Life, the U-Verse, and Everything
November 29 2009
Having been a marketing dude for twenty years, I find that I am often fairly immune to being marketed to. I know all the messages designed to "save time and money", so traditional marketing rarely gets through to me. There are times, though, when I will eventually give in and pay attention, especially if I get hit over the head with a marketing message often enough. Years after I vowed never to shop at Macy's when they buried the Marshall Field's brand, I found myself at the mall today shopping there due to coupons and discounts galore (though it's still not my first stop). Such was also the case when it came to AT&T's relentless marketing of it's new home networking offering, AT&T U-Verse. While I was satisfied with Comcast Internet and DirecTV satellite service, the AT&T marketing barrage eventually forced me to pay attention. And they did it the old-fashioned way -- offering better services at less cost, with free installation and a $200 rebate.
OK, OK, I gave in, and a few weeks ago, we switched Internet, HDTV, and landline phone services to U-Verse. Lotus community geeks have probably read Rocky Oliver's posting about his switch, which goes deep into the details of the technology and some of the benefits. Our experience is similar -- this was a worthwhile switch. It's not perfect, but none of the home networking service offerings are. So far, AT&T seems to have topped the others in a lot of ways, and I hope they will continue to innovate and stay ahead of the pack.
First off, I switched to save money. I was paying somewhere around $240 a month for DirecTV, Comcast Internet, and two phone lines in the past. The U-Verse bill, with the packages and upgrades we chose, will come in around $180 a month. There were options in setting up the service to even cut the cost further -- slower Internet (I took the max - 18 MB/s download, which is what I was getting on Comcast), fewer TV channels, HD vs. non-HD (finally, Travel Channel in HD), call packages vs. unlimited calling. Overall, at a 25% savings per month, we are getting the same or better services. Clearly, AT&T is going for market share now, and at some point later, I expect the costs will flatten out, but this wasn't just a financial decision.
The second benefit was the vastly-improved TV viewing experience. The picture quality is about the same, but there are no more issues worrying about ice or a thunderstorm blocking our TV reception. Further, a whole bunch of services I had missed from cable TV are here -- on-demand movies, simultaneous record and view (DirecTV offers this, but only if you run extra cabling from the dish), additional local market channels (though Highland Park's community access programming is not yet on U-Verse). There are then the additional benefits -- with one controller box, you can watch a recorded show from any TV in the network -- even starting playback at one TV (e.g. living room) and picking it up at another (e.g. bedroom) later.
The third area where U-Verse makes sense is in converged services. From the TV or an Internet browser, I can view a call log for our landlines. We can retrieve voicemail online, from anywhere in the world. There is integration with Flickr and Yahoo Games. The AT&T network hub is a wi-fi hotspot for the home. The service includes basic AT&T wi-fi access point service from places like Starbucks. From anywhere, you can access your account to schedule DVR recordings -- no more "I forgot to record this before we left" moments.
I have few complaints so far -- the main one is that the TV stream can only support two HD signals at once. I didn't think this would be a big deal, but it means that if you are recording two shows at once -- something we did often with two separate DirecTV -- you can't watch an HD show. AT&T says unofficially they are working on this limitation. As for other issues, occasionally, the caller ID doesn't work on incoming calls. The Internet upload speed can be a little sluggish, though right now it is testing at the advertised 1.5 MB/s. You have to enter the HD channel number separately from the regular one -- paying extra for HD service should mean that a channel is delivered in HD when available.
A few weeks in, though, and we're very satisfied. The installation was professional and relatively painless. I had heard stories of all-day U-Verse installs, but ours was done in about four hours, using existing household wiring, and everything worked the first time. I know that some friends and neighbors resent the fact that to deploy this service, AT&T had to install big ugly utility boxes all over town -- but they've also landscaped most of them to hide the eyesore. And as if I needed any more convincing that the switch was the right decision, the way that our disconnects played out made me glad I had left the other providers. For Comcast, I had to wait nearly 30 minutes at their local office to return the cable modem, behind people who clearly could have been rerouted to over-the-phone call centers with their questions. For DirecTV, they tried to claim we were on a two-year contract through late 2010, as the result of changing a box out sometime last year.
Clearly, my switch to AT&T U-Verse was the result of healthy competition in the network services market. A few years from now, there will be something else that is faster, cheaper, better. There are lessons for me in my day job from all of this -- if I had had to pay the disconnect charges, the installation charges, or had less functionality as a result of switching to a competitor, it clearly would not have been worth it. When I return to work tomorrow after a weeks' vacation, I will be ready to incorporate my personal experience back into my professional world -- and go out and win some more business.
Post a Comment
- 3
Scott Skaife | 11/29/2009 9:50:43 PM
My costs are:
Comcast Internet: $69.00 - 12/2mb with 4 static IPs. It is almost always greater than the stated speeds.
