Jumping Ship: Bye-bye ATT U-verse TV

[karlinhos_1]

I am done with U-verse for TV service.  I decided to give it a try back in November 2008 when signing up for internet service even though I was perfectly happy with DirectTV (Uverse was/is cheaper).

• Well, right from the beginning, it took 4 appointment reschedules and 2 days off of work before they could finally get their act together and get my install completed. 

• Then there's the receiver (Motorola), the high pitch tone is highly annoying.  When I called customer service they simply told me it's a known issue and that's just basically the way it is.  Please. 

• The the lack of programming options.  It's limited in key ways that the DirectTV receiver is not.  Ex. I want to recorder local news on Saturday at 6pm.  Unfortunately, local news runs at 6pm throughout the wee, but I don't want those telecasts.  I only want the Saturday telecasts.  Can't be done.  This too was confirmed by customer service.

• When erasing a recorded program, there are huge delays before changing to the next screen.  Most of the time I have to hit the Menu button to "force" the screen change.  Annoying.

• No slow-motion or frame advance feature on the receiver.

• Sometimes recordings are glitchy to the point that they are either completely unwatchable or totally freeze and have to be deleted.  Unreliable.

• Constant receiver reboots.

 

After dealing with all of these inconveniences over the past few months I am done and more than willing to jump from my U400 package (360 channels for $109) back to my DirectTV Premier Package ($265 channels for $129), losing a handful of channels in the process and paying $20 more to boot.  But for better reliability, no irritating noises, and key performance/features, it's a small price to pay.

I will be keeping my kick-**bleep** internet service (18/1.5) though as it has proven to be very reliable.

RIP U-verse TV, it was nice knowing you..... NOT!

Message Edited by karlinhos on 05-03-2009 04:11 PM

[skeeterintexas]

If I'd had that many problems, I'd probably jump ship too. 

Fortunately, we've had little to no problems.

[johnl]

Gee, your first post I see.  Strange that you never posted your issues before on this forum.  If I was a cynical person I would think that you are just trying to promote Direct TV and dis U-verse.  In fact, what are you even trying to accomplish with your first post?

Message Edited by jeslevine on 05-03-2009 04:33 PM

[karlinhos_1]

yeah, i realized it was my first post too after, uh... posting it!    i've lurked so much and found many answers to my questions here, i was actually surprised to see it was my first post.  i know it looks suspect, but it's all on the up-and-up.

i guess the main reason i posted was to reconfirm a lot of other people's gripes about the service.  maybe also to be yet another customer (or former) to push ATT to focus on improvingthis shoddy product and hardware.  i do think a lot of the issues lie with crappy hardware (receiver mainly).  i think they could have solved a lot of those shortcomings by learning from the more established providers out there and simply emulate their product and offer it at a lower price, then it would have been a definite homerun.  but instead it seems that they opted to try to reinvent the wheel and they failed.  i mean c'mon, who nowadays doesn't have slow-mo or frame-by-frame advance features on their equipment?  heck, i had those features on my VCR in the early 90s!

my motto has always been "do it right the first time".  ATT has fallen way short of this.  and with all of my calls into customer service, literally HOURS wasted being bounced from customer service to supervisor to manager to administrator, etc. to ultimately get a month's service fee waived or get some gift cards... it's like I told a couple of the managers who were giving me these favors for my troubles, "look, all of these things are well and nice, but quite frankly, i'd much rather have fully functioning service than all of these bandaids."  unfortunately all they could offer were the bandaids.

i knew it was time to go back to the 'ol tried and true when even my non-tech wife said, "can we change back now?"  and even though these posts may sound like an advert for DirectTV, they are simply just my experiences.  even after having DirectTV back for only a day now (i still have not cancelled U-verse) it's like being back home after a nightmare of a "vacation".

i'm curious, are there any former DirectTV subscribers out there who prever U-verse?  if so, what do you see as the advantages to Uverse over DirectTV?  maybe i'm missing something here.  i would venture to say the only advantage will be the channel/price ratio.

[ViewMaster]

I'm about six weeks into this service and have noticed some severe hang time after deleting a recording. But it only seems to happen if i choose to delete from the menu screen that pops up after pushing the Stop button from viewing. If I take it back to Recorded TV and scroll to the show I want to delete, it doesn't get stuck.

I am also quite disappointed with the lack of slow motion and frame advance, but I wouldn't dump U-verse over it.

