New Install in a few weeks....

dpusa · ‎05-03-2012

Experts,

I have a new install in a few weeks of TV (2 HD points) of a DVR and Non DVR Receiver, and Max Internet. A few questions:

1. Any lessons learned I should be aware of previous experience, (i.e. specific equip to ask for etc)

2. If I get two DVRs (instead of just one), will I be able to do that and if so, can I view shows from different DVRs?

Thanks

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

dpusa wrote:

2. If I get two DVRs (instead of just one), will I be able to do that and if so, can I view shows from different DVRs?

Thanks

Welcome to U-verse!

I switched from Dish Network 3 years ago and I have not looked back.

Only one Total Home DVR (THDVR) is installed per account which allows you to watch, schedule and delete recordings from any TV that is connected to U-verse.

oufanindallas · ‎02-08-2010

I switched from Direct in 2009 and haven't looked back. I'm closing on a new contruction house in a couple of months and was stoked to find out that UVerse was available. VRAD is not that far away and there are AT&T access points in front of every lot.

” Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.”- Ernest Hemingway

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

oufanindallas wrote:
I switched from Direct in 2009 and haven't looked back. I'm closing on a new contruction house in a couple of months and was stoked to find out that UVerse was available. VRAD is not that far away and there are AT&T access points in front of every lot.

Congrats. First or last.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

oufanindallas · ‎02-08-2010

Tnx. My wife and mine first, and quite possibly last unless I win the lottery

” Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.”- Ernest Hemingway

dpusa · ‎05-03-2012

Thanks everyone, good info.

Is it all the same HD DVR boxes and wireless internet routers?

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

dpusa wrote:

Thanks everyone, good info.

Is it all the same HD DVR boxes and wireless internet routers?

Depending on your market, the U-verse receivers will either be Motorola or Cisco. Also, the U-verse residential gateway (i.e modem/router) will either be the 2Wire 3800HGV-B or 3801HGV.

Don_H · ‎08-22-2010

If you already have TV and or internet service from another provider... Do not schedule their disconnection until after UVERSE has been installed and working.

Sometimes the install date gets pushed out or there may be an issue causing an incomplete install for a day or two and theres nothing worse than a wife and teenagers complaining about not having internet access. LOL

bugmenot121 · ‎03-04-2012

Don_H wrote:
If you already have TV and or internet service from another provider... Do not schedule their disconnection until after UVERSE has been installed and working.

Sometimes the install date gets pushed out or there may be an issue causing an incomplete install for a day or two and theres nothing worse than a wife and teenagers complaining about not having internet access. LOL

Absolutely. I believe AT&T offers a "30 day, money-back guarantee" which allows you to cancel worry-free within those 30 days and get all your money back.

You can run your current system and AT&T side-by-side on the same TV for those three days to see which you like better.

When the AT&T installer comes, make sure he can get behind all TVs and computers where AT&T is going to be installed. Pull the TV away from the wall before he comes, etc. Make sure all pets won't be a nuisance -- nothing worse than having a dog crawl behind the TV and mess things up. Make sure all crawl spaces are accessible.

bugmenot121 · ‎03-04-2012

Don_H wrote:
If you already have TV and or internet service from another provider... Do not schedule their disconnection until after UVERSE has been installed and working.

Sometimes the install date gets pushed out or there may be an issue causing an incomplete install for a day or two and theres nothing worse than a wife and teenagers complaining about not having internet access. LOL

Absolutely. I believe AT&T offers a "30 day, money-back guarantee" which allows you to cancel worry-free within those 30 days and get all your money back.

You can run your current system and AT&T side-by-side on the same TV for those three days to see which you like better.

When the AT&T installer comes, make sure he can get behind all TVs and computers where AT&T is going to be installed. Pull the TV away from the wall before he comes, etc. Make sure all pets won't be a nuisance -- nothing worse than having a dog crawl behind the TV and mess things up. Make sure all crawl spaces are accessible.

Be home before the window is set to begin, as the tech could come early. Be prepared for it to take several hours.

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

Actually, that's rather difficult to do nowa days. If your current service runs over coax, the Uverse installer will try to re-purpose that coax (to save labor and materials). If you do not want them to, install will cost more or they could outright refuse to do the install, it's in the Terms of Service.

http://www.att.com/u-verse/att-terms-of-service.jsp

You acknowledge that AT&T may use existing wiring, including altering the wiring and removing accessories, located within your unit ("Inside Wiring"). You warrant that you own or control the Inside Wiring, and give AT&T permission to use, alter, and remove equipment from, such wiring. Without limiting any other provisions of this TOS, you agree to indemnify AT&T from and against all claims by an owner, landlord, building manager, or other party in connection with installation, maintenance, repair, or provision of the Services.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

Yes, they may have to reuse wiring, but by not cancelling any existing service, you have a relatively easy option of returning to the old service by simply undoing the wiring changes. You won't have to reestablish an account, pay startup fees, etc.