Dish: $75.44 - No 'premium' channels, but everything else
Vonage: $25.99 - Unlimited long distance
Total: $170.43
I'm not doing HDTV, so that would probably push me up to just about the $180 that you are paying. One thing I have found out with Comcast is that you always want the 'Business Class' account. It costs $60 a month instead of the $20 that you can get on a residential special, but they are very clear that they don't abuse the business customers like they do the residential customers. No packet forging, no throttling, no port blocking.
I have also been really happy with Vonage for the land lines. Not only can it be set to ring our cell phones when a call comes in, but when I moved from Sonoma County to Sacramento for 2 years, I was able to just pick up my box and take my number with me. I added a Virtual number while I was there, and when I moved back to Sonoma County, I was able to cancel the virtual number, and keep my original number. This is the fist number I got after moving out of my parents home over 20 years ago, and every once in a while, I will get a call from someone I had lost touch with years before. It is good to know that my number is no longer attached to my location.
When I was going to change my ISP last year because my ISP could not keep a consistent connection, (The lines were owned by AT&T, and based on the problems I was having, it definitely looked like it was AT&T's fault, and not an accident) Feeling defeated, I tried to get U-Verse. AT&T just stood me up for my appointment, and when I called them, they told me that they would not install their U-Verse unless I canceled their competitors service first. Besides the highly unethical behavior surrounding all of this, I was simply unwilling to make the 150 mile a day drive that would have been necessary for each and every day that I didn't access.
AT&T has some good technical points and some bad Technical points, but their customer service is not much better than it ever has been. As the old joke goes, "We don't care. We don't have to. We are the phone company."
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Michael Kobrowski | 11/30/2009 8:24:22 AM
Nice, another Douglas Adams inspired title. I like it!
We have been thinking about AT&T U-Verse since a coworker told me about it a year or more ago. And I keep getting reminded frequently by ads.
Unfortunately we are in a small city, it is Verizon phone company country, and they aren't upgrading their lines to their competitor service. We just recently could have gotten DSL - but comcast, although pricey, is quite reliable and we just cut the cord and got phone service from them as well.
Will save us quite a bit, especially with the long distance.
Calls to overseas are still better/cheaper with Yahoo Phone for me...
Michael
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Christopher Byrne http://www.controlscaddy.com/ | 11/30/2009 10:58:51 AM
I think the biggest question when I look at these deals is how long they will offer this great deal before bumping up the cost?
Here in Athens, our choices are limited. My neighborhood is not wired for cable, so Charter/Comcast internet was never an option for us.
We only got access to DSL in the past 3 years or so, and I have been somewhat happy with AT&T's services, with two exceptions.
The first is that they will, without reason, randomly make changes to our account profile resulting in performance and connection problems. The last time this happened is when they upgraded the phone lines in the neighborhood for UVerse.
The second is that I am supposed to get free access to their wifi service in Airports and such. But, that side of the business, because they have not finished integrating their records with Bellsouth, does not believe that I am a DSL customer, so I cannot access the service. But I only pay about $36/month with a static IP address for the second to the fastest speed (as the top speed is not available in the neighborhood.
DirecTV is a different bird. I have learned that you never have to pay the rate they try to charge you at renewal. My philosophy is that I should not have to pay more than they are offering new customers (i.e. $54 vs $29). So the way to get a better renewal rate is to call them and ask for the customer retention department. It is amazing what they will pull off for you. What is the old axiom - it is cheaper to retain a current customer than to get a new one?
So between the DirectTV (which is currently on suspension for budgetary reasons - you can do this for up to six months without canceling your account), DSL, and Phone service, we pay about $91 a month before the ridiculous taxes, fees, and surcharges. And since going to Google Voice, I have been able to kill my paid Skype account and have practically $0 in long distance costs for US calls. My extended overseas family has one of those systems that lets them have a US-based number, so those calls are also free now.
Where I am getting killed is Cell Phone service from Sprint. Because I have a Blackberry without a data plan (I eliminated the plan as a cost savings measure when my job was eliminated), they will not let me change to a plan for more minutes for less cost unless I also add the data plan back. We were looking at doing this when my oldest entered high school this year and we had to break down and get her a cell phone. So it ended up being cheaper to get her a separate plan.
Add it all up and it comes to about $160 a month. As I mentioned earlier, they have upgraded the phone lines in the neighborhood for UVerse. But they have not made the service available yet. Even when they do, I will have to think long and hard about it because we are learning to live without TV as TV (and we only have one TV in the house). Anything we really want to watch we can get on Hulu or from the network sites.
So many choices and the fine print make it really hard to get by the marketing push to really find the best deal.