[donatom3]

ViewMaster,

Trust me as slow as you think the Uverse box may be at deleting wait to try to delete or navigate menus on a HD DirecTV receiver.  I had the HR21's (newest models) and both were slow as molasses.  So I guess deleting at the menu you get at the end of the show didnt' seem to bad to me becuase it's way quicker than it took my directv receiver to just open up a show to start playing it.

As for the OP I'm sorry to hear about your install issues.  I almost became one of those horror stories, until the tech was able to trace the correct line back to the crossbox.  His office gave him the wrong line number for us.  Were you not able to get a Saturday appointment?

BTW don't forget on DirecTV they make you pay $200 for each HD DVR plus $6 per month lease and you still have to return those when you're done with DirecTV.  Not to mention DirecTV charging $50 for service vists, but the phone rep not telling you this is the case when they setup the appointment.

[sportsman_1]

bye bye

[johnl]

I am not experiencing the same issues you have.  I was a Dish subscriber before trying Uverse, actually still have minimum service with Dish.  As far as my experience the SD is great, especially compared to Dish.  The HD is good, but not quite as good as Dish.

I am also not having the hardware issues  you are experiencing

I love the whole house DVR viewing experience, but will be quite disappointed if by the end of the year they don't allow recordings to be initiated from non DVRs.

I came on board a couple of months ago, and would have probably felt the same way you did if that was my experience

As I said, I still have minimum service with Dish, so I don't close my options.

Curious, they swap out your receivers with new ones? 

Message Edited by jeslevine on 05-03-2009 06:35 PM

[karlinhos_1]

donatom3 - my directv service was suspended when i decided to go over to uverse.  this is a 6-month option when "cancelling" service with directv.  that way if you want to reactivate, it costs you nothing.  you keep your box, etc. during this suspended period. 

when i called to reactivate directv, they instantly reactivated the service remotely over the phone.  it was instantaneous.  no extra charges, no hidden fees.  and if/when i decide to cancel directv for good, i will simply send back the hd dvr receiver in packaging they supply, pay my final bill and all is done.  unlike the standard receivers, it seems that directv does not let you keep the hdr's. 

Message Edited by karlinhos on 05-03-2009 07:37 PM

[djmalik]

I have not experienced any of the problems except that occasional noise. I assume that that type of issue will be fixed in the software upgrade that comes next. I cannot compare to DirectTV, but compared to Comcast, I am in Nirvana. I have two residences: one Comcast and the other AT&T. I would LOVE to have Uverse over Comcast. Quality, price, programming, HD options are all substantially better.

ALTHOUGH I have a fast internet connection with Comcast. Go figure. I'd rather have the better cable.

[karlinhos_1]

jeslevine - the option of swapping out the receivers wasn't even offered.  but i'm sure if i pushed it they would have.  i decided not to pursue that avenue as i had read other posts on here of people having the same experiences, having their receivers swapped out 3-4 times and all of them having the same high pitch sound. 

i also read about some saying that they were told by a customer service rep that that is a known problem with the motorolas and that you should demand the other brand of receivers they apparently offer.  it was also posted that apparently ATT is short on stock of this other brand (i cannot remember the brand name) and normally does not send them out to customer's homes.  they are also reluctant to swap out the motorolas for this other brand.  again, this is just what i read on here.

[karlinhos_1]

djmalik - the high pitch sound sounds to me like more of a reaction to the unit getting warm/hot, not something that can be corrected by a software fix.  but it sure would be nice if it were fixed in such a simple manner.

also, regarding your internet service (comcast), did i understand you correctly that you believe the comcast cable is better than uverse fiber optic?

[mibrnsurg ACE - Geek]

Cisco, not available in Moto areas.  All you have to do to stop the noise is make sure it gets ventilition as that's the fan making the noise as it's hot wherever it is currently (in my case, I just raised it up about an inch to get better air flow under it).  If you would have come here, you would have found that out.  Adios, enjoy service interruptions thanks to mother nature.

Chris

---

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV IMHO

[msshing_1]

We have always programmed our TV to come on in the morning (like an alarm clock).  The TV comes on in the morning but is the blue screen saying you need to push OK.  This blue screen doesn't do much to wake me up in the morning.  Also, we used to have DISH network and I miss being able to set the TV to auto-tune to a channel at a specific time.  If you wanted to watch a program on Channel 5 at 8:00 p.m. you could set the received to tune the TV to that station at that time (not recording; just tuning). 

