Anyone use AT&T U-verse?

Post by **Sylvus** » September 30, 2007, 3:24 pm

So my roommate and I are pretty disappointed in Comcast lately, mostly because they won't add the Big 10 Network. We've been looking into switching to a different Cable/ISP, and AT&T has been out installing stuff at our neighbor's house. I talked to the installation guy a little bit, and he gave me a brochure and I looked up stuff on the internet, and it looks pretty sweet. I think we could get 4 HD receivers (one with DVR, and they claim that their DVR can record 4 shows at once), every single movie channel there is and basically every channel in general short of the NFL Sunday ticket or specialized sports programming, and 6 Mbps DSL (I think that's supposed to be the same as Comcast's cablemodem) for like $40 less a month than we currently pay for less tv channels.

Anyone have any experience either way? Anything I should be wary of? I wasn't even aware of AT&T's television offerings until this week, so I was wondering if anyone else had it and could speak to how good it works.

Also, I've never used DSL, and the installer guy was saying something about how distance from the "hub" or whatever comes into play, but we're apparently like a few hundred yards from the central point thing in our area.

Should I switch?

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 30, 2007, 3:42 pm

Don't they use DirecTV for their television option in packages?

Fash · Post by **Fash** » September 30, 2007, 4:17 pm

My 2 cents. My opinion is that DSL sucks balls for a hard-core internetter... You're not going to miss that many games by not having the Big 10 Network (I'm kinda on comcasts side on this argument though i dont have all the facts) and it's not worth changing everything you have for it. I also believe they're lying by saying their DSL is as fast as a cable modem... Their MAX (6mbps) is what a comcast cable modem will actually get regularly (max 10mbps). I've never seen a DSL perform up to my standards.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » October 1, 2007, 2:06 am

My cousin is a an AT&T employee and has had it for a few months now. He and his wife are very happy with it (honest opinion). After experiencing it at their place a few times, I talked Xou into switching to it when he was at a breaking point with Time Warner (cocksucking) Cable. He'll probably chime in tomorrow with his opinions.

The knock on DSL speed (and the one Winnow will undoubtedly post tomorrow) is pretty moot imo. I can torrent and play WoW w/ ventrilo and various messengers open with no noticeable lag. For those of you that literally download Gigs of content a day, yeah you might take notice...but you should probably realize that you're the minority user, and quit expecting everyone to be as hardline as you.

Edit. Also Boog, I believe that in the old DSL/satellite packages they used DirecTV. This is an entirely different product.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 1, 2007, 3:06 am

DSL isn't a steady max speed from what i've gathered. Locations vary. With cable, my connection is always maxed 12.5Mbps.

If you can, I'd recommend testing out the DSL before committing. Grab a large file off giganews and keep an eye on Newsleecher's speed chart to see how it fairs over the course of an hour or two to get an idea of what to expect out of it.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » October 1, 2007, 8:27 am

Would you be getting a copper connection or fiber?

DSL isn't DSL isn't DSL anymore, depends on what's rolled out in your area. Just like cable plants can differ greatly from area to area. Also, raw speed isn't a good measure for value if the infrastructure in your area sucks, or you don't max it out on a consistent basis. I recently downgraded my data rate on FIOS to 10\2 for instance, yes it can go faster but the value wasn't there for me.

The AT&T TV offer looks pretty nice and seems reliable (disclaimer - I work for the integrator

). Like Verizon they're going out of their way to undercut the cable companies on channels and prices. The multi-service bundles available in some areas offer a good month to month savings, but you generally get stuck in a 1-2 year contract after the trial period.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 1, 2007, 8:37 am

Truant wrote:Edit. Also Boog, I believe that in the old DSL/satellite packages they used DirecTV. This is an entirely different product.

That's odd, because when I was searching their site over the weekend, DirecTV was all that would show up. I saw the U-Verse option today when I went to search though. They have GolTV in their Sports package! Now I want to know more about what others are experiencing with their service too.

*Edit* well, damn. I figured out why I was only seeing DirecTV. They don't have the U-Verse service available here yet. When I search just for Digital TV options, the U-Verse is listed. When I search for options in my zip code, DirecTV is there.

