ATT Uverse vs Time Warner? (costs, discounts, install)

[bld44]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

In some areas TWC has faster options but you are also on a cable modem, so your peak speed will be affected by your neighborhood usage.
AT&T is DSL via Uverse which is "technically" fiber to the neighborhood (and home in some places) but it's underutilized for the time being.

Uverse will be affected by neighborhood usage as well in a lot of cases (after all, you are sharing all of the bandwidth coming into the neighborhood node).

In my experience the compression that uverse uses is very high, resulting in substantially worse picture quality than TW.

[Gorfml]

worst thing about time warner are their super slow cable boxes. 5-10 seconds to change a channel unless we reboot all the time...TW tells us that's normal...

[tourbound129]

Internet availability and speed with Uverse will be determined by your distance from the node. Don't believe what their website tells you or what they tell you on the phone about your availability/speed options. A while back I was going to sign up with them because the website said it was available. Set up an appointment and got a 1-5 window. Sat around all day waiting and finally got a knock on the door. The tech said he was sorry but my house was to far from the node. He told me he knew as soon as he punched my address into his GPS on the way to my house that it might be an issue. I was over 500 feet to far from the node. So I waited all day for nothing. I called ATT customer service and kept asking for a supervisor until they wouldn't send me any higher. I then proceeded to rip that supervisor a new one until I ran out of words. Lets just say they probably won't be using that recorded call for training.

They lost any chance of me signing up with them for anything and I will never positively refer them to anyone. They have lost multiple people in my neighborhood just from this situation that I had.

[Aquitaine]

Uverse will be affected by neighborhood usage as well in a lot of cases (after all, you are sharing all of the bandwidth coming into the neighborhood node).

It should not be. You are not 'sharing' it the way a cable connection shares it.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

worst thing about time warner are their super slow cable boxes. 5-10 seconds to change a channel unless we reboot all the time...TW tells us that's normal...

Just curious if you still have one of the older Scientific Atlanta Exlporer 8300HD boxes or if you have one of the newer Samsung or Cisco boxes? I've been with Uverse for the past 3 years or so and only switched because of the poor quality DVR boxes that Time Warner provided at the time. Otherwise, I've been equally happy with the service of Time Warner and ATT Uverse. I've heard that Time Warner has finally updated their DVRs now and would consider switching back of the promotional price was right along with updated DVR boxes.

[robino2001]

Originally Posted by Rakin

I have Uverse and after about 2 years they just jacked up my prices. I called this week and said they had 1 chance to lower my bill before they lose me as a customer.

She lowered it below my original price and said it was good for 6 months. I said not good enough I want 12 months and she gave it to me.

So their price increase cost them more that what I had been paying.

Negotiate.

Do the dance... I've done it every 6 months for 4+ years now (actually need to call tomorrow...). When the automated system answers, say cancel my account and go from there - it's amazing how quickly someone answers/how short the wait is when you threaten to cancel. Do this with almost any/all utilities or services... cell phones, satellite radio (I pay $2 a month for satellite radio), electric - anyone where you have options.

[robino2001]

Originally Posted by mark311

Just curious if you still have one of the older Scientific Atlanta Exlporer 8300HD boxes or if you have one of the newer Samsung or Cisco boxes? I've been with Uverse for the past 3 years or so and only switched because of the poor quality DVR boxes that Time Warner provided at the time. Otherwise, I've been equally happy with the service of Time Warner and ATT Uverse. I've heard that Time Warner has finally updated their DVRs now and would consider switching back of the promotional price was right along with updated DVR boxes.

To my knowledge (not a TW customer anymore, but have seen some others service recently since update)... the software/interface is still the same horribly slow/painful interface and in many aspects the update was said to have taken a step backward in that front - even with the new boxes. I know I want to hurt myself whenever I try to use the box/guide/etc when visiting my parents. Simply my thought/opinion though.

[supernaut112]

Everyone's experience will be different. I live in West Austin. I used to have TW, and it was extremely unreliable. My internet connection dropped frequently, and man, was it ever s-l-o-w. Once I switched over to U-verse, I had no problems whatsoever. The service is rock solid. Unfortunately, the only way to find out what's best for you is by trial and error.

[Trainwreck20]

I have had both and am currently with AT&T. I am not going to try and sell you one or the other, because I think it is very location specific. We had issues with the reliability with TW - it seems every few weeks we had an outage for an hour or so. Not a huge deal, but annoying. AT&T has been more reliable, but for all I know, TW is more reliable now, too.

The UVerse remote and menu system is excellent....except for the slight delay in processing the last button push when you go from one option to another. Usually just a second (enough to notice) but sometimes several (3 or 4 seconds) - enough to get annoyed. OTOH, it is very easy to use and I wouldn't trade the system.

[camelian]

Like others have said, it's all about where you are.
I used to live in an older 80s-ish apartment in West Campus and subscribed to ATT Uverse
It was TERRIBLE. For days at a time it would be great and pretty speedy. Then all of a sudden the modem would have trouble connecting and internet would be down for hours at a time, usually when you need it the most. The worst part was that it was never predictable. The first few times the service guys came out it would work fine so there was nothing they could do. Then it would finally act up when they came. They tried everything but ended up stumped and pretty much said there was nothing they could do. The entire year I was there, I would never know if I would have internet service that day or not

I now have TWC and live in a house built in 2006. I've only had the internet go out once in the 7 months I've been here and if I recall correctly it was during a storm and I ultimately had to get the modem replaced. The price magically increased after the so-called "free promos" were over so I would definitely shy away from those. But given a choice between shotty service and more expensive but reliable service, I'd chose the latter. I bet ATT does the same thing with pricing anyway