I want to say '3'

1/9/2009 4:16:23 PM

Quote :

"this must be the most spotty coverage of service that exist's... I cant locate one damn address in Cary that has service. Has anyone found a map of coverage yet?"

On my neighborhood forum, someone that is getting the service said that AT&T is starting with existing phone subscribers. I guess the lines are already laid from the curb and all they have to do is install the boxes on the house. I put my address in the finder, no dice.

1/9/2009 5:08:39 PM

If evan comes back in here saying that he hasn't had any TV broadcast problems in the last month, then I'm going to order it for my house. That 18 down / 1.5 up sounds like a hell of a package.

Evan, does the the U200 package contain any video on demand features? if so, how fast do they load and how responsive are the DVR controls on them?

[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 5:55 PM. Reason : I live in Cary, and it says I'm eligible]

1/9/2009 5:53:53 PM

Quote :

"what's the verdict evan? yay or nay? It seems like a yay at least for the internet."

well, it went down this morning and no one can figure out why. i'm willing to accept a few problems - after all, we were install number 32 for the entire triangle region so i bet they're still working out some kinks. they scheduled an appointment for tomorrow at 10am to get someone out here to fix it though, so at least they're quick about it.

i was extremely impressed with the service as a whole last night when i was playing around with it, however. the UI is extremely polished (dare I say I like it better than TiVo?) and everything was extremely responsive and worked just like I anticipated.

assuming these random service interruptions are just an artifact of being the first people that got U-verse installed on the VRAD in my neighborhood (we were also apparently the first people to order the 18/1.5 internet service as well, according to the install tech), i'd definitely give it two thumbs way, way up.

Quote :

"What about the cable? What is the HD service like? More HD channels than TWC?"

the cable is AWESOME. HD is not even close to being as compressed as TWC had it... the HD channels just look SO much better. way more HD than TWC. we even get shit like QVC in HD, haha. i'll scan in a copy of the channel lineup if anyone wants to see it.

channel changing is literally instantaneous. as soon as you press the channel up button, you have video of the new channel, no lag whatsoever like with TWC digital. the guide window is really cool too - it shows you a small image of what's currently playing on that channel so you can, for instance, see if a show is back from commercial yet or not. the UI is translucent so you can sort of see the channel video behind it and you can hear the audio so you won't miss anything if you're poking around the guide.

the ONLY thing i have to complain about is that you can only get 1 "true" DVR. the other STBs are essentially slaves. they can play things that were recorded on the main DVR, but the boxes themselves can't pause live TV or rewind or anything like that. you also can't schedule recordings from them.

i was told by the person i talked to in customer support today that the above features (pause/rewind/etc on the slave STBs and scheduling on the slave STBs) are currently in development and will be provided in a software update that's coming shortly. they released the software (called Total Home DVR) as it is right now because they just wanted to get it to market, apparently. i'm willing to live with it as is until they release it... that's how much better i like it over TWC, haha.

Quote :

"I have soooooo many questions because I'm so excited (and jealous)."

feel free to ask anything you'd like

Quote :

"If evan comes back in here saying that he hasn't had any TV broadcast problems in the last month, then I'm going to order it for my house. That 18 down / 1.5 up sounds like a hell of a package."

well, i've only had it for a day now, but i'll let you know if my opinion has changed at the end of january. so far, i'm quite impressed with the service, if that tells you anything. at the very least, it's a HUGE improvement over TWC.

Quote :

"Evan, does the the U200 package contain any video on demand features? if so, how fast do they load and how responsive are the DVR controls on them?"

yes, i tried them out last night - pretty much the same selection as TWC but with more HD movies. the controls weren't laggy whatsoever like they are on TWC, it was like i was controlling a show stored locally on my DVR. the free HD trailer i loaded was on my screen about 3 seconds after i hit "Play."