[karlinhos_1]

mibrnsurg - cisco, that's it.  now why would ATT contract with and use motorola's  faulty product?  and yes, if the end user has to position his/her equipment in a particular manner to have it work properly, then that's faulty. 

i did come here and granted, i didn't hit EVERY post on the issue, but what i did find i posted above.

i've never had any problems with service interruptions with directv, but then again i'm in southern california.  not much inclement weather here.  at least i know when i schedule something to be recorded, i'll have the piece of mind knowing that i'll be able to watch it in it's entirety, not just a portion of it and have to delete the rest due to a glitch in the recording.   

Message Edited by karlinhos on 05-03-2009 08:40 PM

[mibrnsurg ACE - Geek]

Once again if you would have asked for help, seems like a hard reboot of the DVR would have solved your recording 'glitchs' (by the way don't have any of those problems here on a Moto).  I've been out in So Cal many times and there is bad weather there too.

Chris

---

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV IMHO

[karlinhos_1]

since november 2008 i've had to hard reboot probably about 8 times, and that's a conservative estimate.  i've never had to reboot the directv receiver and have never experienced an outage in the 5+ years i've had directv.  call me lucky i guess.

so cal weather is as mild and uneventful as it gets.  stop coming here and bringing the bad weather with you!       

[mibrnsurg ACE - Geek]

Then leave us here and go to DirecTV, you'll be happier there.

Chris

---

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV IMHO

[karlinhos_1]

i'm way ahead of you.

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Guru]

---

karlinhos wrote:

donatom3 - my directv service was suspended when i decided to go over to uverse.  this is a 6-month option when "cancelling" service with directv.  that way if you want to reactivate, it costs you nothing.  you keep your box, etc. during this suspended period. 

when i called to reactivate directv, they instantly reactivated the service remotely over the phone.  it was instantaneous.  no extra charges, no hidden fees.  and if/when i decide to cancel directv for good, i will simply send back the hd dvr receiver in packaging they supply, pay my final bill and all is done.  unlike the standard receivers, it seems that directv does not let you keep the hdr's. 

Message Edited by karlinhos on 05-03-2009 07:37 PM

---

I had Directv for 7 years. Believe their HD picture is a little clearer but there SD picture is just horrible. I know most people will watch all HD if they can but some of us do not have all HD TV's in our houses. I would never, ever, go back to Directv. I highlighted part of you quote because it is not your decision if/when you want to cancel directv for good, it is Directv's decision when they will let you go. I bet you are locked into a brand new 2 year contract when you reactivated your service. Am I correct? There is no contract with Uverse. And if you decide to get another STB or DVR thru DTV you start into another 2 year contract automatically. Buy a DTV HD receiver at Best Buy and you pay for it, but DTV owns it and you have to return it. And when you sign that invoice at Best Buy, another new 2 year contract. And brake your contract early and it is a $20 per month penalty, the highest monthly penalty for any satellite or cable company. My HD signal was constantly lost with DTV with any increment weather. (I know you do not have this problem) I got so tired of this lost signal, and CS not being able to fix it, I broke my contract early with 16 months left. I had bought a new DTV HD DVR at Best Buy 6 months earlier. I told them I refuse to pay the $320 because they failed to provide a service. They told me they have my debit card number and they were going to take the money out of my checking account. I told them they do not have my permission to do this. DTV CSR, "We are going to take that money out of your account with, or without, your permission". Last draw! Went to my small town bank and cancelled my debit card. Personal banker said I was third person in there that month canceling their cards to prevent DTV from taking money out of their accounts without their permission! Directv - what a nasty deceptive company!

So you didn't even try to have Uverse switch out your box because you read here some others were having the same problems. There are many people that do not have any problems with a high-pitched whine coming from their receivers. You must turn down the volume on your TV just to let the whine agitate you. Wouldn't listen to those here that suggested getting some more air to it. Your receiver isn't the only thing with a high pitched whine!

Think you are a professional troll in the worst way. You had no intention of keeping, or wanting, your Uverse service and just had it installed to pick it apart and come into the forum to vent about it. Came in and tried to post as being sincere. Then throughout the thread kept picking UV apart while saying Directv, and even Comcast internet, is better. Kept all your Directv equipment and now that it is activated for just one day you are in heaven and your Uverse nightmare is over! What a bunch of BS. You and Directv deserve each other so good riddance! 