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palakkadan | 11/30/2009 11:59:06 AM
ATT U-Verse is powered by Microsoft IPTV platform :)
Just found it amusing that edbrill.com's entertainment needs are being delivered over M$ platform.
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Mark Hughes http://hughesconnect.com | 11/30/2009 1:45:22 PM
Yes they are Microsoft Windows CE powered devices. I know because they had to replace one of mine yesterday. I was very surprised they were not some bsd version or linux.
Motorola makes the hardware, i am told all of the boxes are refurbished overseas so dont be surprised if you have to get them replaced.
They have a great iPhone app to schedule recordings as well.
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Sri Bedathur http://bedathur.wordpress.com | 11/30/2009 2:48:32 PM
I was told by the techie who came to set it up that the device gets its firmware updates automatically. That would be great if it weren't for the fact that these updates require a reboot -- and you have no control over it. It doesn't even ask you -- it just reboots itself even if you are watching/recording a program. That's when I totally believed that it was running Windows! :D
Luckily, this hasn't happened to me yet. And I have been quite satisfied with my switch from comcast to U-Verse so far.
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Mike McP http://www.openntf.org/Projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/mPortal | 11/30/2009 2:50:19 PM
I'm not a fan of any of these converged offerings (TV, internet, phone), partly because I just like to play the renegade, but mostly because I find it fun to pick and choose the best offering that fits my needs.
I also worry about what the packages do to the overall pricing structure in the long term. As it drives out the little guys, it invariably leads to higher prices and fewer options in the longterm. It's kinda like 'price-matching', which is another practice I've sworn off. If the little guy is going to offer the better price, they're getting my business. Price matching is the work of the devil!
For internet, I choose Comcast, but that's really a lie, because I live in a fairly remote area, and DSL/FIOS isn't an option.
For TV, I use DirecTV. Their customer service is horrendous, but every couple years I threaten to leave and they give me ridiculous offers to stay. I think I've been with them for over 10 years, but I'm open to switching at any time if the right offer came along.
For phone, I use Viatalk VOIP. The service is about $8/month including hardware when I signed up for a year at a time, and I have more options than I'll ever use. I've been with them for about 3 years..no complaints. I don't ask much of my phone provider and I'm never under-whelmed. I hate the phone, so it's a necessary evil in my book, and I'm glad to no longer be paying $35/mo.
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Rock http://www.lotusgeek.com | 11/30/2009 4:58:10 PM
Since I was mentioned, let me give a bit of an update.
For a refresher, basically I have every channel they offer, and the fastest broadband they offer. I pay about $175/month for that, including junk fees.
I get my phone from Vonage - home account and a business account. I do not pay long distance charges EVER, calling ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD (ok, there may be a few exceptions, but I'm not calling them). This alone saves me quite a bit, because I have friends in England and Germany, and I call them regularly. Between these two services (home + business/fax) I pay about $85 including junk fees.
I'm on t-Mobile for cell, because I find their customer service to be exceptional - the best I have EVER had, by far. I will be hard-pressed to move away from that, as I have built a long-time relationship with them (meaning great retention benefits), and I have no reason to switch, quite frankly.
Back to u-verse. So far, I have had no problems, save one. I had some stuttering/pausing issues, mainly with the HD versions of our local affiliates. The final fix was to re-run the twisted pair line from the pedestal to our home; we figured this out after about 3 weeks' of troubleshooting, swapping things, etc. After basically replacing everything that can be replaced, this fixed it.
Other than this problem, it really has been flawless. I mean that I have not even had a SINGLE digital artifact since our fix!! And we watch almost all HD, so we should have seen at least one. Amazing.
We've also had no outages; and to the person that mentioned updates during shows, our updates happen during the wee hours of the morning (around 2AM EST), and yes - if you're watching then it will do the reboot regardless (I'm a bit of a nightowl/insomniac, so I've seen it happen firsthand). Maybe people on the left coast have seen this happen earlier, say 11PM, because they do the reboots at 2AM EST for all boxes, everywhere. I doubt that, but hey, we're talking about a big conglomerate, and anything's possible - especially the stupid.
My biggest problem is around the "four tuner" limitation. As Ed mentioned earlier, there are 2 HD tuners, as well as 2 regular TV tuners. However, you cannot think about this as regular cable, where you can just hook your TV up to the cable and pull in "basic" cable. This is IPTV - meaning that you must use the provided "soft" tuners to view shows, and you must have a satellite box at EVERY tv that you want to get shows via u-verse. This means that you have four tuners for the entire house. Now, for most normal-sized families, this is perfectly fine; however, I am definitely NOT a normal sized household. We have:
* Me and my wife
* My eldest daughter (Kristi), her fiance' (Jake), and their new baby (Brody, my GRANDSON!! woohoo!!)