Quote :

"On my neighborhood forum, someone that is getting the service said that AT&T is starting with existing phone subscribers. I guess the lines are already laid from the curb and all they have to do is install the boxes on the house. I put my address in the finder, no dice."

we weren't existing AT&T phone subscribers, just fyi

1/9/2009 8:03:31 PM

they say it's available in Charlotte but I type in my address and nothing!!!!

1/9/2009 8:09:55 PM

what is your bill with tax?

1/9/2009 9:32:09 PM

WARNING: WORDS
summary: at&t's shit is working just fine, the problem is with the phone wiring in our house


k, so the u-verse tech just left

if we disconnected the HPNA stuff that was running over the twisted pair phone cables, the RG synced up fine... as soon as we connected it, though, it dropped sync...

he replaced EVERYTHING (jacks, even stripped the wires far back and recrimped on some new leads) and it was still doing it... so it's obviously something wrong with the phone lines in our house...

i'm gonna head over to our leasing office today and try to convince them to replace the phone cables, since i think that's part of the maintenance agreement in our lease (we can't get service so they have to fix it). if that doesn't work, the tech gave me about 150 feet of cat5 and an 8 port switch so i could run ethernet along the baseboards to the other receivers

btw ALL of the techs i've dealt with were as nice as they could be... the one today was named Steve and the original guy was named Jon. if you have problems with your install, tell your tech to call one of them.

1/10/2009 12:29:35 PM

okay, i thought i'd be inventive and use wireless bridges instead of running cat5 all over the place

epic failure

it connects, yes, but it won't stream the iptv... i get like 2 frames a second

oh well, guess i have to run the cat5 anyway...

1/10/2009 2:28:31 PM

lol

1/10/2009 2:51:45 PM

did the techs not install cat5 in the house to connect the different TVs? I thought either cat5 or coax were a requirement for getting Uverse service.

1/10/2009 3:00:30 PM

Good thing I rewired my house with cat5e.

1/10/2009 3:59:36 PM

no

you either need cat5e OR coax OR rj-11. they only run cat5 if they absolutely have to, and even then they won't fish it through the walls.

the coax/rj-11 are both HPNA

in our case, the coax terminates in a box owned by time warner (since this is an MDU) so the at&t guys couldn't open it up to put everything into a loop so HPNA would work. they much prefer to do coax HPNA, and are able to do so the vast majority of the time.

the rj-11 lines in our townhouse are old as shit and apparently suck at doing everything. we got the modem to sync up w/ a DSL signal, but as soon as we plugged in the line that was backfeeding into the house loop, the modem dropped sync... *sigh*

now, a new problem - i ran cat5e between everything, and... as soon as i plugged in the cat5e to the gateway, the DSL modem dropped sync... wtf?!

the rj-45 connectors are all crimped on properly, i double checked that... how in the world could plugging in an ethernet cable cause this thing to lose sync? it makes no sense to me, nor to the tech or his supervisor, they said they'd call me back in a few minutes.

they already tried swapping out the gateway and that didn't help much...

can any of you think of anything? my best guess is that it's due to crosstalk... but there are two other ethernet runs connected (albeit much shorter) to the gateway and those are causing no problems whatsoever...

1/10/2009 4:47:57 PM

we are getting literally around 100 corrected blocks every few SECONDS



i mean, yes, they're CORRECTED... but this is still an indication of how clean the line is...

god damn my townhouse complex and their old ass phone lines...

1/10/2009 5:23:33 PM

evan, how much are you paying total?

1/10/2009 7:38:23 PM

Can you please stop using acronyms that even a tech geek isn't going to know without first being exposed to it? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that most folks here that haven't studied IPTV technologies have a damn clue what an HPNA or an RG is. I've seen you do this all over the place, are you really that dense?

1/10/2009 7:51:29 PM

i have no idea what is going on in this thread

1/10/2009 8:29:33 PM

HPNA has nothing to do with IPTV - it's HomePNA, the technology that lets you use existing coax or rj11 for a home network.