Post by **Sylvus** » October 1, 2007, 11:12 am

Aabidano wrote:Would you be getting a copper connection or fiber?

I've talked to a few different people, from a serviceman who was climbing the pole in our backyard to install/fix something, to a guy who worked as a contractor (I think) who was selling the service for AT&T through a local shop, and they have all said that everything in our area was upgraded to Fiber. And supposedly we're very close to the central office in our area.

They say they have a risk-free 30 day money-back guarantee, and our neighbor just signed up. I may see if I can piggyback on his network for a night to determine the speeds. I currently max out at 750k/s download on Newsleecher with a supposed 6-8Mbps connection from Comcast, so if it isn't too much lower than that, the decision is made up in my mind.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 1, 2007, 2:25 pm

I get steady max speed (6) on my DSL just fine. However I live downtown and not that far from the SBC (AT&T) office so that may have something to do with it. I'll be moving at the end of the month though so will see how things go then. I don't really want to have to switch providers as it'd be a major hassle to update all my email accounts everywhere.

Looks like that U-Verse thing may be available in the area where I'm moving as well so might look into that as well. It does have a 30 day money back guarantee though so you don't really have that much to lose.

Post by **Xouqoa** » October 1, 2007, 3:24 pm

Sylvus wrote:
Aabidano wrote:Would you be getting a copper connection or fiber?
I've talked to a few different people, from a serviceman who was climbing the pole in our backyard to install/fix something, to a guy who worked as a contractor (I think) who was selling the service for AT&T through a local shop, and they have all said that everything in our area was upgraded to Fiber. And supposedly we're very close to the central office in our area.

They say they have a risk-free 30 day money-back guarantee, and our neighbor just signed up. I may see if I can piggyback on his network for a night to determine the speeds. I currently max out at 750k/s download on Newsleecher with a supposed 6-8Mbps connection from Comcast, so if it isn't too much lower than that, the decision is made up in my mind.

I filled Sylvus in yesterday on IM about my thoughts, so I won't rehash all that. (Overall: Good)

There is FTTN and FTTP (Fiber To the Node / Fiber to the Premesis) -- as far as I know you don't get FTTP unless you live in a brand new area where houses are just being built. Most Uverse is FTTN, the node being the big VRAD boxes that sit outside neighborhoods. From there, the copper runs into your house. That's the way I'm set up.

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » October 1, 2007, 4:58 pm

Our cable provider (Wide Open West) just added the Big 10 Network, wuwu!

Truant · Post by **Truant** » October 1, 2007, 5:38 pm

Boogahz wrote:
Truant wrote:Edit. Also Boog, I believe that in the old DSL/satellite packages they used DirecTV. This is an entirely different product.
That's odd, because when I was searching their site over the weekend, DirecTV was all that would show up. I saw the U-Verse option today when I went to search though. They have GolTV in their Sports package! Now I want to know more about what others are experiencing with their service too.

*Edit* well, damn. I figured out why I was only seeing DirecTV. They don't have the U-Verse service available here yet. When I search just for Digital TV options, the U-Verse is listed. When I search for options in my zip code, DirecTV is there.

Yes it's only available in certain markets atm, but they're expanding right now.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » October 1, 2007, 7:12 pm

Xouqoa wrote:There is FTTN and FTTP (Fiber To the Node / Fiber to the Premesis) -- as far as I know you don't get FTTP unless you live in a brand new area where houses are just being built.

Depends on the market, all the major telcos have taking fiber to the prem on their radar, it puts them in a totally different regulatory environment than copper.

I'd imagine deals with all the local Govts have a lot to do with who gets what first. There are places around here that were completely bypassed by local fiber due to dunderheaded government. Runs right through the town, they can't get the service.

Kilap · Post by **Kilap** » November 5, 2007, 10:23 pm

Any updates on this? I'm getting quite fed up with Comcast myself and I know AT&T is newly available in my area. Also has anyone used AT&T's HD television and can comment on it?

