At&T U-Verse Sucks...................

[GG]

Anybody else having problems with AT&T U-Verse?   Internet is slow, the TV is Tiling, we have had technician after technician out to fix the problems and the problems keep coming back.   They have put filters on our system because we are too close to the ATT box. 

We have had co-axles replace.   Believe it or not, it seems to be a problem every time it rains.   

Tonight as well as the above problems I can receive e-mail but can't send them.   I get a message that says it need to be authenticated, what?  I've been sending e-mail for two years and now it needs authenticated?   I called the help line and it said because of high volume of calls there would be an extended wait.   I was on hold 30 minutes and my ADD kicked in. 

Is Cox doing the same thing?  I have Cox at work and have no problems.   My neighbor complains about Cox and asked us about AT&T U-Verse and we told him about our problems.    My wife thinks our house is wired wrong.   She is more techie than I am.   My techie son laughs at us, lot of help he is.   

Is there anyone out there with decent service???

[heironymouspasparagus]

No.  There is no one.

Guy I work with had Cox, changed to AT&T about 9 or 10 months ago, and is getting ready to change back after first of year.  It has been a mess for him, too.  Has had 3 or 4 technician visits, too.  Mediocre to bad service.  He says Cox was better - but didn't really like them very much either.  I know that I am sick of Cox, too.

[nathanm]

U-Verse works great if you're close to their VRAD and your boxes are all connected with Ethernet. If not, it might work great or it might not work very well at all. Cox is pretty much the same way. A bad connector once took out half the channels on my Cox service. They also have thus far been unable to make my latest CableCARD pair correctly. Luckily it doesn't matter in my case. I know Hoss has had no end of troubles with his Cox service lately.

[Ed W]

We've had Cox for years, and in all that time we've had trouble two or three times.  The worst was a continued problem with tiling, which means the signal is dropping out and the cable box does its best guess at filling in the blanks.  Doofus Number One showed up and said the problem was corrosion in some of the F connectors.  He put all new ones in place, and it worked for about 2 hours.  Doofus Two and Three showed up next, said it was probably the coax buried under the yard.  They did a song and dance and left quickly.  Finally, on a Sunday, a senior tech showed up and ran a piece of coax from the cable box to the distribution amplifier in a neighbor's yard.  Then he brought up a screen on the set that showed the error rate on the cable.  It was maxed out at 9999.  The problem was the distribution amp, not our coax, our set box, or any of the F connectors.  

This took about a month to sort out.

Here are a few things I've learned.  Check that your connectors are tight on the cable box, the television set, and any other points like a splitter that goes to other sets in the house.  Tiling and ghosts can come from bad connections or loose connections.  If a tech shows up, ask if he can check the coax with a time domain reflectometer.  If there are any discontinuities (shorts or opens) in the coax, the meter indicates just how far away they are.  Ask him to check the signal at the television set too.  If the cable box doesn't still support this (and it may not) he should have a hand held meter that can check it.

Finally, Cox has a customer service line that can be genuinely helpful when diagnosing a bad cable box.  They can flash the memory remotely, and if it doesn't work, it's a good indication that the box must be replaced.  It's tedious and time-consuming, of course, but it's still better than dealing with the cellular telephone people, and as we all know, ATT is just plain evil.  

[Hoss]

U-Verse works great if you're close to their VRAD and your boxes are all connected with Ethernet. If not, it might work great or it might not work very well at all. Cox is pretty much the same way. A bad connector once took out half the channels on my Cox service. They also have thus far been unable to make my latest CableCARD pair correctly. Luckily it doesn't matter in my case. I know Hoss has had no end of troubles with his Cox service lately.

Which was corrected with a replacement DOCSIS 3.0 eMTA (term that means a combo phone modem/data modem, since I have landline service with Cox as well).  You have to be diligent though and having some contacts on DSL Reports always helps.

[TheTed]

Uverse is still not available downtown.

And I'd put up with some decreased quality for more quantity of channels.