Oh, now you have edited your sincere first post so it is now down right nasty just like Directv! Shouldn't have wasted my time...

[karlinhos_1]

 uniblurb3:

first off, work on your reading and interpretation skills.  now, on to addressing your points.

1. i am not locked into a NEW contract, since my account was in "suspension" status, it is like there was never a break in service.  i agree, the uverse no-contract policy is a great one.  kudos to them for implementing that.  that's a very risky business move.

2. regarding dtv and their equipment policies, since i now and have been using the HDR, i don't plan on upgrading equipment anytime soon, so no extra expenses there in the foreseable future.

3. just as you got tired with loss of signal because of inclement weather in your area and left dtv (amazing that you put up with 7 years of that crap), i got tired of poor receiver performance and high-pitched whinning from the receiver box and am leaving after 6 months of "hanging in there".  who's the bigger "sucker," the one who put up with crappy service for 6 months or the one who put up with 7 years of crappy service?  

4. yeah, that sucks that dtv was going after your... er, uh, their money like they did.  i mean after all, there was a contract and it was broken.  if you felt you were in-the-right and they were at fault, then you really should have taken them to small claims court.  i also cannot see how closing your bank account would suddenly get them off your back too.

5. regarding the high-picthed whine, you should realize that it lingers on long after the receiver is off.  so much for the "why don't you just drown it our with tv volume" approach.  again, if the thing were designed properly i wouldn't have to "get more air to it".  why didn't motorola design it with 1.5" feet?  (lol)  as for exchanging it, why, if the replacement is going to do the same thing.  as said by another poster, the "good" receiver (cisco) isn't available in the motorola areas.

6. you said i had ordered and had uverse installed just to pick it apart.  i don't know about you, but i really don't have the time for such monkey business.  i originally ordered just the internet service, but was sold on upgrading the tv service as well.  who wouldn't want more channels for less cost?  i was thinking it was all a no-brainer and i'd be a happy camper.  but it didn't quite work out that way.  on the contrary, it sure seems like you have a lot of time on your hands for such shenanigans though... almost 500 posts within 3 months???  yikes!  prolific.

 7. you claimed that i edited my first post,implying that it was originally an sincere post, then i changed it to a nasty post.  if you notice, the time between the original post and the edited post is 1 minute.  it's called correcting a spelling error.

i forgot to address a previous post where someone asked why i didn't schedule the installation on a saturday.  well, i tried that too.  2 of my "botched" installation appointments were on saturdays.

[shoe]

good bye

[MarkShadid]

Good luck with whatever it is you are going to do.

[ViewMaster]

An observation I have made since reading these boards is that it seems the level of U-verse customer service as well as the installed hardware quality is broadly related to geographic location. That fact can kill this company. Some regions have great customer service, good response times and competent field techs. Some are downright horrendous. From talking with a lot of people who had U-verse long before I was able to connect, the Houston market seems to do fairly well in these categories. Based solely on positive word of mouth conversations, I spent a year anxiously checking availability, waiting for my location to finally get turned on. Satisfied customers have probably sold more packages around my neck of the woods than any form of advertising (of which there was very little btw). In turn, my positive experiences have led to many of my friends switching as well.

 IMO,  if this program is going to live up to its intended potential while striving to set a standard of high product quality for the best price, some of the regional execs need to wake up, do their jobs and fire some people. Or GET fired. These areas had better get their "after the sale" services turned around in a hurry before U-verse gets such a poor reputation locally that it won't be able to grow or recover from it. If the level of service and user satisfaction can be so sporadic from one market to another, this company's overall ability to succeed and grow will never be realized. The low subscription numbers will mean less monies to develop new technologies and options for the rest of us.

I can't blame people for walking away from something that is not providing a satisfactory experience. I would do the same thing. For me, so far the product seems like a good one and all the parts have come together the way they should. Especially when compared to TWC and Concast.

[whoisdarr]

Just a comment for the Uverse lovers, it doesn't make us look good by harshly critisizing people who are leaving and making stuipid good bye comments.  If I were looking into Uverse that would kind of put me off.  If you want to give them some tips that they might have been able to do to correct their problem that is great.  But sometimes it just doesn't work for people, could be anything from the distance from the vrad, bad home wiring, bad customer support expereience or even just faulty equipment.  Now I understand this guy should have been alot more diplomatic in picking a title for his post.  But hey if you took the time to switch to a new service and it didn't work out for you wouldn't you be a lil put off.  I know I was almost put off due to 3 service calls and inability by ATT to correctly measure vrad distance.  But somehow how they got mine to work at 4200 feet and I'm on cloud nine.