RG is what at&t calls the modem/router - it stands for residential gateway.

how was that hard at all? how else would you like me to refer to such things?

if you'd really like to know what an acronym means, it takes about five seconds to look it up in google. that's what i do whenever i encounter one i don't know. i use them because they're shorter.

---

in other news: i unscrewed the jack plate in the wall that the dsl line was being fed from and completely disconnected the inside lines that were feeding the HPNA stuff since we were now using the cat5e i ran earlier. when i did this and rebooted the RG, it got sync almost IMMEDIATELY and kept it even with the cat5e plugged in!!! woooooo

ALSO, those corrected packets have now all but disappeared. i've had the RG up for a little over an hour and it's only logged 18... and NO uncorrected packets!

i think we may have solved the problem my tv is working just fine, and the internet is even FASTER than it was before!

1/10/2009 11:36:51 PM

if you're watching/recording 2 HD streams, can you also watch/record a third SD channel at the same time?

1/11/2009 12:15:49 AM

Quote :

"you either need cat5e OR coax OR rj-11"

you're listing two cabling standards and a connector standard.

Quote :

"lets you use existing coax or rj11"

now you're comparing a cabling standard to a connector standard.

That's like saying you either need gloves, mittens, or a hat. it doesn't make sense. You're doing that thing again where you type a bunch of shit with almost random acronyms that you don't fully understand to make yourself sound smart.

1/11/2009 12:29:30 AM

SHIT

JUST

GOT

REAL

1/11/2009 12:32:49 AM

Quote :

"the tech gave me about 150 feet of cat5 and an 8 port switch so i could run ethernet along the baseboards to the other receivers "

score negative 300 for HPNA


^^ at least he has the protocol right now. I had to spoon feed him that one.

[Edited on January 11, 2009 at 12:48 AM. Reason : tdub hard ass BD strikes again]

1/11/2009 12:43:02 AM

Quote :

"you're listing two cabling standards and a connector standard. "

oh, i'm sorry. would you rather me call it 4-conductor cable? just about everyone i know just calls it rj11 because that's usually what it's terminated with. i'm quite aware that rj11 refers to the actual connector, and i'd be willing to bet everyone in this thread knew exactly what i was talking about.

also, how the fuck can you not "understand" rj11?

Quote :

"now you're comparing a cabling standard to a connector standard. "

see above.

Quote :

"That's like saying you either need gloves, mittens, or a hat. it doesn't make sense. You're doing that thing again where you type a bunch of shit with almost random acronyms that you don't fully understand to make yourself sound smart."

you're doing that thing again where you try to make someone sound like an incompetent douche to make yourself feel superior to others.

shut the fuck up, it might do you some good.

1/11/2009 1:22:37 AM

Quote :

"score negative 300 for HPNA"

inorite

Quote :

"at least he has the protocol right now. I had to spoon feed him that one. "

how was i supposed to know it was HPNA? i thought they had run it through the coax so i automatically assumed it was MoCA.

1/11/2009 1:24:21 AM

Placebo effect in full swing.

1/11/2009 5:24:37 AM

So how much is your monthly bill Evan?

1/11/2009 8:34:30 AM

if i recall correctly, it's around $130/month

i'll look when i get home, i don't remember my username for the online stuff

1/11/2009 1:40:34 PM

Just signed up to Uverse...I have a friend in atlanta that made me pretty happy. I am not sure if its a true "hook up", but its pretty close.

U400 - 99.00
3.0 Pro Internet - 38.00
HD service - 10.00
3 additional boxex - 15.00
@Monthly Fees - 10.00
--------------------------
Total $172.00
x12 $2064.00 for a year

Std. Rebate $-125.00
Service Comp $-205.00
Refferal $-50.00
-----------------------------
Total $-380.00
12 Months $2064.00
---------------------------------------
12 Month Total @: $1684.00
Monthly@: $140.00


My TWC bill has crept up from 138 to 177 over 2 years. With Uverse, I will be getting a shit ton of more channels and boxes in all 4 rooms. I do understand that you can only use HD on 2 TVs at once, but thats ok with me. If you sign up online you get $200 back, but you wouldn't get a refferal check or a Service comp. If you want the name and number of my friend in Atlanta, PM me know and she will give you the same deal that I got.