[Conan71]

Happy DirecTV customer here.

[Hoss]

Happy DirecTV customer here.

Until the storm and winds.

[Hoss]

Anybody else having problems with AT&T U-Verse?   Internet is slow, the TV is Tiling, we have had technician after technician out to fix the problems and the problems keep coming back.   They have put filters on our system because we are too close to the ATT box. 

We have had co-axles replace.   Believe it or not, it seems to be a problem every time it rains.   

Tonight as well as the above problems I can receive e-mail but can't send them.   I get a message that says it need to be authenticated, what?  I've been sending e-mail for two years and now it needs authenticated?   I called the help line and it said because of high volume of calls there would be an extended wait.   I was on hold 30 minutes and my ADD kicked in. 

Is Cox doing the same thing?  I have Cox at work and have no problems.   My neighbor complains about Cox and asked us about AT&T U-Verse and we told him about our problems.    My wife thinks our house is wired wrong.   She is more techie than I am.   My techie son laughs at us, lot of help he is.   

Is there anyone out there with decent service???

I've seen quite a few complaints on the UVerse forum on DSLR/BBR.  Someone claiming that a friend he has that works for UPS is packaging 50-60 Uverse returns a week (in a fairly large metro area, but that's still a few).

You might post in there to see if you can get any help.  I would have liked to have tried it, but they still don't offer it in my neighborhood.  As I stated earlier, new equipment has eased my internet problem, and a brand new firmware push to the set top boxes have also eased the issues with the whole home dvr I have with them.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/uverse

[Conan71]

Until the storm and winds.

Believe it or not, I've not had too many outages due to weather.  It happens, but not often enough that it's made me want to go back to Cox.

[AquaMan]

I just switched to U-Verse from Cox last week while you guys were jamming sausage down your pieholes.

Too early for definitive results. Wife hates it but she's not what you call an early adopter. Young tech savvy sons love it. Once I edited out such stellar channels as "The Bra Blowout Channel", "The Barbie Channel", etc which are really just infomercials dressed up as real channels, I am starting to like it. No technical problems to speak of so far. We live near downtown and our lines are all above ground and about two blocks from a box.

I really like the additional channel selection. I had to upgrade to the second level to get the ones I enjoy which was a surprise, but affordable. Now I can watch WWII documentaries on my bedroom TV while my wife watches old Seinfeld, Friends and How I met Your Mother reruns in another room. We have all enjoyed the Pause button that utilizes the DVR. Sadly, the sports channels still suck and require more money to get more games.

Keeping my fingers crossed since I cancel Cox today. I'll give it 6 months.

[DolfanBob]

Happy DirecTV customer here.

You da man Conan. When you guy's get tired of Cox and U-verse. Let me hook you up with DirecTV or Dish. We do both and now DirecTV bundles with all major phone services for your internet needs. 918-251-6002

[Hoss]

You da man Conan. When you guy's get tired of Cox and U-verse. Let me hook you up with DirecTV or Dish. We do both and now DirecTV bundles with all major phone services for your internet needs. 918-251-6002

Sorry DB, not interested.  Especially after some of the stuff my relatives have gone through with it.

[DolfanBob]

Sorry DB, not interested.  Especially after some of the stuff my relatives have gone through with it.

I wont deny that you can get bad installs and some bad CSR people. But the service is not like back in the day with the 18 inch dish and the lower powered satellite's. I have Direct and have had Dish and Cox. Direct gives me all the sports I can handle and 170 HD channels compared to Dish 140 and Cox 85.
If you are happy with your service and selection, by all means stay with it. Just good to know that there is other services and cable is not the only game in town.

[patric]

Blowing wind isnt going to cause problems with a properly-installed dish.
If you are having problems like that you need to have them clean up their bad install on their dime.

DirecTV usually picks up half the cost of a service call, but since you could argue that your problem is the result of an incomplete job there should be no charges on your end until the service is working as promised.