[colug-432] Comcast and connectivity alternatives

Fri Mar 7 16:16:48 EST 2014

I have tried U-verse in two different houses and had absolutely horrible
results both times.  If you get through the first 30 days and it works
for you, it is probably a great service.  I was down 12 of the first 30
days.  I hadn't canceled my WOW either, so the switch back was easy. 
You have to watch the installers though.  They like to cut any cable
that isn't the one that they just pulled.

Keith Larson
Franklin Computer Services - K12group
klarson at k12group.net
(614) 561-4887 (mobile)

>>> Robert Grimm <robertgrimm at gmail.com> 3/1/2014 11:44 PM >>>
I got my U-verse installed on Friday. I'm taking it out on Monday.
Netflix looks terrible, Hulu is often bad, the higher latency is
noticeable in web browsing, and I don't think I've ever disliked a
networking device as much as this gateway. Fortunately, I haven't
cancelled my WOW yet.

Robert Grimm
Voice only: (614) 212-4625
http://www.datablitz.net
http://www.grimmphotography.com

On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 8:23 PM, Jeff Stebelton
<jeff.stebelton at gmail.com> wrote:

Got my uverse installed today. I'm getting consistent 35 Mbs down and 5
Mbs up. I've seen as high as almost 40 down when I can kick my daughter
off of Netflix. I'm a happy man. 
On Feb 19, 2014 6:55 AM, "Stephen P. Molnar" <s.molnar at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

I switched to U-verse about 15 months ago when the monthly charge for
DSL went up again. I didn't realized at the time that the telephone
service, included with what I wanted was VOIP! The phone service kept
dropping while maintaining the internet connectivity. It took three
service calls by techs (?) of questionable ability (I was convince that
the first one wasn't sure as to what end of the screwdriver was the
handle). To shorten the story a bit the third technician did, indeed,
know what he was doing solved the problem. Part of his solution was my
calling the AT&T Business Office and demanding that my telephone service
be returned to an analog line, while maintaining the same overall
monthly rate (that was his suggestion and a learning experience for the
customer service person I talked to).

All was then well until two months ago when the U-verse bill increased
by ~40%, it was the end of the introductory year. I solved that problem
by allowing the download rate to be degraded. I'm still getting good
transmission rates.

Bottom line is that I'm satisfied with U-verse (at least so far). Oh
yes, they did try to bundle TV with the service, but had no answer to
the question 'why should I pay for many channels of garbage when I never
watch what's available over the air?'

Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. Life is a fuzzy set
Foundation for Chemistry Stochastic and multivariate
www.FoundationForChemistry.com
(614)312-7528
( tel:%28614%29312-7528)  (c)
Skype: smolnar1

From: colug-432-bounces at colug.net [mailto:colug-432-bounces at colug.net]
On Behalf Of Jeff Stebelton
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 6:44 PM
To: David Reed
Cc: Central OH Linux User Group - 432xx
Subject: Re: [colug-432] Comcast and connectivity alternatives

I looked at this again and it says:

Residential AT&T High Speed Internet service includes 150 gigabytes
(GB) of data each billing period, and residential AT&T U-verse High
Speed Internet service includes 250 Gigabytes (GB) of data each billing
period. U-verse with Gigapower, where available, includes 1 terabyte
(TB) of data each billing period. The data you send and receive each
month contributes to your monthly data plan.

I'm on the U-verse site, looking at Internet only plans and they are
calling it U-verse High Speed Internet. It looks to me like I'd be
ordering U-verse High Speed which is capped at 250 Gb. Am I missing
something? (probably am which is why I'm asking.. =-)
"Get new U-verse High Speed Internet and receive a discounted rate for
12 months... blah blah"

And...

I watched the video "Broadband Usage Overview" in your link and it also
made a distinction between AT&T High Speed Internet and U-verse High
Speed Internet. I couldn't find anything that mentioned TV or bundling.
Is that hidden and if I sign up I'd find "U-verse High Speed Internet"
really means U-verse Bundled TV and High Speed Internet? Not trying to
pick at what you said; I just want to make sure if I sign up I know what
I'm getting. 

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 7:54 AM, David Reed <dave256 at mac.com> wrote:
This says 150GB if you don’t also have tv.

http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB409045&cv=812#fbid=wpWmyP0XTGj