* two teens (Kelsy - 16 and Rocky Jr. - 13)
* two pre-teens (Mouse - 12, Tommy - 11)
So we're looking at 8 viewing-age people, and additionally we're all moviephiles, so we record a lot.
We have four TVs in the house. Right there, if everyone is watching TV, all tuners are in use. Thank FSM two TVs are non-HD.
If you set anything to record - and we record a LOT, both movies and regular TV - then that takes up one or more tuners.
So, in our house there is an almost nightly ritualistic battle for TV tuners. We have basically worked it out that "first one in wins; and if you're a parent, you always win". So, Krist/Jake and Debbie/Me always get first dibs. That leaves Kelsey's TV, and the living room (main) TV. The younger kids usually watch the main TV, so most times we're ok. Quite often Kelsey is the odd-man out in this tuner musical chairs game, so she's gotten good at just watching recorded stuff, or watching on-demand (u-verse has a pretty vast free on-demand offering).
Supposedly, as Ed mentioned, they're working on the 2HD tuner problem; likewise they are also working on the "more than four tuner" problem as well. What is rumored to most likely happen is that there will be two additional HD tuners added, upping the total count to 2 regular TV and 4 HDTV tuners (remember, these are "soft" tuners, and can be added via software update).
AT&T u-verse seems to be keen on increasing features for u-verse, to make it more compelling (and allowing them to eventually charge more/charge ala carte'). I was with u-verse when they added the ability to set up recording shows from any TV, and that upgrade was seamless. I look forward to more feature updates soon.
There you have it - my impressions of AT&T u-verse some months into it. I can tell you this: even with the limitations, my family would mutiny if I even considered taking u-verse away. They absolutely love it, and it has changed the way we all watch TV and use the additional features. So, as Ed says, until something more compelling/cost effective comes along, AT&T u-verse has my business.
--Rock
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Alan Dalziel | 11/30/2009 7:13:37 PM
I switched to Uverse in the summer, and like Rocky I have problems with stuttering and artifacts on HD. I was ready to pitch it but now I know a recabling might fix I guess it's time to call AT&T.
With only myself and my wife in the house we can still be challenged by the 2 HD tuner option. This is better than when Uverse first came out as it was only 1 HD tuner for a while - that's why I didn't adopt til this year. Although I understand that the plan is to go to 4 HD but not seen/heard a timetable as yet.
I like the fact it's an IP based system, and the option to have battery backup for it is one worth taking, if you haven't already. Without it, a power failure will mean any telephone based alarm system notification will not work . . .
When I told DirecTV I was cancelling, they pulled out all the stops to keep me, and have been calling every now and again to see if I'm still satisfied with UVerse. If the artifact/stuttering thing doesn't get resolved, I'll be looking at 2 HD-DVRs and Premium Channels free for a year (along with HD!).
As Christopher mentioned about DirecTV and their rate matching - I always used to get the best deals from AT&T for DSL. They will match the consumer teaser rates if you call them, so if you can be bothered keeping up with all of that you can probably stay with AT&T for web & phone and DirecTV for TV and keep the costs (almost) the same. A lot of work for the savings though!
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Paragraf http://www.paragraf.su/ | 8/11/2010 7:56:34 AM
I have also been really happy with Vonage for the land lines. Not only can it be set to ring our cell phones when a call comes in, but when I moved from Sonoma County to Sacramento for 2 years, I was able to just pick up my box and take my number with me. I added a Virtual number while I was there, and when I moved back to Sonoma County, I was able to cancel the virtual number, and keep my original number. This is the fist number I got after moving out of my parents home over 20 years ago, and every once in a while, I will get a call from someone I had lost touch with years before. It is good to know that my number is no longer attached to my location.
Sounds like a good deal and a good experience Ed. Do you have any data limits? Throttling is a common Comcast complaint... fast speeds are useless if you top out. Unfortunately Charter owns the cable franchise in my little town, and after 20+ years of Greater Media/Charter BS, that's not going to be piped into my home again, ever.
Also do you get any break with your AT&T Mobile service? When I had Verizon Wireless I got no breaks whatsoever, even with two Verizon landlines (with the little-known but very handy Iobi service) and DSL.
FIOS is the dream for me. Verizon DSL is only 3mb down 640k up, but it's reliable as hell. But even the FIOS base 15/5 would be awesome, nevermind the 25/15 or 50/20 plans. For TV, DirecTV has been pretty good; yes the occasional rain/snowstorm has pixelated things beyond recognition, but it's relatively rare. And they've given me a bunch of free equipment when I whined.
But since you made me do the math, altogether it's about $275-$300 a month, quite pricey compared to what you have. Getting FIOS at $180/month would be a life-changer. When they fiber my town in a couple decades, I'm all over it.