A Review of AT&T Universe (Uverse)
Posted on July 21, 2009
Filed Under HDTV, Tips, gadgets |
When I learned that our deal with Comcast Triple Play was up (and the monthly bill went to over $190), I decided that we needed to switch. But before I did that, I gave Comcast a chance to give me a new deal, but the customer care reps denied, and happily allowed to cancel my contract. Kind of strange if you ask me in this down economy.
The clincher for me to switch to AT&T Uverse was that I got $350 cash back and no contract committments! The website states about $250 cash back, but one of the reps I called stated that you can get an additional $100 cash back for switching internet service from Comcast. I haven’t yet applied for the cash back, but I think it should go through fine (need to wait about a month).
Installation went pretty smoothly, although it did take about 4 hours for 1 HDTV, internet and phone. The installed did have to run CAT-5 cable from the telephone box to the place where I wanted to install the router inside our home. He ran the cables outside the house, leaving them exposed, although I think he did a pretty good job overall.
He set up the AT&T wireless router, which negated the use of my Linksys box, and hooked up my cordless phone to it. My old telephone number and the router worked fine, although I did have to set up my computers to use a different network and WEP code. Not a big deal at all.
The set top box with HD DVR set up went smoothly as well - the 1st one worked (Unlike comcast which has to swap out 6 boxes before they could get one to work right!) Uverse is capable of 1080i for HD, although the installed said that AT&T is set up for 1080p and they may roll that out later. By the way, the DVR is capable of recording 4 SD shows, or 2 SD and 1 HD, or 2 HD shows simultaneously.
As compared to Comcast, the Uverse Set top box is much better, with a nice interface. I believe the interface is designed by Microsoft, but it looks nice and is responsive. Happily the DVR doesn’t have the quirks of the comcast box - that is definitely a nice change! HD quality is good, and I would say it is very close to the quality of Comcast, although you can see some pixelation on a few channels; although I haven’t seen it recently. There is a lot of HD content in the U200 package that we picked, and all of our favorite channels are available. I got free Showtime and TMC too, but I’m not sure I remember signing up for these… I may have to cancel those channels if they show up on my first bill. SD doesn’t look great, but then again I hardly watch SD anymore. I was concerned about the video-on-demand (VOD) aspect, particulary for childrens shows. It doesn’t have as much content as Comcast, but I would say it is good enough. The kids will be entertained. Overall, I’m happy with the TV.
Internet speed and service is fine so far. Speed testing showsn 3MB/S down and about 1MB/s up. This is fine for us, including VNC’ing into my office and running graphical apps across the VNC connection. The telephone is also very clear, and the U200 package also includes unlimited local long distance - very useful in the Bay area where we have so many different area codes.
A few other cool items
- You can place phone calls from your TV
- Weather, stocks, etc.
- Some kind of photo sharing
- Free wifi access in all AT&T hotspot locations (including Starbucks)
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I just switched to AT&T Uverse…and they really have an awesome packages. I even got a rebate. I guess competition really brings something good to the consumers…BETTER OFFERS…