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 5, 2007, 10:28 pm

http://www.uverseusers.com/

You have to register to get to anything but they have forums dedicated to specific locations along with general questions. Probably find a more knowledgeable crowd there than here when it comes to U-Verse.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » November 9, 2007, 12:29 am

It's also hard to answer a question as incredibly vague as 'any updates?'

They're expanding this service in a very big way and taking it to new markets. Is there anything specific you want/need to know?

The HD looks like HD if that's what you mean?

Post by **Xouqoa** » November 10, 2007, 1:57 am

The HD quality is pretty solid in my area, but you only get one stream. By that, I mean that if you have two HD sets in your house, you can only watch it on one at a time. Also, you can't watch an HD channel if you are currently recording one.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » November 10, 2007, 12:27 pm

Xouqoa wrote:Also, you can't watch an HD channel if you are currently recording one.

That sucks, but the more that I think about it...I never actually checked to see if I could with the Time Warner box I have.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » November 11, 2007, 7:48 pm

I was informed that they're doubling the HD stream capacity real soon.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » December 26, 2007, 1:36 pm

Yay, it is finally available in my neighborhood! I have no problem with switching my cable service to Uverse, but I am a bit wary of switching from RoadRunner to the Yahoo DSL that they offer. I have had very few issues with my cable connection after having it for so long.

Post by **Xouqoa** » December 27, 2007, 2:57 pm

I have had 0 downtime since switching to Uverse and their DSL package. I have the "pro" package for max speed, but it hasn't gone down except for maybe a few times and it was usually just for a software update and reboot. Way better than TWC, which was out for days at a time for me previously.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » December 27, 2007, 3:00 pm

Xouqoa wrote:I have had 0 downtime since switching to Uverse and their DSL package. I have the "pro" package for max speed, but it hasn't gone down except for maybe a few times and it was usually just for a software update and reboot. Way better than TWC, which was out for days at a time for me previously.

yeah, I am not sure what speed my connection is now. I remember that it was the fastest available originally, but I only recently saw that they had more "premium" speed choices available now. Also, the wiring in my complex sucks already. I know that AT&T has been doing a lot of work in the immediate area prior to rolling this out though.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » December 28, 2007, 1:27 am

For years I had cable, our small town in AR was one of the first to roll it out in the country back in 96 ( I had been beta testing since 94 ). Anyway about a year ago I got fed up with the oversubscription and cost ($60 per month for 2Mbps down 384 up) and went with the AT&T Dish Network bundle. Got the 6Mbps down 650k up and couldn't be happier. It's been much more stable than my cable and is MUCH faster than my mother-in-laws Comcast cable modem.

We have the America's Everything from Dish, while I don't watch much TV at least there is something on when I finally do have a chance. The DVR is great because I can record the shows I actually want to see.

I have had no problems playing any multiplayer games on the Internet and that is with 2 PCs logged into EQ, another downloading games on the other 2 PCs and my wife surfin' on her iPhone (in wi-fi mode)

Marb

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » December 28, 2007, 1:35 am

yeah, nature ruled dish services out for me. I can't really complain, because I love having nothing but trees and a creek off my balcony

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 17, 2008, 12:44 pm

U-Verse cabinets are exploding!!!!

4 have gone up already since the program started.

http://consumerist.com/345971/fourth-at ... -batteries

Make sure that if you have this, you're getting AT&T to replace those Li-ION batteries ASAP.

Oh, and Avestor, the company that made these backup batteries? Bankrupt in 2006.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 17, 2008, 12:56 pm

I think they finished their upgrades in my area about 4 months ago, which I hope means that there will be no new fireballs near my place.

Getting the uverse U400 package installed on the 29th

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 17, 2008, 1:20 pm

According to one of the AT&T people:

Currently we are using the VDSL1 profile which limits the bandwidth, but in the next few months ATT is switch the the all great VDSL2 which depending on your distance from the VRAD will greatly increase your bandwidth at your home. 2hd signals total of 6 streams, internet speeds of 10mbps download.

10mbps down will be nice!

