Mark Tomlinson

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

AT&T UVerse

Well, they finally got the other HD TV in HD (component YPbR is a standard...) and phone, internet and wireless are working. The wireless coverage is NOT up to par so I'll be revisiting that on my own with some additional hardware. That is totally an issue of them choosing to mount the main unit in an out-of-the-way location. So I cancelled Dish and will call the UVerse switch a win. For less money I have more channels, more features and more bandwidth (with more to come as they continue to expand the infrastructure--100 MB is their goal) I think we are currently at 12. They are continuing to expand the backbone and range.

I *love* the way the phone and TV work (together) and the way the recorder works. Everything is stored dentrally and streamed to ***whatever*** device you want too watch it on AND the streams can move (on the fly) from one device to another (yes computers can work in this mix too). Their cable/TV pricing is much more aggressive than Dish and they are far friendlier in how they bundle channels making it cheaper to get the more popular ones.

A few notes:
(1) The installers vary wildly in experience/knowledge of non-ATT stuff. If you already have a network, be prepared to deal with that. We ended up going through 3 different ones. All smart, all professional, but not all with the same level of skill.
(2) You probably need to have newer HD TV equipment (HDMI preferred). Although their equipment supports component and may work.
(3) Keep after them if you have issues. DO not accept something not working.
(4) If you have your own network, you will need to be there to help with the install. The more complicated you existing network, the more likely you are to have issues. Their equipment only supports wireless G, not N so just be aware of that.