[Edited on January 12, 2009 at 12:14 PM. Reason : .]

1/12/2009 12:13:21 PM

looks like my thread made it to engadget, haha

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/15/atandt-goes-live-with-u-verse-tv-in-raleigh-nc-area/

1/12/2009 1:04:55 PM

^^ I bet you'll see some additional taxes and fees on top of that though

1/12/2009 1:12:34 PM

I had already added 10 bucks a month for taxes and fees...it could be a little more, but I don't think it will be too much of a difference.

1/12/2009 3:11:34 PM

LAKE PARK IS GETTING U-VERSE!

1/13/2009 9:55:50 AM

MOTHER FUCKER I WANT UVERSE! WHY'S BILL GET IT BEFORE ME?

1/13/2009 10:22:57 PM

Quote :

"Placebo effect in full swing."

Speedtest.net is viewed as subjective now?

1/14/2009 7:37:42 AM

^^AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

1/14/2009 8:35:49 AM

How much is U-Verse for just the internet, after all the taxes are added?

1/14/2009 1:50:46 PM

Speedtest.flavoroftheweek speed counter isn't actually representative of a browsing experience.

Case in point, my TWC speedtest peg out at 20Mbit down but espn.com is still a terrible experience.

1/14/2009 2:20:54 PM

that's most likely not because of your internet connection itself

that means there's a slow link somewhere in the path

1/14/2009 5:02:12 PM

oh thank you evan, for that very insightful reply.

1/14/2009 5:22:33 PM

Quote :

"Case in point, my TWC speedtest peg out at 20Mbit down"

Which makes sense. TWC advertises their boost speed at 20Mbit i think. Then it drops back down to 10Mbit.

1/14/2009 5:29:15 PM

Is this what AT&T is doing all around Cary? I've seen countless trucks in the road blocking lanes and going down manholes etc.

1/14/2009 6:25:08 PM

Quote :

"oh thank you evan, for that very insightful reply."

your post didn't really make much sense

1/15/2009 9:51:39 AM

ugh, okay, we've sort of narrowed down the problem.

http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=11891

read that, i don't feel like reposting here

anyone have any ideas? this is so strange... i would say maybe the heat is causing an intermittent short, but it's been way too cold lately...

1/21/2009 11:55:24 PM

Just found out I can get it, but you can't just get internet, you have to get TV too. That sucks, I have Dish (and a contract) which I like, I just want to get rid of TWC internet...

1/22/2009 3:11:48 PM

After a little reading, looks like lots of people get the TV + Internet bundle, then cancel the TV w/in the first month and keep Internet. I'm going to call them up and see if we can just skip all that fun stuff and get Internet only.

1/22/2009 4:11:21 PM

that pin drop was the realization that TWC might not be that bad. at least the internet works as advertised.

1/22/2009 7:09:27 PM

^it does? that's news to me.

1/22/2009 8:50:54 PM

is AT&T not doing anything at all to help you?

1/22/2009 9:52:13 PM

they are, they're just trying to figure out what to do

a supervisor called me this morning and said they're probably going to run a new line to the VRAD and replace the pedestal that my NID is in

1/22/2009 11:10:05 PM

Quinn just destroyed your thread by the way.

1/23/2009 11:54:00 AM

TWC only worked as advertised maybe half the time I had it. they never could find an explanation as to why, either, and did not seem very interested in figuring it out.

we paid for the 10mbps/512k service and only ever saw 6mbps/300kbps max. we also had service interruptions every other weekend or so.

at least at&t is acknowledging there's a problem and making an effort to fix it.

they also give you more for less money.

1/23/2009 1:31:14 PM