I'm moving at the end of the month. U-Verse is available in the area but not sure I'm going with it as I'm not really a big tv watcher. Especially since you can get most programs from newsgroups with the commercials already removed!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 18, 2008, 6:22 pm

Just a note to those who may be considering U-Verse.. While arranging my phone/DSL service to be moved the salesman was pushing hard for me to get U-Verse as well (I didn't) and he did mention that starting March 1st there will be a connection charge which they aren't currently applying for new customers. I didn't ask him what it was but anything over free is too much! So if you've been putting it off you may not want to wait too long.

He also confirmed the upgrading of service to allow more than one HD signal at a time. That will be the first quarter this year at least for my area. I asked him about the increased DSL speed as well, as rumored above, but he claimed to have no knowledge of that.

Oh and I forgot to ask him about the exploding boxes.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 18, 2008, 6:42 pm

Did you make sure your new neighbors aren't noisy?

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 18, 2008, 6:51 pm

Aslanna wrote:Just a note to those who may be considering U-Verse.. While arranging my phone/DSL service to be moved the salesman was pushing hard for me to get U-Verse as well (I didn't) and he did mention that starting March 1st there will be a connection charge which they aren't currently applying for new customers. I didn't ask him what it was but anything over free is too much! So if you've been putting it off you may not want to wait too long.

are you talking about an installation fee? I believe that everything I have received in the mail states that the fee is "waived" if set up by a certain date. I think it is in mid-February.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 18, 2008, 7:24 pm

Boogahz wrote:are you talking about an installation fee? I believe that everything I have received in the mail states that the fee is "waived" if set up by a certain date. I think it is in mid-February.

I don't know. The guy said "Connection Charge". Could be an installation fee. And if that date is the end of February it probably is. I didn't receive anything in the mail just going on what the salesman was saying. Either way... The window to get it installed and not get charged, for one thing or another, is getting smaller. That's all I was trying to say!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 6, 2008, 8:34 pm

Let me start off by saying AT&T sucks!

After many attempts to get my DSL transferred after my move, originally scheduled 1/24, I finally caved in and went the U-Verse route. Installation is set for Feb 14th. The DSL group really doesn't seem to know what they are doing but honestly I'm going with the conspiracy theory route and saying they are telling people DSL isn't available at their location (and I know it is because the people I am renting from had DSL from AT&T) so that they will choose U-Verse instead which costs more as you have to get the TV package as well. Which I didn't want.

But after some manager prodding it turns out you can get the U-Verse internet by itself and not get the TV service with it but only if you're at a location where DSL isn't available. The only downside with that is that you'll get stuck with an installation charge if you don't get the TV service as well. So my plan is to get them both, which gets me free installation, and then call within 30 days to cancel just the TV portion thus negating the installation charges. Have to know how to work the system!

In the meantime still stuck with dialup. It's torture!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 6, 2008, 8:52 pm

Happy Valentines Day! U-verse is your 2/14 present!

Make sure there's no clause about being stuck with installation fee if you cancel within a certain time frame. If it's les than 30 days or something like that, you may as well keep the TV for a month.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 16, 2008, 1:39 pm

Oh.. AT&T still sucks.

Here's my brief story:

Installation was scheduled for an arrival time of 8:00-10:00 AM.

6:45 wake up and get ready just in case they actually show up at 8:00 (ha).

9:00 AM my phone service mysteriously died.

11:15 phone service mysteriously came back. A bit disgruntled at this point, due to no tech and no phone service so I couldn't call to ask where he/she was and also couldn't even use dial up, so I call up AT&T and after being on hold for 45 minutes or so I was told that the tech called at 11:00 and received no answer. I was like.. Of course there was no answer you guys killed my phone service! And why did he even need to call why not just show up like he was supposed to? So I asked to speak to a manager to get this done today as I had taken a day off of work for this very occasion. After about 10 minutes on hold the person asked if he could call back once he talked to someone and assured me he'd call back within 5 minutes. (Hint: If anyone from AT&T asks if they can call you back say NO and just remain on the line. Apparently they just say that to get rid of you so it's no longer their problem since they will never call back)

12:30 or so after waiting like an idiot for the call that would never come I called back asking what was going on. They again told me he received no answer when called and informed me that I'd have to reschedule. I lost it a bit here and said that was ridiculous and I wasn't going to reschedule and wanted to speak with a manager because I wanted someone out here today.. Now!. After awhile I was informed that they'd find a free technician and send them over.

