This has been quite the saga. It began in 2010 with the ripping up of my entire street and a utility access area in my yard. They installed fiber throughout my neighborhood. Ever since then I have been bombarded with junk mail and phone calls for AT&T U-Verse. I even had people at my front door twice! They were trying to up sale me with an entire phone, internet and tv package. They didn’t realize how much I love DirecTv. I’ve been with DirecTv since 1997 and will never switch.
I’ve endured four years of hell from these salespeople. The phone calls had reached two and sometimes three a week. Weekly junk mail offerings too. Today I got a salesman that finally convinced me. He explained the ADSL in my area was experiencing a high repair rate. He offered to simply switch my existing service (its high speed Elite 6.0 DSL) to the equivalent in U-Verse FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0 and I’ll keep my phone number. All installation fees waived. Half price the first year (around $42 a month, then $84 after that) One of my biggest concerns is losing WI-Fi. The last time they changed my DSL modem I had a horrible time getting my Linksys wi-fi router to work. It took me 5 hours of searching the internet to get that modem in bridge mode so my wi-fi router would work. This time AT&T will be giving me a free wi-fi modem/router as part of the package. It’s time to retire my 6 year old Linksys.
I hope I didn’t make a mistake. I swore that I’d never switch. I really hate losing my legacy landline. My mom has her phone and internet through a service called Suddenlink. It mimics a traditional land line but the sound quality isn’t as good. She does get free, unlimited long distance. I will too under U-Verse.
My biggest fear is the ADSL service might degrade. Or AT&T might even just phase it out in a given service area. They’ve been jacking up my rates for the past two years. My bill went from $92 to $119 in just two years time for the same service. I decided it was better to grab the best deal I could now and make the switch before they issue an ultimatum and force a switch.
I knuckled under and The Man won. The Man **always **wins.
About 5 years ago I switched from Comcast to UVerse. My rate was locked in for cable and internet. I have had no problems with either. I’m extremely satisfied with UVerse. I still have a landline through AT&T and while expensive, the quality is a bazillion times better. I haven’t caved on VOIP telephone service.
The guy said I could revert back to a traditional telephone service if I’m dissatisfied with VOIP. I thought it was worth giving it a try. My mom’s VOIP using Suddenlink isn’t bad.
Suddenlink was my mom’s only option for high speed internet. She’s beyond AT&T’s service for ADSL and was stuck with dial up 56k. Suddenlink began offering service to AT&T’s disenfranchised customers. Mom heard good comments from neighbors that had it. She really likes Suddenlink. It’s only available in certain areas.
The Wi-FI on the all-in-one router Uverse gave me is absolute crap. It had a range of 12 feet open air, 2 feet with a wall in the way. I finally just ran a patch cable from my old good router to their new one, and played with the config a bit, and it’s all good now. Well except for the buck or so I spend a month on powering 2 routers I guess.
“The Man” switched you to a better, more reliable service, waived all the signup costs, and gave you a discounted rate for a year. I’ve heard of worse cases of oppression.
We made the same switch after a few months of DSL problems that couldn’t (or wouldn’t) be resolved, and they also waived the installation and equipment charges. The Internet connection is solid. There are good reasons to complain about AT&T, but I’ve been pleased with U-Verse.
I have always been extremely satisfied with my ADSL. The Elite 6.0 plan is quite fast. Thats why I resisted changing and endured all those sales calls from AT&T. Its become unbearable in the past three months. Three calls a week is a lot.
Their determined persistence made me realize that they will retire ADSL (in service areas that have fiber) as soon as possible. When AT&T is literally at your front door selling UVerse it’s pretty clear they hate their legacy system. I can either jump on for the ride or get run over. I choose the latter.
I have phone (VOIP), internet and cable through Mediacom and I’ve very rarely had a problem. Their service actually seems to be improving. Also, I’ve been a customer for years and I just called to ask about something I didn’t understand on my bill and ended up getting the same services for a lot less than I was paying because they moved me into the newer packages and rates.
The guys just got me hooked up to U Verse. Speedtest shows an improvement to 7.5 Mbps I was getting 6.1 on ADSL yesterday.
I had Elite ADSL 6 before. That’s the mid priced package. I could get a faster package but am satisfied with my speed. Glad to see an improvement with U-Verse.
