gbienvenu's profile

Contributor

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1 Message

Thursday, November 29th, 2012 8:39 PM

ATT U-Verse major limitations

We just subscribed to AT&T U-Verse two weeks ago. This report comes to you 2-1/2 years after your disappointing experience. We too have multiple daily tv viewers. We all record in SD so that we don't run out of space. It looks like space will not be an issue. However,  we also did not understand the limitations of this system when we signed on. Does four streams mean, only four things can go on at any one time? If so, why are we renting 7 boxes? We have six adults living here and they all want to record and watch television. Now we're told that we can piggyback onto another tv watching live tv or watch something that is recording. How do you find out what is recording or what someone else is watching if AT&T only lets you choose from watching a recording or interrupting another tv? We don't know who we're interrupting. It's causing mass confusion and anger around here. I would like for someone to clearly explain what the magic combination is. Can we have two SD recordings, watch live television on two sets and watch recordings in other rooms? We don't know. When we call tech support, they don't seem to know anything other than the fact that they only provide four live steams to each residence. This has been repeated to us more than once, but they don't explain what that means. Why can't we watch recorded shows everywhere at the same time if we have a "whole home dvr"? If shows are recorded on a hard drive, we should be able to view them anywhere, anytime, but that's just not the case. When the representative came here, he clearly knew that we had 7 televisions and 6 adults. It shouldn't have been hard for him to see that we were going to run into trouble right away, since he should understand the limitations of the system he was selling us. AT&T should tell people who have more than three televisions and who want to record shows that they are going to have conflicts. It's madness around here. I blame myself because I ordered AT&T U-Verse because of recommendations from family and friends and the fact that it would be cheaper. I did not however do my homework. Our situation is not the same as the typical household. We should have stayed with Cox even though they have gotten outrageous in price. We could only afford to have two dvrs and one box in our house, which meant we had to share tvs and coordinate in order to watch the show everyone records. I never dreamed that AT&T would cause more problems than they solved for us. Often, two or more family members can't watch tv from 7:00 pm to midnight. That's when we are all home! I hate to switch back to Cox, but at least we could watch tv in every room, even if it wasn't recorded shows or we didn't have access to expanded cable because there was no box. At least everyone could watch television. I called AT&T to ask if we could expand our package to include more streams, and I was told no. It's amazing this enormous company hasn't figured out how to provide customers with services that fit individual needs.

Tutor

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10 Messages

11 years ago

Your analogy is not quite right.  The Ford, Chevy, and Toyota people are stating OPINIONS.  If someone that is selling me something states a fact about their product that causes me to purchase it, and the fact they stated has never been right, then that is FRAUD.  I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if it had been right at the time they said it, but then something changed.  But according to two of you in this forum, it was never right so they either don't know their product or they are committing fraud.

ACE - Expert

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27.6K Messages

11 years ago


@jteixeira wrote:

Your analogy is not quite right.  The Ford, Chevy, and Toyota people are stating OPINIONS.  If someone that is selling me something states a fact about their product that causes me to purchase it, and the fact they stated has never been right, then that is FRAUD.  I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if it had been right at the time they said it, but then something changed.  But according to two of you in this forum, it was never right so they either don't know their product or they are committing fraud.


If you had gotten the info from a D2D salesperson (independent contractor), I would've said that they probably DON'T know the product (sad? yes) but the fact that the tech told you this is, in fact, sad.  Deceptive?  I'm not so sure about that.

Teacher

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16 Messages

11 years ago

I, like gbienvenu, am disapointed in the limitations of U-Verse as well as the lack of AT&T's being straight forward about the limitations of their technology in comparison to other providers.

 

I switched from DirecTV where I had their whole home service with two HD DVR's and one non-DVR HD receiver, meaning that I could record four programs at once while still watching a recorded program on any receiver or a live program on the non-DVR unit. I was led to believe by AT&T's online product specialist that the capabilities of the U-Verse Whole Home were the same.

 

I explored Dish w/Hopper as well as DirecTV's offer of a Genie and a slight discount to stay, but U-Verse won out because of the bundling, the expecation of an equivalent service, and good pricing for two years. (The switch came about because I was upgrading my pathetically over-subscribed and under-performing 6MB DSL to U-Verse, as well as the need to add another STB in a room without an existng drop.)

 

I'm sorry to say that I was regretting my decision even before the tech left. He was a great tech and I wouldn't have known about the limitations if it weren't for him, so my main frustration lies with the "Product Specialists" who weren't forthcoming with the truth as well as what I believe is nferior technology. I went over what I had with DirecTV in both terms of equipment and programming with the specialist to make sure that I wasn't losing functionality or benefits. The specialist did inform me of the limitation of not being able to add another DVR, but the 4 simultaneous recordings with U-Verse should have been sufficient since that's what we were already getting by with - at least of they were all HD.

 

Lots of other irritants with the U-Verse system beyond the recording and viewing limitations, some minor & some major:

1) Can't restrict viewing times on STB's

2) No granulaity on setting ratings restrictions. (Allow PG movies, but block PG with D,S or L - same goes with TV.)

3) Complexity of getting to "Favorites"

4) Need to press down to get to next channel when selecting favorites or channels to hide - hundreds of extra button presses needed.