1:15 someone from AT&T actually shows up and says he needs to go check the line to make sure that it would support the uverse service.

1:30 3 more AT&T people show up. Apparenly, as I found out later, this consisted of a junior level guy and two trainees, all from the Chicago region who were here for training as the Chicago region just went live. They go off and check more stuff and eventually become stumped as to how the place is wired. Apparently it uses a lot of splitters and such and the only direct feed (terminology may be wrong!) was the jack in the loft area.

4:30 the 2 trainees leave, due to not allowed overtime, and a senior guy shows up shortly after. He proceeds to inform me that due to the location of things, to get the TV service working downstairs in the living room, they'd have to go through the wall in the upper floor, put an outlet about 3 feet from the floor and then drill through the floor and run the cable all around the baseboard. I was like uh.. I'm just renting I don't really want to put holes in the middle of the wall.. I tell them you know what I don't really even want the TV service just get the internet working. He said that wouldn't be a problem and that they would call sales to have the IPTV service remove from billing and to also not have me charged for installation, which was the only reason I got the TV service anyway. He leaves the junior guy in charge and then leaves.

7:00 pm junior guy can't get internet service working and says they'll have to come back tomorrow and they'd bring more people. He also proposed a crazy wiring scheme of through the garage, up into the bedroom and running along the baseboard because the 'existing wiring was junk'. He also said he'd call first thing in the morning. (ooo foreshadowing!)

8:00Am the next day. Up and ready waiting. Hmm no call at 8:30 like he said. 9:00. 10:00.. 11:00.. No call no show. Getting a bit disgruntled at this point as he said it would be a priority for them to finish and I needed internet service by 2PM due to remote maintenance I had to do. Start looking at Comcast ads.. Hmm $59 a month for cable/internet for 12 months. That's not sounding too bad at this point!

11:15 the senior guy from the previous day shows up alone. He basically checks the outside stuff and lets me know that he found some problems that the junior guy from yesterday should have fixed. So he proceeds to fix those and comes back about an hour later. Gets signal at the jack after testing and connects the RG (remote gateway I assume) and finally my intranets blaze into life. While waiting on updates and stuff I ask him how good my line is. He says it's hitting nearly 46Mbps. That's shared amongst the TV service and the internet and of course they throttle the internet down so that you can only use up to the limit. I went with the 6 as the 10 is $54 a month which I felt was too much. But it does go to show that DSL (VDSL) doesn't have to be a turtle if you're in areas that utilize that technology as opposed to ADSL. Either way I tell him that once Comcast starts pushing out service based on DOCSIS 3 standard I'd probably switch. That stuff is speedy! Of course I'd rather have FiOS but that's not available anywhere in my area. I also mentioned my conspiracy theory about AT&T telling me DSL wasn't available so that they could push the more expensive U-verse service and he agreed, off the record of course, that it wasn't that far fetched or a theory. I also asked if any VRADs (think that's what they are called) had exploded lately and he laughed and said that would be cool but as long as he wasn't there at the time.

12:45 he leaves after once again assuring me that they'd have the TV service cancelled and that I wouldn't get charged for installation. However I'll believe that when it doesn't happen. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time on hold with AT&T trying to get those charges off my next bill when it arrives.

Anyway, after more than 3 weeks from when my DSL was originally supposed to be transferred I'm finally up and running. But without the U-verse TV service. I kinda did want to give that a try really especially as it is free for 30 days. He could have left one box upstairs but I felt that would end up being pointless if I did end up wanting to use the service as I couldn't easily get it at the location in the living room.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 16, 2008, 6:03 pm

Cable/Phone companies seem to care less about people having to take a day off from work. It's good that you kept calling. When I was having trouble with my cable internet connection, my assigned service rep promised to call me with updates four separate times and never called once.