[donatom3]

Whoisdarr,

I definitely agree.  Especially when people tell you to enjoy the sattelite services going out in bad weather.  All I know is with my years with DirecTV I've had the service go out less times (actually I can't remember one outage in 4 years) than anything I've had with cable. 

I wasn't sure if Uverse would work for me, until I tried it.  In my case it did in the OPs it didn't.  There are pros and cons to every service.  People have to go with what works for them.

[karlinhos_1]

and great posts viewmaster, whoisdarr, and donatom3.  and yes, in looking back and re-reading my subject title, maybe it was a bit too harsh, but i guess when writing it i was beyond the end of my ropes with the product.

anyway, best of luck to all of you with your entertainment choices and thanks for the constructive posts.  and in the words of the almighty el guapo... "godspeed and party on!  *pow!*"

 

[kryptonite]

---

karlinhos wrote:

I am done with U-verse for TV service.  I decided to give it a try back in November 2008 when signing up for internet service even though I was perfectly happy with DirectTV (Uverse was/is cheaper).

• Well, right from the beginning, it took 4 appointment reschedules and 2 days off of work before they could finally get their act together and get my install completed. 

• Then there's the receiver (Motorola), the high pitch tone is highly annoying.  When I called customer service they simply told me it's a known issue and that's just basically the way it is.  Please. 

• The the lack of programming options.  It's limited in key ways that the DirectTV receiver is not.  Ex. I want to recorder local news on Saturday at 6pm.  Unfortunately, local news runs at 6pm throughout the wee, but I don't want those telecasts.  I only want the Saturday telecasts.  Can't be done.  This too was confirmed by customer service.

• When erasing a recorded program, there are huge delays before changing to the next screen.  Most of the time I have to hit the Menu button to "force" the screen change.  Annoying.

• No slow-motion or frame advance feature on the receiver.

• Sometimes recordings are glitchy to the point that they are either completely unwatchable or totally freeze and have to be deleted.  Unreliable.

• Constant receiver reboots.

 

After dealing with all of these inconveniences over the past few months I am done and more than willing to jump from my U400 package (360 channels for $109) back to my DirectTV Premier Package ($265 channels for $129), losing a handful of channels in the process and paying $20 more to boot.  But for better reliability, no irritating noises, and key performance/features, it's a small price to pay.

I will be keeping my kick-**bleep** internet service (18/1.5) though as it has proven to be very reliable.

RIP U-verse TV, it was nice knowing you..... NOT!

Message Edited by karlinhos on 05-03-2009 04:11 PM

---

High-pitch tone?  What do you mean?  I've had U-Verse since October and have NEVER heard a tone.  Nor have the other people that use my receiver 

Recording options?  A show I record airs locally at 8 PM, 8:30 PM, 11 PM and 11:30 PM on Wednesdays.  It airs twice on Thursdays and sometimes on Saturdays.  I can record it, then again, I record it as an individual show.  I haven't tried to record it as a series.  Why not go in once a week (ACK! HORROR!) and select it to record.

I erase it from the menu.  I'm either watching it and hit "stop", then choose the delete option, or I delete it straight from the "recorded shows" menu.

If recordings are glitchy, then maybe it's your receiver?  Have you tried to swap your DVR out for another one?  Maybe there's a problem with the incoming signal.

Constant reboots?  Once again, it could be your receiver.

[kryptonite]

---

mibrnsurg wrote:

Adios, enjoy service interruptions thanks to mother nature.

Chris

---

Actually, that's not really true.  Anyone with half a brain knows that if satellite service is properly installed, it won't go out unless there's a hurricane and power is on the verge of going out.

It really is reliable as cable.

How many times has your local sports bar lost signal?  (Hint - If they're a respectable sports bar, they probably have DirecTV.)

[donatom3]

---

kryptonite wrote:

---

mibrnsurg wrote:

Adios, enjoy service interruptions thanks to mother nature.

Chris

---

Actually, that's not really true.  Anyone with half a brain knows that if satellite service is properly installed, it won't go out unless there's a hurricane and power is on the verge of going out.

It really is reliable as cable.

How many times has your local sports bar lost signal?  (Hint - If they're a respectable sports bar, they probably have DirecTV.)

---

I'd actually put DirecTV's reliability above Cable.