 

As jteixeira stated above, there is a difference between opinions about a product and someone presenting facts about features or functions of the product. I am not going as far as saying it is fraudulent, but it is deceptive and shady.

 

I'm trying my hardest to deal with the limitations and "old technology". I'm planning on putting in 2 or 3 more weeks before opting out, but this might be the first time I've ever taken a provider up on their 30-day money back offer.

 

So AT&T folks if you're reading this: Is there anything that's going to change SOON that would make me want to stay? More streams? Multiple tuners on the DVR's and/or STBs? The ability to add another DVR into the mix? A newer and more intuitive DVR interface?

 

I know I'm asking for a lot, but even my non-techie wife who is more concerned with the payment and who would typically care less about the technology is complaining. 

Tutor

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10 Messages

11 years ago

I will be counting the days until my 30 days is up.  Obviously the problem is more rampant than I imagined.  Dish and Direct TV both have better systems.  I'm just a little wary about going back to a system where my picture goes out when a storm approaches.  Luckily I live in Texas where that doesn't happen too often.

Expert

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14.5K Messages

11 years ago


@Coopster wrote:

 

Lots of other irritants with the U-Verse system beyond the recording and viewing limitations, some minor & some major:

1) Can't restrict viewing times on STB's

2) No granulaity on setting ratings restrictions. (Allow PG movies, but block PG with D,S or L - same goes with TV.) 

 


Are there other TV providers who provide the ability to do #1 and #2?

ACE - Master

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6.9K Messages

11 years ago


@jteixeira wrote:

I will be counting the days until my 30 days is up.  Obviously the problem is more rampant than I imagined.  Dish and Direct TV both have better systems.  I'm just a little wary about going back to a system where my picture goes out when a storm approaches.  Luckily I live in Texas where that doesn't happen too often.


If you are truly that unhappy, why wait for the 30 days to be up?

 

I've had Dish and Direct in the past and wouldn't go back to either one if they were the only two providers left.

 

We may not have that many storms in Texas, but when we do, they are usually doozies and I'd just as soon have my satellite go out.

Teacher

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16 Messages

11 years ago


@texasguy37 wrote:

@Coopster wrote:

 

Lots of other irritants with the U-Verse system beyond the recording and viewing limitations, some minor & some major:

1) Can't restrict viewing times on STB's

2) No granulaity on setting ratings restrictions. (Allow PG movies, but block PG with D,S or L - same goes with TV.) 

 


Are there other TV providers who provide the ability to do #1 and #2?


Yes, DirecTV on #1. I believe they also support granular restricitons in #2 although my memory is a little weak.

 

As for #2, there are even TV's with built-in granularity of types of content within a rating that you can restrict but I believe those restrictions are only enforced on the built-in tuner. (I know they don't have any effect on the cisco wireless STB's.)

Teacher

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16 Messages

11 years ago


@aviewer wrote:
Coopster - It is difficult to find out all the limitations. I can only give you a pointer on your items 3 &4.

You are using the regular menu for favorites??

You can use the enter button to improve efficiency, somewhat.

You can use number entry to get to a channel. Enter - OK adds channel to favorites.

Enter - down arrow - OK brings up favorites guide.

Thanks, aviewer. I'm going to try and use your pointers.

 

I guess part of my problem is the adjustment from multiple guide options on DirecTV. I'm learning that hiding the channels to eliminate the "never watched" channels and then narrowing down further with Favorites is probably the closest I'll get to what we're used to.

 

(Enter - OK) for adding to Favorites and  (Enter - down arrow - OK) for favorites menu.... thanks for those... they'll help. I just wish there was a way to get around having to push two buttons to make a change and move on any of the list settings screens.

 

Since you mentioned using the number entry to get to a channel, when working in one of the channel lists it would be extremely helpful if we could use hte number entry there to jump to a desired channel. For instance, I was interrupted while hiding channels on one receiver when I was right at the 800 movie channels. When I went back, I couldn't easily jump to the 800's to continue... it was holding down Channel/Page Down forever.

 

 

Expert

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10.1K Messages

11 years ago

Coopster - I believe you do not need to do both hide and favorites. They each provide the same abbreviated guide with different good/bad.

Most people seem to like the hide - probably because it applies to the guide button.

I would not use it because it is way too onerous to build & will hide the channels offered during free previews.

Favorites is way easier to build & preserves the full guide for free previews. It is a two extra button pushes to view a favorites guide.

How do you like channel shortcuts - No building - Too many button pushes to view - not enough filtering for me.

ACE - Master

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6.9K Messages

11 years ago


@aviewer wrote:
Coopster - I believe you do not need to do both hide and favorites. They each provide the same abbreviated guide with different good/bad.

Most people seem to like the hide - probably because it applies to the guide button.

I would not use it because it is way too onerous to build & will hide the channels offered during free previews.

Favorites is way easier to build & preserves the full guide for free previews. It is a two extra button pushes to view a favorites guide.

How do you like channel shortcuts - No building - Too many button pushes to view - not enough filtering for me.

I have the U450 so I have all the channels. I use the hide to get rid of the QVS and shopping networks as well as the religious programming channels.

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