Aslanna wrote:I lost it a bit here and said that was ridiculous and I wasn't going to reschedule and wanted to speak with a manager because I wanted someone out here today.. Now!. After awhile I was informed that they'd find a free technician and send them over.

Sounds like you laid down the law!

When dealing with these companies, I find that a nice but very persistent approach works well. It helps when you have half a clue about what they're doing which you made apparent by dropping all of those comments on him. I know my cable rep was ready to give up and leave until I presented him with all sorts of benchmark/web monitoring tools as his simple little test showed nothing wrong while me having the statistics up on my computer and being able to demonstrate the problem real time kept him involved. I was also able to get the insider infoz that my 12Mbps might be going to 30Mbps in less than a year as he explained how their cable upgrades were progressing.

Moral: call early, call often!

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 16, 2008, 6:41 pm

Wow, my experience wasn't quite that bad. I have had to have service techs come out twice so far though. Random disconnects are going to really piss me off if they continue to occur though.

The first visit happened right at the designated start time.

The second visit was about 20 minutes early, but the guy called and asked if it was okay if we showed up early. I was his last stop of the day on a Saturday afternoon, and we had plenty to chat about since he was a gamer too.

The last visit I had actually showed up four hours early after calling. I laughed when I started to get pissed that he was early though. They told me that a 10am Sunday appointment was available, but I knew that I would be watching a soccer game that would be on (go FCBayern!). He was here to replace the DVR which went down (seemed to be a common occurence), so my living room tv was out of service for a few hours. I ended up having to watch the game in the bedroom (at least they gave me more than one box!), and run back and forth when the phone support people called back to walk me through rebooting and updating the DVR. At least the guy that called was a soccer fan too, so he understood that there were no commercial breaks to do it, lol.

Overall, I am not impressed with the internet service at all. I would just reconnect my cable modem, but the fucking install tech used MY ethernet cable to go into the wall near the tv box, so I do not have access to one that will reach from the cable modem to the router anymore

The television service is pretty nice for the price (around here at least). The online DVR controls have helped me when I remember something that I wanted to record at the last minute. One tv gripe I have though, is that there is some MAJOR lag between pressing buttons on the remote and the box recognizing them. I also had to turn the living room box about 40º in order for it to (sometimes) pick up the remote's signal.

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » February 19, 2008, 12:20 am

It pays to be a fucking asshole over the phone. I verbally raped the customer service people both at the Time Warner office and over the phone. Thanks to 8 visits in 10 days (seriously), I enjoy free dvr and get every channel for the cost of hbo. No installation charges and I get two months free in April and September. My cable bill runs just over 100 dollars for being 'fully loaded'.

Post by **Sylvus** » February 27, 2008, 5:42 pm

We hadn't yet switched to U-verse, but it is coming soon.

I was in Florida the last ~5 days, and our Comcast had been progressively more and more unreliable, so my roommate called to complain. Someone came out for 2.5 hrs and said he could find nothing wrong with it. Oh, and comcast upped our bill $65 a month so it was $225/mo. My roommate got pissed and cancelled all our pay channels in an effort to get them to lower our bill. They didn't, so now we don't even have HBO when I got back into town. There are like 2 or 3 episodes of The Wire until the series is over for good, and now I no longer get HBO. :S

I think we'll be ordering U-verse for sure in the next few days.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 27, 2008, 5:57 pm

Sylvus wrote:There are like 2 or 3 episodes of The Wire until the series is over for good, and now I no longer get HBO. :S

Usenet should provide coverage for those episodes! $225 a month for cable/internet is insane even if that is a lot of pay channels.

Hope your U-verse experience goes better than mine. I haven't had any internet problems since they actually got it installed. And it's actually a little fater than the same speed (6) ADSL I had. Transfer rates were about 620kbps before. I get about 680 now. Guessing that's because the actual rate is much higher they are just capping it as before it was running as fast as it could. I assume. I don't know all the technical details!

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » July 7, 2008, 8:51 pm

Bump up!

