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Review by btomlin75 
UPDATED: 23 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 822 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Mobile,Mobile,AL
 $160 per month
 about 21 days
 "TV is very good"
 "weak STB remote, still waiting for voip install"
 "currently pleased"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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My install was scheduled for AM on 9/05/09, and at 8:15 the outside lineman called and had started his testing. At 8:30 he was at my house and pulling new wire in and installing a new nid. At 8:45 the inside tech call and was at my house by 9:00. I had cat5 cable run to my stb and computer locations so once the lines were tested and my dsl ported the set up took very little time. Everything was up and running by 11:30. Both techs were extremely polite and efficent. Once up the tv feed was good and the VDSL was fast. Picture from u-verse is much sharper than the cable that I had. The guide and menu screens are more resonsive and the start up time is quick.
It has been two weeks since I got started with u-verse and I am overall very pleased. As with any technology there are some minor problems but the good picture quality and the fast internet outweigh the problems.
Issues:
1. I ordered my set up 1 day before they made voip available and nothing on the web said it would be available nor did the service rep when I called in for setup. Very poor on AT&T's part, I would have waited 1 day to get it all installed at once. The inside installer did set up the order for voip and installed the battery back up when I talked to him about it.
2. 2wire RG is not the best configured gateway, dns tracking is very slow, the unit is constantly polling the network for who knows what.
3. STB remotes have very little range, in fact anything but direct line of site renders the remote useless.
4. STB sound output - they offer 5.1 Dolby and it works with digital to amp but when you set it to 5.1 it kills any output to hdmi or regular stereo feed. Even Comcast unit feed regular and 5.1 simultaneously.
5. Pixalation and studdering on sports shows. I am not sure that this is as much a problem with the signal to the RG as much as it is a problem with how many times the transmission gets swithced before I see it. As the problem shows up more on local channel HD sports show (CBS here is very bad on sports thru u-verse), I am of the opinion that it makes too many stops before I see it and is open to too many variables along the way. I had instances like this with cable service also but not as frequent.
6. Back to the sluggish responsivenss from the RG on internet surfing. It takes too long from the time you enter an address until the page starts loading. It is really bad with IE but it shows up in Firefox and Safari also. This needs to be addressed by 2wire and fixed.
As I said earlier, so far my wife and I are pleased with the service and once everything is in place we will go to dinner on the $60.00 a month we are saving. I will update after I get voip next month.
10/09/09
Finally got my VOIP installed. Install went smooth and system is working fine.
Good stuff: After 1 month I am still pleased with the TV end. I did have a problem with one of my stb's locking an hd stream but after a reset I think I have that problem corrected. DVR works as claimed and except for some pixelation on HD sports from and only from live network feeds (probably due to having to many switches between the live feed and the final delivery) all the channels have good pictures. Internet speeds are close to advertised.
Bad stuff: Latency is very badddd always above 150 ms and as high as 250 ms. ATT really needs to address this as it makes page loads slow. It doesn't effect large downloads but it slows general surfing.
11/05/09
Well I guess someone at U-verse read one of my post on latency. I now get pings between 40 ms and 70 ms. This is not as good as I would like but it sure beats pings above 200 ms. I guess it helps when your IP address is hosted in the same city as your location. Other than a slight billing problem, everything is as advertised.
Followup comments:  caseywor
join:2004-04-19
Mobile, AL
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Southeast
| another Mobile U-verse review Hey.....I am glad to see another reviewer in Mobile. It is interesting to see that you see the HD quality as better than Comcast. I think that can be a big selling point in this area. I live in Mediacom's service area, I am sure it is better HD than theirs as well. AT&T for sure has the better channel selection in HD and SD than any cable provider. I switched over from DirecTV, and I think DirecTV has the slightly better picture quality, but I am liking other aspects better, box functionality, DVR, etc. Have fun. I am really liking the U-verse voice as well, I ordered the service the first day they started selling voice, it really works well. | |
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ladybug
@bishop.edu
| Re: another Mobile U-verse review I have read the entire conversation from all Mobilians. Thanks for the insight on the service. I am scheduled to have my services installed on Saturday (Sep 26) and am very anxious! Just before leaving for work this morning the guy came by to check for signals so that the installers will be ready for Saturday's installation.
Much valuable information has been shared in this conversation and I will certainly refer to them during conversations with the installers.
Thanks again!!  | |
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duvalgirl
@bellsouth.net
| I love it My U-Verse was installed about 2 months ago and I am very pleased about it, I have referred all my friends to ATT, the cost is good and I can record on all TV's this is the real deal. | |
| caseywor
join:2004-04-19
Mobile, AL | Latency I would have them check that out for you for sure. I have been spot checking via speedtest.net, and haven't seen any quite that high. So far, I am still loving the service. The TV is especially pleasing to me, although the remote could be better. | |
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