Uverse issues (San Antonio, Anton: broker, how much, house)

[wCat]

Sorry if this is a repeat topic, but I've been away for a while.

We recently bundled AT&T home phone, UVerse and Internet. We already had AT&T phone and Internet, so this seemed to be a no brainer. It's only been a month, and the UVerse service has been horrible. The channel choices are better, other minor things are better, but we cannot get through a day without screen freezes or just having the signal lock up. Three TV's and it happens to to each of them at separate times and sometimes all at once. Our previously great AT&T Internet service has also had issues with losing the service more frequently. We've had them out here twice which seemed to fix the problem ....only for it to start again before the day it over.[

Is anyone else having issues with UVerse? One more service call and we're canceling. This should not be this much trouble.

BTW-Our first bill was UNBELIEVABLE! It was triple with all these ridiculous charges that were supposedly one time fees. I called immediately and told them to cancel on the basis of that bill. The agent tried to explain falling on deaf ears. I got sent up a few tiers and that agent not only reduced that bill by over half, but also reduced our regular monthly bill to keep us as customers. UGH.....utility companies ......pfffftt!

[budjb]

AT&T and Uverse fails.

Some of my in-laws got Uverse, and they ended up only getting a subset of the local channels. That's weak.

Anyway, I hope you get your freezing issues resolved!

[ggeorgie]

We experienced the freezing issues and it was because of a weak signal. The installer came out and increased signal strength at the main box a block away. Our first bill had no issues at all; it may because you might have gone through a broker who sells the service instead of ATT directly. I found out that that does happen.
Since then, we have had no issues and do enjoy the service.

[Newk]

How much per month for all three?

[wCat]

We talked directly to AT&T....no broker.

Thank you for the tip on signal strength. The agent I talked to this morning instructed us to unplug the receiver on all the TV sets once a month. I told him that moving furniture was involved and if that was AT&T's answer then we were canceling. Are there really people that stupid to pay a good sum of money to fall for that kind of response? We now have a technician coming back tomorrow......last chance for AT&T.

[rd2007]

I've had chronic freezing problems as well and the bill just randomly went up $20 this month. I'll be calling them when I get back and I'll mention they cut your bill in half. That would be really nice..
As far as their "solution", I can stand it when they do that and then they have the nerve to look at you like they can't believe you don't like their cure. How can that possibly make sense to anyone with an IQ higher than a brick?

[ged_782]

If you have a weak signal due to distance from the node (light green box probably within a few blocks of your house), they may not be able to improve the signal strength. Distance is measured as cable length, and may be significantly longer than physical distance.

I gave U-verse a try a couple of years ago, and it was great when it worked, but I experienced intermittent dropouts & outages. After several technician visits over an eight month period, I finally canceled, and went back to DSL. The technicians were showing my distance to be 3000', which they said was the maximum distance at which service could be provisioned. I found out later, that my neighbor two doors down had tried to get U-verse, but failed the signal test when the installer came out, so service had to be denied.

I would say give the techs one more chance, and ask them if they can tell you what your cable loop length (distance) is.

Originally Posted by budjb

Some of my in-laws got Uverse, and they ended up only getting a subset of the local channels. That's weak.

If you mean they only got major stations, like the local CBS, ABC, PBS, but not the subchannels, that is actually pretty typical. In San Antonio, I think the only way to get all the local stations is with an antenna, although Time Warner also carries most of them. You won't get any of the local San Antonio subchannels with U-verse, Dish Network, or DirecTV, just the main channels.

[Julie1226]

We absolutely hate Uverse. Our internet works great, but TV is a huge FAIL! WE have been here 3 years and are constantly calling Uverse to come out. I have had all the boxes replaced SEVERAL times. Three times we have woken up to having all of our saved shows (50+) just GONE on the DVR. It freezes constantly, especially if you use the pause more than 2 minutes. I even escalated my problems to the corporate office which took them WEEKS to deal with.

We are moving next month, and I can't WAIT to get rid of Uverse.

[budjb]

If you mean they only got major stations, like the local CBS, ABC, PBS, but not the subchannels, that is actually pretty typical. In San Antonio, I think the only way to get all the local stations is with an antenna, although Time Warner also carries most of them. You won't get any of the local San Antonio subchannels with U-verse, Dish Network, or DirecTV, just the main channels.

Thinking about it a bit more, I said it wrong. They only got a subset of local channels (the big names you listed) in HD, and they have the HD package. I've got Dish and every major local is in HD. Guess it all depends on what you watch but not having locals in HD is a big deal breaker for me.

[DexterCat]

when i tech'd at ATT, freezing was the #1 issue for uverse. funny to see it still is.

that being said, my awesome mother in law has uverse. my wife and i had to stay with her for a month while the house were in now was being prepped and the previous tenant was moving her stuff out. mother in law has uverse tv/inet/phone.

no problems whatsoever. picture is nice and clear, no freezing, no outages on the internet side (uverse is IPTV so if you're using all your internet bandwidth, theres a small chance it could impact the TV side of it. or, if your RG is bad, that can also cause freezes)

upping the signal strength at the DSLAM or NID wont do much if your lines are bad or are at the max supported distance for service (it was 2500 when i tech'd at att).

ps - the 'light green box' is called your DSLAM, the one outside your house is called the NID