ATT Uverse vs Cox Cable

[RecycleMichael]

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.

[DolfanBob]

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.

[swake]

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 .

[DolfanBob]

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.

[Gaspar]

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 .

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.

[DolfanBob]

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

[Gaspar]

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.

[rebound]

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.

[swake]

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?

[Conan71]

it would be nice to watch recorded shows in the bedroom. 

I'll report back on how it goes.

I prefer watching Spanktravision in the bedroom as well.

[rebound]

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.

[RecycleMichael]

I prefer watching Spanktravision in the bedroom as well.

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

[DolfanBob]

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. 

[Weatherdemon]

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.

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.

[Weatherdemon]

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.