connection to a local telephone box (a node) near your home and then you get video and phone service (VOIP) with your internet over a DSL connection to the node, specifically VDSL(I think). Your bandwidth is shared between phone, television and internet. This is important because Uverse is a “switched digital” service meaning only the channels you are watching are being sent to you. I’m not sure of the SDV configuration that Uverse uses but most likely all the channels are sent to your local node and then only the ones you are watching are then sent on to your home. The more televisions you are using at once and if you are using the phone, the slower your internet connection is. Also the further you are from your local node the less total bandwidth you have. In the end you still just have paired copper wire to the house which is a much smaller pipe than coax.

Cox also uses fiber to node and then coax to the home. This has much more possible bandwidth than AT&Ts Uverse service but Cox isn’t a fully a switched digital (SDV) system like Uverse and therefore a lot of bandwidth is taken by cable channels.  Cox even still has analog channels still here in Tulsa. Over time that will change.  Eventually Cox will require a cable box on all TVs, when that happens you will know that Cox has gone fully digital and likely fully SDV.

Cox has 50mb internet via DOCSIS 3.0 now and should be able to get to 200mb to 300mb pretty soon. AT&T simply can’t match that unless they change course and go with FTTH, fiber to home, which would be much more expensive for them. Verizon’s FiOS service, which in Verizon’s local telco markets is equivalent to Uverse, is set up as FTTH. Google Fiber is also FTTH and is already offering GB Internet. A new cable standard, DOCSIS 3.1 promises 10 gigabit internet in the future.

AEP has a huge pipe into your home today via it’s electrical wire connection that they could use to provide cable and internet, but they have not chosen to get into that business. I wish they would. Or that we would get Google Fiber.

Technical issues aside, my biggest hesitation with AT&T would be customer service. I have them for my cell phone and they are miserable to deal with .

Swake. That is the best explanation I have ever read on how the service is delivered. Thank you for a very good layman's term.

Thanks.  That's the type of info I'm looking for.  The one advantage we do see with uVerse is that we get HD and DVR in every room and can record 4 channels instead of two for no extra charge.  We seldom have the time to watch TV durring the day, so we DVR a ton of stuff, and it would be nice to watch recorded shows in the bedroom.  If we do their bundle it will save us a lot of money over what we would be paying otherwise.

I'll report back on how it goes.

Gaspar. DirecTV now has the Genie™ and it is a 5 tuner DVR that works on all TVs. Something to think about.

Yeah, I know, but it costs more.  We've been very happy with DirectTV, it's just that we are looking to reduce our expenses and we have come to the end of the rope with the special deals we were getting from them.

My biggest issue with Direct TV and Dish was fundamental.  I lost signal whenever there was a storm.  Otherwise I was fairly happy with Direct TV.  I did review the Genie before switching and it does look like a good upgrade from their old receiver.

Have you had issues with the guide lagging since AT&T stared pulling in artwork and data for the guide as you navigate in guide over the internet?

I prefer watching Spanktravision in the bedroom as well.

Not the guide so much, maybe a small amount.  But I have noticed more delays in the Interactive features.  Has not been a problem, but I have noticed it.  But no issues with actual viewing, etc.

Prude. I bet there are only one or two persons at a time as well.

Rebound. If you lost signal more than 3 to 5 minutes during heavy downpour. You're dish needed to be realigned. Oklahoma winds tend to rock the dishes out of alignment every now and then.

Of course I don't have that problem because I had a "Great" installer.  ;D

Wow.
Good luck during rain.
You have been to sports bars and restaurants with DTV right?
Three words for you... Searching for signal
You'll become very familiar with them.

DTV is crappy to have in Tulsa during severe weather since most severe storms arrive from the SW and that is where your dish points.
Make sure you paid for support otherwise they just tell you signal strength must be weak and you need to have your dish aligned. Learn to figure out what your signal strength so you can tell them it's great when its' sunny. Then they can say, "hmmm, that's odd. That never  happens to me" and you can grab a beer or whatever your preferred blood pressure medication is and kick back with those three little words... ;o)

I had it for two years, cancelled it, and happily paid the early cancellation on the 3 year agreement to get away and have never looked back.

If anyone is considering UVerse make sure you ask how many HD streams you get.
2 years ago in my neighborhood it was 1 HD stream per house due to bandwidth limitations.

That means you get to watch 1 HD program on 1 TV or record 1 HD program on 1 TV.
They will tell you every provider is like that but that's bull as I have 4 HD feeds in my house from Cox.

