Thinking about making the switch from DirecTV to U-verse, has it matured?

---

@shoe7400 wrote:

Let me see so far no Hallmark channel and we could loose HGTV, Food channel Cooking channel DYI networks, no CW channel in most areas.

 I would wait until U-Verse hires a qualifyed negotiator

---

Did it ever cross your mind that a qualified negotiator WAS used and it was NOT a good deal? Seems Hallmark is losing it's shorts over Martha and is looking for help before it folds. You ended your everyday count down Shoe???

---

@hooahwife wrote:

Well I made the switch from Directv several months ago.  In theory, U-verse is great and I loved it at first.  But with only the 2 HD streams it is annoying.  I could get past that though, but we have constant freezing problems.  When your box freezes, you have to reboot.  When you reboot, you lose all of your recordings,  which defeats the very purpose of having it to begin with.  I am not happy with them.  I guess that's why I am on here.  It's too late to call customer service.  Bottom line, if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't.

---

Just rebooting the DVR should not cause you to lose any programming.  Download and install the UverseRealtime application from http://www.uverserealtime.com, take captures of the IP Profile, Bit Loading and Coax/HPNA tabs and create a new post in a more appropriate forum (Equipment would do) and we'd be happy to try to assist you with your issue.

---

@hooahwife wrote:

Well I made the switch from Directv several months ago.  In theory, U-verse is great and I loved it at first.  But with only the 2 HD streams it is annoying.  I could get past that though, but we have constant freezing problems.  When your box freezes, you have to reboot.  When you reboot, you lose all of your recordings,  which defeats the very purpose of having it to begin with.  I am not happy with them.  I guess that's why I am on here.  It's too late to call customer service.  Bottom line, if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't.

---

the recordings should come back after half hour or so.  it does suck though.  you can try rebooting the gateway as well, of course if that goes out, you are left with nothing as I had happen to me.

---

@Terry_2 wrote:

I think you have to give U-verse some credit here. It is a relatively new player in the game and it is only in just under 3 million homes, but their approach to providing a 3 tiered bundle with multiple HD streams on the TV tier really shook up the complacent satellite providers. It's only because of U-verse that DirecTV has put together its excellent Whole Home DVR package.

 

There is no one tv provider that offers all things to all people, but I applaud U-verse for being the terrier in the pack, and continuing to snap at the ankles of the big players as it grows.

 

As customers, we all benefit from U-verse continuing to invest and grow in the market. Has it matured? I think the honest answer is "Some" but it has a way to go.

---

Sorry but that is hardly a good excuse. Verizon is equally new in the triple-play business and look at their FiOS service... Light years ahead of U-verse in everything, part of the reason because they chose to deploy fiber directly to the home. It is also FiOS, not U-verse that was the first to come out with a whole-house DVR. Granted, U-verse has improved in the past few years and their HD quality is far more acceptable, but it has a very long way to go. And one of the first things AT&T should do is get started in deploying fiber to the home right away to fix the current issues of limited internet speeds and poor HD quality. Cable is starting up with their Docsis 3 and that leaves very little time left.

I doubt they'll be deploying fiber to the home anytime soon.  They're still busy rolling out new VRADs.  

What makes me wonder though is the effort required to move the fiber to the home after it's been brought to the VRAD.  Is it possible to do that from the same fiber feed?   In my neighborhood they replaced all the copper before U-verse was rolled out.  

I can't get fios and the local Comcast has done nothing to my neighborhood for years.  It's been over 10 years and I couldn't even get Comcast to disconnect the line to my house from the previous owner.  They do at least send contractors out to fix hurricane damage. 

So U-verse is my best option for now.

Except the Verizon is no longer laying any more fiber.  If you don't have FiOS now, you're not going to get it.  Verizon found out it's not cheap and the ROI on FTTP  isn't waht they thought it would be.  Maybe, just MAYBE AT&T is smarter than people give them credit for.

They have to eventually turn a profit.  🙂

However, being a stone's throws from the VRAD on the max profile I feel for the people that aren't.  I would not be interested in U-verse service at the reduced profiles rates.   I wonder if AT&T has done turnover vs VRAD distance analysis?

Where it really brings the service down is that they have to develop for these minimum profiles.  That in turn holds down services that could be offered to user's on full profiles.  

If 32/5 was delivered to everyone as the minimum profile we could bring the compression bitrate up to more of an industry standard. 

---

@michail77 wrote:

They have to eventually turn a profit.  🙂

 

However, being a stone's throws from the VRAD on the max profile I feel for the people that aren't.  I would not be interested in U-verse service at the reduced profiles rates.   I wonder if AT&T has done turnover vs VRAD distance analysis?

 

Where it really brings the service down is that they have to develop for these minimum profiles.  That in turn holds down services that could be offered to user's on full profiles.  

 

If 32/5 was delivered to everyone as the minimum profile we could bring the compression bitrate up to more of an industry standard. 

---

Which Verizon isn't with FiOS.  They were/are burning through more money than they are brining in just finished the promised fiber runs.  That's why they no longer have any plans to expand FiOS beyond what they currently have. 

Verizon might be spending a lot of money but you can clearly see their plan is working and there is a lot of expansion left on fiber. They have gone with the long-term investment and they probably will not profit until several years down the road. On the other hand, you can see AT&T is starting to struggle and the current tiers (24/3 and 4HD) is just about all they can push out through copper. They might be making more money right now, but all of that money will have to go to upgrading the lines to fiber, so they don't have a big advantage.

The question isn't if AT&T will deploy FTTH, it's a matter of when. Cable is already surpassing U-verse, which is supposed to be a next-generation technology, and that's not a good sign.

What's their long term investment potential in fiber?  Infrastructure related businesses typically need a long term (10-20 year) vision.  

That doesn't usually work well for public companies.  That's why typically many such companies are privately held and typically weather market ups and downs.

With U-verse what I'm curious about is how many VRADS can be deployed within a neighborhood before that cost exceeds that of fiber to the home.  Knowing the lines in my neighborhood I can see the VRAD was placed in a location that could server all homes but the far end would suffer.