I’m using the wi-fi that comes with my U-Verse. Time to retire my LinkSys router. It was bought in 2007 and has the slower ports compared to the current routers.
Found the first problem since yesterdays conversion. My vintage Western electric 554 pulse dial won’t dial on U-Verse. It receives calls.
Tech came out and just shrugged. Assholes. They are too retarded to know vintage phones are retro and cool these days. Refurbished ones on Ebay sell like hotcakes. I bought mine in 2004 and it’s so retro and cool. I’ve used mine every day since installing it in my kitchen.
Fortunately there are pulse to tone convertors. Since mine is a wall phone I have to get one that wires inside the phone. They do make a simple box solution that you just plug your cable into. Those are great for desk phones.
Almost $50 for the adapter to fix what those fools at AT&T couldn’t bother supporting. They didn’t even mention the pulse to tone convertor. I found that through some Vintage Phone Users message boards. AT&T should be the ones installing this instead of me. But they don’t give a shit.
I wasn’t given a choice. They simply stopped my DSL service. It was cheaper for a year and a break even after that. I’ll probably drop my land line in the future since I never use it.
I was put out over the fact that they just stopped the DSL. Not sure what really changed. Same old wire coming to the house. A new separate wire coming out of the junction box going to a new router.
I resisted their weekly sales calls for over 2 years. But began to fear they’d either start degrading the service to force us to U-Verse or just announce an end to DSL support. So, I caved in and kissed Ma Bell’s corporate butt.
I’ve hated Ma Bell my entire life. They were the biggest and nastiest corporate monster in the US until the Justice Dept spent a fortune and a decade in court breaking them apart. Now they back, bigger, nastier and more vicious than ever. They are the only choice in my area for high speed internet. A complete monopoly on the service. If they have their way cable, and DirecTV will be gone soon. U-Verse TV will be the only option available. They’ll provide U-Verse TV cheap until their competition goes under. Then they’ll have a monopoly on tv service too.
AT&T is great to new subscribers. Long time subscribers pay more for the same service. My internet connection went from $15/mo to nearly $50. The only other provider is Charter. I switched phone and internet to Charter for $50/mo for 2 years. I don’t know how the price will change with Charter, but perhaps AT&T will offer me a great deal to return to them?
My only two choices for cable and internet are Comcast and AT&T. I had Comcast for six years and they were expensive and frequently had “service interruptions.” When I moved, I took advantage of the AT&T introductory price and while it tripled after a year, it’s still about $20 per month cheaper than Comcast.
I’ve only had one outage in four years, and they were prompt about sending a technician out to take care of it. Really, no complaints.
My only two choices for cable and internet are Comcast and AT&T. I had Comcast for six years and they were expensive and frequently had “service interruptions.” When I moved, I took advantage of the AT&T introductory price and while it tripled after a year, it’s still about $20 per month cheaper than Comcast.
I’ve only had one outage in four years, and they were prompt about sending a technician out to take care of it. Really, no complaints.
Yipes, sorry about the double post.
I never once looked at their sales pitch and I don’t answer my land line. I found out when I came home and they had shut off my internet. They were very nice about it on the phone and turned it back on long enough to make the switch but I’m still confused about the change in technology. Sounded like they just moved the node branch somewhere else but they insisted it was a different technology. In their defense it does need it’s own cable even though it’s coming off the same box on the side of the house (which they upgraded a few years ago).
I really can’t see any difference and the cost is the same so… Whatever? It must give me more options than I had before which I guess is a good thing.
So far U-Verse Internet is faster than my DSL. I am impressed with the range of the Wi-Fi too. My laptop is in our bedroom on the other end of the house and I get a strong wi-fi signal. Does what it promised and I can’t complain.
My initial resistance was confusion over the change in technology. I think if they actually explained the differences in DSL and U-Verse and why this is an improvement it would help. I kept thinking DSL works great, I’m very happy with it, why change? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Anyway, U-Verse seems just the same.
DirecTV has a good line up of channels and the service is much more reliable than cable. I was an early customer when you bought the $225 kit from Best Buy and did a DIY install. That was 97 or 98? I updated my system in 2005. I needed a dual LNB dish and receiver when local channels became available. DirecTV did that upgrade for free.
I have the basic receiver. Nothing fancy like they offer today.
oops, yeah I’m on for the ride.