I was going to switch from Cox as over the course of 3 years I could save around 30% but... I was getting what I paid for so I cancelled the installation once I found out I could have 1 HD stream.

Yep, that's what our situation is.  We only get two HD streams at once with UVerse.  It depends upon how far away from the main box you are.  I think you do get four if you are nearer the box. But at the time anyway, I was only able to record two HD shows with DTV, so it was a wash on that aspect. 

 

Sorry that you had a bad experience with Satellite Television. I worked for Tulsa Cable for 12 years. I too loved their service. Up tll 91 when TCI desroyed a great Company, and I got into the Satellite field. First with the big C-Band dishes. Loved those. They never had rain fade because of the big dish reflection. Personally I loved the way they looked, but thats just me.
The small dish had terrible rain fade through the 90s. Not so much today. The HD Dish is bigger and the Satellites are more powerful. That is why I say if it is out more than 3 to 5 minutes. Get a service call because something is wrong with the dish aiming.
I never thought that the best thing Cox Cable would ever offer would be internet. I have it because my kids do the online gaming. Once they are gone, Cox will never get another dime. But thats just me.

Also as a side note. Both Dish and Direct are 2 year contracts, not 3.

He's right, only 2 years, and that's only if you are getting subsidized equipment or services.  Weatherdemon's story doesnt hold water.

I've been happy with Direct for over three years.  Yes we get some rain fade but it's never an extended period.  I've had cable taken out by tree branches before so there's pros and cons to every delivery method.

I've considered the satellite option for some time.  I've heard stories from friends who have had it, but my concerns lie with the carriage fights that always seem to happen with one or both of the sat providers.  It happens too often for me.

I got Cox to reduce my bill to cheaper than what I was paying for last year for one year.  I told them they have me for a year.  After that, they'd have to prove to me with upgraded equipment and services that they deserve my business.  With the six-tuner DVR allegedly coming next month, we will see.

I hadn't heard that. Who's building the six tuner box? Another Cisco or something from Pace?

Cisco.  They're transitioning to IP based instead of QAM from my understanding.

http://blogs.cisco.com/sp/cisco-and-cox-at-ces-evolving-second-screen-tv-with-next-gen-mobile-app/

Too bad Tim H doesn't frequent anymore.  I still won't touch U-verse, even if I could get it, because it includes the letters A T and T in them.

Most set tops built the last few years are DOCSIS boxes and can do that. That IP on demand data overlay is what AT&T is doing on Uverse that's slowing the guide down.

I'm not talking IP based guide; they're really doing that now with Trio.  I'm talking about them phasing out QAM totally and going IPTV.

Also, sometime in June, Cox Tulsa will be enabling switched digital, is my understanding.  From BBR (broadbandreports)...and yes, I know this isn't official, but this poster has some reputation when it comes to this.

"Cox will be enabling SDV in Tulsa as of June 26th. About 41 SD channels are going SDV plus some sports PPV/subscription package channels. No HD channels are on the list."

Is it this?
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12291/index.html

I believe that is it..yes.

I know some who switched to Uverse and their monthly payments were significantly higher than the salesman told them. Tons of fees and taxes that the salesman conveniently neglected to mention.  In addition, the video and audio get out of sync pretty regularly. It's like watching Kung-fu movies. You also can't "channel surf" as the channel change times are very slow.

Hell, it was 10 years ago. My bad on the date.
Doesn't change that reception sucked during anything but sunny or partly cloudy skies, they won't help without an additional service contract, and, at least at the time, you owned the equipment so if you wanted to upgrade, you were stuck with the old stuff.

You couldn't pay me $100/month to switch to DTV or Dish Network.

U-Verse will be back on the table once they get better coverage in my area.

Very interesting.

I'd have to agree with that.  I'm back to paying even a bit more than I was at Cox, with nothing more than what I already had.  Wasn't worth the change over, and it's a pain to change back.  I guess the good news is when I go I can get some $300 visa card or something (which NEVER came in the mail last time I went back to them!)  I wish I was better at the ROKU and the other options, I think I would get rid of cable and use that way more.  We are already mostly watching DVR'd shows, very little live TV. 

I have Netflix and Hulu and I plan on getting a ROKU for my HD set in my master bedroom.
But I still have not seen anything on either one of those services that would make me believe that I would be happy with them being my primary entertainment option.

Netflix has very limited new releases, and most of the time my movie search ends up being on DVD that they have to send me. Even older movies. I'm sorry but I thought they had a large streaming service of movies.

