gbienvenu's profile

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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.

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Official Solution

Expert

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10.1K Messages

11 years ago

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.

Expert

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23.3K Messages

11 years ago

At this time Uverse is only sending 4 streams to our homes.  Going to another service provider is the only solution for you and the others living in your home to watch different channels on live tv.  We (subs) are hoping that ATT will rollout more streams in the near future.  I only have 4 TVs in my home and have bumped into the 4 stream limitation several times.  If I am recording something whether it is 1, 2, 3, or 4 channels at one time, I have had my tv program suddenly interrupted.  You are not alone in your feelings about the 4 streams but many of us can work around it.  With you having 7 TVs, having Uverse could prove to be a great challenge.

Expert

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10.1K Messages

11 years ago

gbienvenu - The technical limitations of u-verse are not that painful for smaller users. Heavier users, like you, are better off with a provider with more streams available.

The four stream limit simply means your seven STBs & DVR can only view/record four different channels at the same time. You can view three previously recorded shows during that time.

The best strategy for overcoming the stream limitation is to record most of your programs - taking advantage of late night showings where possible. But, you cannot even satisfy all your watchers with playing recordings.

Seems like you would need to carefully schedule all busy hour activity & be sure no-one leaves an unwatched STB on. It is not conducive to casual TV viewing.

On the bright side there was a brief period where some viewers did see sven streams. It was withdrawn , but shows att is working towards satisfying your needs. Who knows if and when it will return.

ACE - Master

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6.9K Messages

11 years ago


@aviewer wrote:
gbienvenu - The technical limitations of u-verse are not that painful for smaller users. Heavier users, like you, are better off with a provider with more streams available.

The four stream limit simply means your seven STBs & DVR can only view/record four different channels at the same time. You can view three previously recorded shows during that time.

The best strategy for overcoming the stream limitation is to record most of your programs - taking advantage of late night showings where possible. But, you cannot even satisfy all your watchers with playing recordings.

Seems like you would need to carefully schedule all busy hour activity & be sure no-one leaves an unwatched STB on. It is not conducive to casual TV viewing.

On the bright side there was a brief period where some viewers did see sven streams. It was withdrawn , but shows att is working towards satisfying your needs. Who knows if and when it will return.

I was one of those that had the 7 streams for about 2 weeks when I had UVerse installed in my new house.  It was great 3HD and 4SD streams. Wife, son and father in law don't mind watching SD so it worked out well.  Then it went away.  The tech I had out in October after the builders landscaping crew cut my cable next door said they are indeed working on rolling out 7 or 8 streams by the 2nd qtr of next year.  

Contributor

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1 Message

11 years ago

It appears that there are the same limitations with the DVR that it had a year or two ago.  While ATT advertises that it can record 4 TV shows at once, it does not indicate that a HD show counts as two shows.  Thus if you have 2 TV users, both watching a HD show, there are not any additional channels that can be recorded at that time.  Back to Comcast.

ACE - Expert

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27.6K Messages

11 years ago


@Dillonfries wrote:

It appears that there are the same limitations with the DVR that it had a year or two ago.  While ATT advertises that it can record 4 TV shows at once, it does not indicate that a HD show counts as two shows.  Thus if you have 2 TV users, both watching a HD show, there are not any additional channels that can be recorded at that time.  Back to Comcast.


Dillonfries, what is your profile?  Menu>System Options>System Information>System Resources.

 

Totally untrue about the 1HD=2SD. 

 

Unless you have stream limitations because of your distance to the VRAD, 4HD streams can be watched and/or recorded.  The only limitation is that one of the viewed HD streams must be on a STB and NOT the DVR.

Tutor

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10 Messages

11 years ago

I've had Uverse for about 2 weeks.  I was told by tier 1 support and the guy that installed my system, that I should be able to record 4 HD shows at the same time.  I had a tech come out last Friday and he tried for 2 hours to get that working.  He thought I should be able to record 4 HD shows at the same time as well.

 

The end result was that after 2 hours of the tech consulting with tier 2 support and another tech, they reached the conclusion that only 3 HD / 1 SD show can be recorded at the same time or 3 HD can be recorded while 1 HD is watched live but without being able to pause.  This is despite the 32 meg profile that everybody said should allow me to record 4 HD at the same time.

 

They did have this capability for awhile but now I feel I have been misled into purchasing this service as this was a major issue.  Can anyone else record 4 HD shows at the same time?

Expert

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14.5K Messages

11 years ago


@jteixeira wrote:

 

They did have this capability for awhile but now I feel I have been misled into purchasing this service as this was a major issue.  Can anyone else record 4 HD shows at the same time?


U-verse has never had the ability to record 4 HD programs at the same time.

Tutor

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10 Messages

11 years ago

Never?  Then they deliberately misled me.  Why do so many people that work for ATT Uverse think that it could/can?  An ATT rep came to my house last night to tell me about an upgrade to the fiber in my neighborhood and he said he has the capability to record 4 HD at the same time.  He was going to check it when he went home.

 

At least 2 Uverse installers/service people and 2 online chat techs and the rep from last night believed that Uverse had the capability.  How can they not know their product?

ACE - Expert

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27.6K Messages

11 years ago


@jteixeira wrote:

Never?  Then they deliberately misled me.  Why do so many people that work for ATT Uverse think that it could/can?  An ATT rep came to my house last night to tell me about an upgrade to the fiber in my neighborhood and he said he has the capability to record 4 HD at the same time.  He was going to check it when he went home.

 

At least 2 Uverse installers/service people and 2 online chat techs and the rep from last night believed that Uverse had the capability.  How can they not know their product?


That's why it's a good idea to go online and ask UNBIASED people what their thoughts are, what are the true capabilities, what kind of service they've received, etc.

 

It's not unlike, say, buying a new car.  OF COURSE the Ford dealer is going to tell you that Fords are the best car on the road.  A Toyota dealer is going to put down the Ford and tell you that Toyotas are the be all, end all.  Same with Chevrolets.

 

And no, Uverse has never had the capabilities to record 4 HDs programs at once.  I was one of the first to get 4 HDs streams and from day 1 it was record 3 HD streams, 1 HD stream can be watched on a NON-DVR box.

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