That Don Guy · ‎11-30-2010

Also, if you currently have cable coming into the house via coax, can the U-Verse tech access the area where it enters the house?

I had a problem with this when I tried to get U-Verse installed (December 2010). Comcast had recently installed exterior boxes that contained the connections between the ground wire and the wire going into the house, which required a special tool to be able to enter (so the homeowners couldn't "borrow" services from their neighbors), and the first AT&T installer to arrive said he couldn't do the install as he needed to access the wiring and couldn't get into the box. (The local Comcast office desk jockeys claimed that the box belonged to my HOA.) Two weeks later, I had Comcast adjust the box so they didn't need to get into the box to access the wiring for my house, and, as it turns out, the AT&T tech that showed up had the tool needed to open the box.

Also, if you have any existing splitters inside your house, see if they are easily accessible, I had one that was covered by 20 years' worth of paint and particle board; it took two hours for the tech to get to it. (I was surprised to say the least when I discovered the tech had some sort of device that could detect exactly how far the splitter was located from where the cable came out of the wall.)

Last, but by no means least, allow all day; mine took something like 7 hours.

ellenjeep · ‎05-25-2012

Cancel it, run quickly in another direction. I have had nothing but problems. Before: Well, you can try to find out what furniture to move by asking how & where things are going to be installed, but I got 2 different answers from 2 different TS phone calls. And the installer did something completely different. So, I ended up moving most of the furnitue in 2 rooms. Luckily, the installer was very good, and after re-wiring every single phone jack in the place, he got everything connected to the correct phone number. But he did break my wall phone mount and couldn't replace it - something that I'll have to do. I was originally told that my service would come in through my old Comcast coax. This was NOT true. If you are in an appartment or condo building where the coax does NOT come into the phone room, your UVerse will be coming in through your 3 pair phone wire. If you are in a house where the phone & coax are not close, do not expect ATT to wire through coax. ASK IN ADVANCE for the larger DVR. Yes, there are 2 possibilities. I was NEVER told that there was even a choice. And while 60 hours seems like a lot of TV, 1 year of 2 series is 44 hours and does not leave much room for new shows. So be sure to ask for the LARGE DVR. When the installer gets there, CHECK YOUR ORDER on his computer. My order was entered completely wrong with the wrong internet speed, the wrong phone number to install on, and the wrong TV package. The notes were right, but the order was entered wrong and the installer has to go off of what is on his order. If you check at the beginning, then you only have to make 1 CS phone call. After: be aware that you will NOT be able to save your programs on other media in HD. So far, no one has been able to tell me how to archive in HD. There is NO slow motion. There is NO Frame advance. You are back to live TV with the added option of FF through the commercials. But those usefull options you are used to from your 25 year old VCR are gone. And my 12MB downloads are NEVER about 9MB, and usually run a dissapointing 3MB (with a lot of latency), especially if I'm trying to web browse while I'm watching live TV. My 1.5MB Mindspring DSL was faster. Good luck

oufanindallas · ‎02-08-2010

ellenjeep wrote:
Cancel it, run quickly in another direction. I have had nothing but problems. Before: Well, you can try to find out what furniture to move by asking how & where things are going to be installed, but I got 2 different answers from 2 different TS phone calls. And the installer did something completely different. So, I ended up moving most of the furnitue in 2 rooms. Luckily, the installer was very good, and after re-wiring every single phone jack in the place, he got everything connected to the correct phone number. But he did break my wall phone mount and couldn't replace it - something that I'll have to do. I was originally told that my service would come in through my old Comcast coax. This was NOT true. If you are in an appartment or condo building where the coax does NOT come into the phone room, your UVerse will be coming in through your 3 pair phone wire. If you are in a house where the phone & coax are not close, do not expect ATT to wire through coax. ASK IN ADVANCE for the larger DVR. Yes, there are 2 possibilities. I was NEVER told that there was even a choice. And while 60 hours seems like a lot of TV, 1 year of 2 series is 44 hours and does not leave much room for new shows. So be sure to ask for the LARGE DVR. When the installer gets there, CHECK YOUR ORDER on his computer. My order was entered completely wrong with the wrong internet speed, the wrong phone number to install on, and the wrong TV package. The notes were right, but the order was entered wrong and the installer has to go off of what is on his order. If you check at the beginning, then you only have to make 1 CS phone call. After: be aware that you will NOT be able to save your programs on other media in HD. So far, no one has been able to tell me how to archive in HD. There is NO slow motion. There is NO Frame advance. You are back to live TV with the added option of FF through the commercials. But those usefull options you are used to from your 25 year old VCR are gone. And my 12MB downloads are NEVER about 9MB, and usually run a dissapointing 3MB (with a lot of latency), especially if I'm trying to web browse while I'm watching live TV. My 1.5MB Mindspring DSL was faster. Good luck

I guess I should cancel my service of 3 years based on your experience? Why are you moving furniture? If your house is already wired for cable then you will be able to use UVerse.

” Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.”- Ernest Hemingway

That Don Guy · ‎11-30-2010

ellenjeep wrote:
be aware that you will NOT be able to save your programs on other media in HD. So far, no one has been able to tell me how to archive in HD. There is NO slow motion. There is NO Frame advance.

Yes, the no slow motion/frame advance can be a pain at times.

As for being able to archive programs, Hauppauge sells a box that connects your STB output to your PC through a USB port. Does any other service offer the ability to save HD programming?

bugmenot121 · ‎03-04-2012

oufanindallas wrote:
ellenjeep wrote:
Cancel it, run quickly in another direction. I have had nothing but problems. Before: Well, you can try to find out what furniture to move by asking how & where things are going to be installed, but I got 2 different answers from 2 different TS phone calls. And the installer did something completely different. So, I ended up moving most of the furnitue in 2 rooms. Luckily, the installer was very good, and after re-wiring every single phone jack in the place, he got everything connected to the correct phone number. But he did break my wall phone mount and couldn't replace it - something that I'll have to do. I was originally told that my service would come in through my old Comcast coax. This was NOT true. If you are in an appartment or condo building where the coax does NOT come into the phone room, your UVerse will be coming in through your 3 pair phone wire. If you are in a house where the phone & coax are not close, do not expect ATT to wire through coax. ASK IN ADVANCE for the larger DVR. Yes, there are 2 possibilities. I was NEVER told that there was even a choice. And while 60 hours seems like a lot of TV, 1 year of 2 series is 44 hours and does not leave much room for new shows. So be sure to ask for the LARGE DVR. When the installer gets there, CHECK YOUR ORDER on his computer. My order was entered completely wrong with the wrong internet speed, the wrong phone number to install on, and the wrong TV package. The notes were right, but the order was entered wrong and the installer has to go off of what is on his order. If you check at the beginning, then you only have to make 1 CS phone call. After: be aware that you will NOT be able to save your programs on other media in HD. So far, no one has been able to tell me how to archive in HD. There is NO slow motion. There is NO Frame advance. You are back to live TV with the added option of FF through the commercials. But those usefull options you are used to from your 25 year old VCR are gone. And my 12MB downloads are NEVER about 9MB, and usually run a dissapointing 3MB (with a lot of latency), especially if I'm trying to web browse while I'm watching live TV. My 1.5MB Mindspring DSL was faster. Good luck
I guess I should cancel my service of 3 years based on your experience? Why are you moving furniture? If your house is already wired for cable then you will be able to use UVerse.

There may be a rare case here and there where the customer or installer insists on re-wiring. My coax was so old that some of it eventually had to be re-wired so I could get all the U-Verse features on my second TV.

The customer said:

"Yes, there are 2 possibilities. I was NEVER told that there was even a choice. And while 60 hours seems like a lot of TV, 1 year of 2 series is 44 hours and does not leave much room for new shows"

To be fair, don't most people end up deleting most of their stuff about 1-3 months after recording it? Typically, it seems like most people record a show and watch it that same week, then delete it when they're done with it. Movies..yeah, that might be different.

The customer said:

After: be aware that you will NOT be able to save your programs on other media in HD. So far, no one has been able to tell me how to archive in HD

This is like most TV companies, right? In order to prevent piracy, aren't most shows encoded so that they can't be copied in HD? (I'm sure you can do it through a VCR, but other than that, it might be tricky.) ... Actually, I think you MIGHT be able to PLAY your show into a computer and record that way, but I've never tried.

The customer said:

And my 12MB downloads are NEVER about 9MB, and usually run a dissapointing 3MB (with a lot of latency), especially if I'm trying to web browse while I'm watching live TV. My 1.5MB Mindspring DSL was faster.

That sounds like it could be a line issue. http://uvrealtime.com/ Download the program at that link, post screenshots, and someone here will tell you how to go about fixing it.

It could also be related to your computer and/or browser. I do get slower speeds in Internet Explorer than I do in Google Chrome.