Hulu also is very limited with online content. I got it so I could catch up on Downton Abbey. Which I did. Right up to the end of the second season and the 3rd season is not available on Hulu and PBS has not rerun it since its debut in January.
Hulu will also redirect you to other websites that show series that they do not have rights to show, like Seinfeld and Falling Skies.

I also have a outside antenna and If I had to rely on just over the air programming. I would just turn back the clock and listen to the Radio by Candlelight.

There must be a lot of lousy installers doing the work for them here, 'cause I know of at least 14 installations, here and OKC, Norman and Moore where heavy rain ALWAYS fades out the signal.  Every time.  Many times more than 5 minutes, but depends on how long the heavy rain lasts (usually 5 or less).

Not a problem for me - I have the over the air antenna and a signal switch to go local when the rain comes.

I'm watching DirectTV right now, too.  Multi-tasking with internet surfing on an ATT wi-fi that has been horrible up until about a week ago, when suddenly it became stable and adequate.  Go figure....

Ok. Here is the review after a week.

The interface is better and faster than DirectTV.  It just seems more organized and easier to search or locate programs.  My 7yo already has the whole system figured out.

The ability to pause a movie and resume in another room is awesome!  We typically watch DVR shows and when daddy get's tired, he likes to move to the bed and resume.  Image quality is great, and I can't find anything to complain about from a video or sound perspective.

I have a pile of old coax in the garage now.  Was not aware of this when we signed up, but the boxes are all wireless, so there is no need to have a coax drop at every TV.  This has allowed us to add the kids TV upstairs in the game room without running cable, and relieved me from hearing Sponge Bob's laugh every 2 seconds coming from one of the living rooms.  I will probably add an additional box or two for the garage and pool, since I don't have to run cable. We have also gotten rid of the coax behind each TV and for me, one less wire is a step in the right direction.

We previously had our internet and phone through COX, and the UVerse internet is markedly faster for what is supposed to be a similar bandwidth.  We have cameras around the house that I can monitor from work, and under COX they were very jerky and slow on the refresh.  Since the switch, they have been like watching typical 30fps video, and they never drop frames.

Phone is phone, except that now our caller ID appears on all of the TVs every time the phone rings without having to have any additional wiring.  

Initially I was worried about the configurability of the network under their wireless device, but it was relatively easy and I was able to set up all my custom settings, security, and DMZ devices in about 10 minutes.

So far, so good, and it's saving me about $30 a month.

Have you actually gotten a bill yet to see if there's all the extra taxes and fees Grizzle mentioned?

We got AT&T internet after the first of the year through DTV at a discount.  Funny part is, now that AT&T has our info, they keep sending us an offer for a $200 rebate to sign up for Uverse.  Curious if DTV is aware they do this to the customers DTV brings them.

No bill yet, but I will report back.

I get an offer from DTV every 4-6 weeks asking me to come back with slightly varying offers each time.

My DSL may be phased out in favor of U-verse.  Just got this today:


Today, your high-speed Internet service is provided over our traditional broadband network. Our goal is to provide the best service possible. We're excited to tell you that we can provide you with a better internet experience by transitioning you to our advanced AT&T U-verse network with fiber-optic technology.¹
The change is free and you can keep your current speeds at a price that meets -or beats- your current price. However, you'll need new equipment for your service to work. The equipment will be provided FREE of charge so please contact us at our special transitioning number to make arrangements.

Your current AT&T Internet service will change to AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet service.

    You'll get our best price for the next 12 months
    We'll match or beat your current Internet speed2 at your current price or better. You can also take advantage of exclusive offers for speeds up to 24 Mbps.
    Your email addresses will remain the same
    Your monthly data plan will increase from 150 GB to 250 GB
    

¹ Fiber optics may apply to all or part of the network, depending on your location.

² AT&T High Speed Internet Customers who currently have a lower speed plan (768 kbps or 1.5 Mbps) will be moved to AT&T U-verse Pro (up to 3.0 Mbps) at the same or lower price than they are paying for their current AT&T High Speed Internet plan.

³ For new residential AT&T U-verse customers. Includes U300 TV with U-verse High Speed Internet Max Plus and U-verse Voice 250 with $61 off per month for 24 months. 12-month term required. An early termination fee of up to $180 may apply if U-verse TV is disconnected before end of term. After 24 months, standard rates apply unless cancelled by customer. Must maintain qualifying services for continued receipt of credit(s). Offer ends 1/25/14.

U-Verse has a data cap?

Since about 6 months before Cox started claiming they would enforce theirs. Lucky for me, Cox's data usage meter has never shown anywhere near what I really consume. ;)