Dave

On Feb 17, 2014, at 7:35 AM, Jeff Stebelton <jeff.stebelton at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I chatted with a service rep who told me it was 250 Gb per month.
I'll find that on their site before proceeding. If ordered online
they're offering a $50 gift card right now, including Internet only.
> The setup process is telling me:
>
> A $100 one-time Internet equipment fee automatically applies for
orders without U-verse TV or orders with select lower Internet speeds.
>
> It's put in the cart as $99.00. Go figure. =-)
> So in my cart I have the following:
>
> AT&T Rewards
> Additional online only $50 reward card when you order today! $50.00
>
> Monthly Charges TOTAL $71.95
> One-Time Charges TOTAL $99.00
> Your Estimated First Bill* This total is only an estimate of your
first bill. The monthly charges on your first bill will be slightly
higher than normal. The charges may vary based on the following:
>
> Monthly charges are billed one month in advance
> Prorated monthly charges from date of installation to start of bill
period
> Taxes, fees, and surcharges
> Applicable installation charges
>
> $170.95
>
> My next option is to order, so it looks like the $99.00 install fee
is the only one. But I've dealt with AT&T before.. heh.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 7:09 AM, <davelist at mac.com> wrote:
> AT&T only sends the channel(s) you are watching to your house so in
effect everything you are watching is streamed to you. Note this means
you need one of their boxes on every tv you want to use with their
service. So the phone lines can (at least with their current technology)
carry a max of 45 Mbps total so 3 HD channels takes over 30 Mbps leaving
less than 18 Mbps for internet.
>
> Rick answered Jeff’s other question, but Jeff, check the 30 day
guarantee if you’re just getting internet (and then I think the cap is
150GB instead of 250GB). And I suspect they won’t waive the fees (and no
gift card) since they’re not getting as much money from you per month as
if you were getting UVerse.
>
> Dave
>
>
> On Feb 16, 2014, at 1:27 PM, FiL Farris <philipfarris at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> > When you say your recording HD channels @ 10 - 12 Mbps are you
referring to some type of streamed media or HD shows coming into the
digital tuner(s) of your cable box?
> >
> > On Feb 16, 2014 12:30 PM, <davelist at mac.com> wrote:
> >
> > AT&T has run fiber to newer neighborhoods so you if you are lucky
enough to have fiber to your house, you might be able to get those
speeds. I made another post about this but maybe you didn’t see it. I
finally got fed up with TW (after about 13 years with them) and switched
to AT&T U-Verse. I don’t have fiber to my house. There is an AT&T box
near my neighborhood (about 1/4 mile straight line distance from my
house) that I suspect has fiber to it and then phone lines to my house.
I’m paying for the 18 Mbps (and I think 2 Mbps up) service and speed
tests report 16-20 Mbps (and 1.5-2 Mbps up) so I’m reasonably happy.
> >
> > I think right now the max they can get is 45 Mbps total over the
phone line with their current technology so if I’m recording 3 HD
channels (I think those take around 10-12 Mbps each), the internet drops
to 7-10Mbps, but as long as no more than 2 HD channels, the internet
seems consistent (where I live in Hilliard - obviously YMMV). I hear
that max over phone lines may go up to 70 Mbps this year in which case I
shouldn’t see any slowdown when recording 3 HD channels. But I don’t
think you’ll get 45 Mbps internet if you’re watching/recording tv unless
you have fiber to your house.
> >
> > AT&T will give you 30 days to try out their system before you’re
locked into a 1 year contract so I kept TW for 3-4 days while I tested
AT&T’s service. I had a 6-7 year old TW HD DVR that I hated. It would
occasionally not record shows it should and interface was sluggish and
took too many button presses to do some things IMO. And it only held
about 30 hours of HD shows whereas the AT&T DVR seems to hold around 150
hours of HD shows (if you get their U300 or U450 service you get that
larger capacity - don’t recall what capacity is for U100 or U200 but
it’s less). TW signal so it would occasionally cut out for 1/2 a
second so watching tv was annoying at times. TW’s internet service was
reasonably reliable but the extreme cold caused my internet to go out
for half a day multiple times in January.
> >
> > After 4 weeks with AT&T’s service, I’m happy as DVR hasn’t missed a
show and internet has been reliable even in the cold temperatures. AT&T
will waive some, but not all of the installation fees and then give you
a gift card so the end result is all the fees are covered. They seem to
be making a big push to get new subscribers right now. They do give you
a big discount to get you hooked. We’ll see what price they’re willing
to give me in a year when the contract is up. I’m hopeful it will be
reasonable since I’m lucky enough to have the options of TW, WOW, and
UVerse in my neighborhood. At this point, I’ll stick with them if the
price is reasonable and if not look into WOW.
> >
> > Right now I’m paying what I was before with TW (and I had a pretty
decent discount from TW’s listed prices) but also have a second box in
the basement so I can watch tv while exercising. I’ve got a few more
channels I actually want to watch and a larger capacity DVR that works
well. I had TW’s 12-15 Mbps (can’t remember exact speed) internet
service so internet speed is slightly faster than what I had.
> >
> > I had checked my usage on my router last year and I was using
100-150 GB a month so the 250 GB (gigabyte not 250 Gb - gigabit) data
cap doesn’t bother me too much. I suspect if you watch a lot of
streaming video (we don’t have netflix) that could be an issue.
> >
> > And yes, watch what the installer does so you can go back to TW if
you want easily. I wanted the internet router in an upstairs
bedroom/office so they ran the internet service (which is what the tv
runs over too) up the phone line to that office. Then the box in the
office splits out the tv and internet and they ran the tv data back down
to the basement using the coax line in the office. Since I only have two
tvs they put the actual DVR in the basement there and then are using a
wireless box for the first floor tv. I think we could have run the
signal back up to the first floor over the coax if we wanted.
> >
> > I still have Vonage for my home phone (AT&T offered me 200 minutes
for the price I’m currently paying Vonage for unlimited so I didn’t
switch the phone). I told the installer I still wanted the phone outlets
to work and he ran the internet up to the office over two of the four
phone wires, put a double jack in the office and the other two wires run
the phone back to the phone outlets throughout the house.
> >
> > Dave
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> Jeff Stebelton GCIA GCIH GPPA GWAPT CEH SFCP
> _______________________________________________
> colug-432 mailing list
> colug-432 at colug.net
> http://lists.colug.net/mailman/listinfo/colug-432

-- 

Jeff Stebelton GCIA GCIH GPPA GWAPT CEH SFCP

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Content preview: I switched to U-verse about 15 months ago when the
monthly

charge for DSL went up again. I didn't realized at the time that the
telephone
service, included with what I wanted was VOIP! The phone service kept
dropping
while maintaining the internet connectivity. It took three service
calls
by techs (?) of questionable ability (I was convince that the first one
wasn't
sure as to what end of the screwdriver was the handle). To shorten the
story
a bit the third technician did, indeed, know what he was doing solved
the
problem. Part of his solution was my calling the AT&T Business Office
and
demanding that my telephone service be returned to an analog line,
while
maintaining the same overall monthly rate (that was his suggestion and
a learning
experience for the customer service person I talked to). [...]

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