Is this worth getting? I'm sick of TW cable and the fact that there is no Big Ten Network on the horizon pisses me off so I am plotting on making the switch.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 7, 2008, 9:48 pm

I'm loving it

My issue was eventually resolved once they fixed the ground on a line outside

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » July 20, 2008, 3:49 pm

Tentatively signed up to transfer from WOW to U-Verse, but may still cancel as it doesn't look like they have my daughter's favorite channel except on the totally gimp lineup. They take it away when you add more channels, go figure.

How are their Usenet servers? Not one person I talked to even knew what Usenet was, but saw it mentioned in their TOS.

Promo is free TV package for the first month, no install fee, and a $150 VISA gift card and a rate lock for 5 years..

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 20, 2008, 5:57 pm

What channel do you lose with the broader channel packages? As far as I can see, I don't lose any.

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » July 20, 2008, 7:28 pm

PBS Kids Sprout is in the U-Family Package, but it's dropped from U-200.

Any word on USENET?

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 20, 2008, 9:56 pm

hmm, I have the U-400 package, and it is on channel 337. The channel guide indicates that those channels from the Family package which are taken out are specifically not in either the U100 or U200 packages for some reason.

No experience with USENET in years, and have not felt the need to use it lately.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 20, 2008, 10:23 pm

Depends.. What are you looking for? If it's binaries good luck finding any large ISP with a decent selection and retention rate. You're better off spending the $15 a month on a third-party provider. I know SBC (now AT&T) used to have usenet servers but the newsgroup selection was poor and the completion rate was horrendous so it was useless for binaries. The text groups were fine for the most part. I'm not sure if they still have them now though. But honestly it wouldn't be a big loss so I repeat my earlier advice; Locate and use a third-party provider.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 20, 2008, 11:35 pm

My ISP Cox has newsgroups. They have a decent amount but not all. The also only have 3 days retention and that 3 days is shoddy completion most of the time. They also limit you to 300kb/sec.

Giganews has 240 days of 99%+ completion rate and I can download at 15Mbps most of the time with busy times dropping me into the 8Mbps range at worst for the most part.

Giganews combined with Newsleecher/Supersearch is the best entertainment value of all mediums except maybe an old fashioned book.

Find other places to be stingy. This is one area that doesn't justify penny pinching. You have any music, movies, TV Series, Games, books (both eBooks and audio), and images available, posted within the last eight months with an easy way to locate what you want. That's got to be worth $12.99/month ($16 with $3/month Newsleecher sub). It's worth $30/month to me and I'm sure I'd pay more if I had to.

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » July 21, 2008, 9:35 am

Time Warner and WOW have (HAD in the case of TW...) decent USENET servers. All I tend to use them for is RPGs (usually just getting a copy of something I have in book form so I can hack bits and pieces from them into a word doc for use at the tabletop instead of having to lug the books around), comics, and rarely some show I missed.

So yeah, it's the one kids channel and Fox Business (my wife likes it), so probably going to cancel the installation today unless they offer me some sort of free upgrade. I have all those channels on WOW Digital Extended for about the same price, so aside from locking in the rate for 5 years, all I'd have to show to my family is taking away a DVR (we have two now) and two channels they like, so that doesn't fly.

I'm not unhappy with WOW, so it doesn't bother me overmuch. Maybe I can use this to beat WOW up and lock my introductory rate for another year or something (they already did that once when we added the second DVR).

EDIT: I had Giganews once and it is good. I just can't justify $15/mo for something that should come from my ISP as part of a basic service offering. I don't use it that much.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 21, 2008, 9:48 am

WOW is not around here, so I have no idea how they compare. I think those channels are in the U-300 package, how does it compare to the package you had before?

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » July 21, 2008, 10:14 am

U-200 is comparable to what I have now except it adds a few we're interested in, but takes away some my family considers essential. U-300 would cover us, but I'm not sure I want to pay extra for it (i.e. more than I'm paying now) as the extra movie channels etc are shit we don't need.

I was hoping it would be better speed than either of the two cable providers. Speedtest shows TW to be faster on average than WOW here in Hilliard (U-Verse is new, so isn't listed for comparison), but neither are anything to write home about.