ulvlelrlsleltlelclh's profile

Former Employee

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21 Messages

Saturday, May 25th, 2013 6:56 AM

MUST READ! NEW UPGRADES "UVERSE TECH"

I have seen a lot of questions regarding 2013 upgrades. I have also seen a LOT of incorrect responses to these questions. Ill cover what I KNOW is on the way and what is being tested. The area I work in is a very well known test location for testing.

1. Stream increase- U-verse is an IP based TV service that currently offers 4 streams per customer. Mid July there will be an increase to 6 streams.
2. New Gateway- The NVG589 Gateway has been released already and is currently very limited and is for NEW installs only.
3. Internet speed increase- The top is 24MB down 5MB up. July is the release for 48-60MB down and up to 10MB upload.

Ill explain what these mean the best I can.
A stream is basically 1 channel. So when you are watching a live TV program you are using 1 stream. If you are recording a program you are using 1 stream. If you are recording HD you are using 2 streams due to high bandwidth. "1.75 stream actually" . So if you have 4 boxes you can watch 4 different channels at once but then you have no streams to record. If you want to record a sd program one of the boxes would need to give up its stream to allow the recording. Recording 2 sd and 2 boxes would have to give up their streams. For 1 hd recording 2 would need to give their streams up and so on... This is a big problem with large households or heavy dvr users. ATT offers up to 8 boxes per household. Even with 8 boxes only 4 could surf at once leading to this increase. No, still won't be able to surf 8 because there will only be 6 but never seen 8 boxes simultaneously in use. It was found most customers at most use six streams, 2 in progress HD recordings and surfing 2-3 boxes=6.
So when watching your tv only the channel your watching is being sent to the box. When you change the channel a request is sent to the office and different channel sent back instantly. This method uses very little bandwidth. Cable companys send all signals to the box at once and the box filters the channels. This is why cable companys like twc and comcast have so many issues with random picture issues from signals bleeding together. Back to streams uverse will continue to add streams until negative feedback drops below "x".

The NVG589 will be the first gateway with the N router feature extending wifi range. This gateway must have CAT 5 feeding the signal in. This will remove current problems caused by coax feeds. " can feed signal OUT to boxes via coax". Bonded customers will see the biggest change. Right now there has to be a outside unit, an internal battery unit, and inside wifi unit. 589 has all built into gateway that is smaller than current 3801 gateways. This gateway reduces 3 points of failure ad works great.
The new internet speeds are not advertised yet but increase in bandwidth cap is already at "most" locations just waiting for more location upgrades before sale release.
COMING FALL 2013- another gateway with WAP built in, AC routing, 8 port e.
Cloud DVR storage- no more lost recording when replacing bad box, also means.
Will add more if questions

Guru

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594 Messages

11 years ago

If this turns out to be true and not a pipe dream, this may actually take me away from Time Warner Cable who I am with right now.  I have 50/5 now from Time Warner so going with 45/6 may be good enough.

 

As for TV, I'm going to need at least six HD streams and a heck of a lot of storage capacity for recorded content since just about everything I watch is HDTV.  Somewhere around 150 hours of HDTV capacity would be nice.

Expert

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20.4K Messages

11 years ago

Just check my post 2 posts above trparky, that's ATT's own press release about it. 😉

 

Chris


Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? 1-800-288-2020, After he gets acct info, press # a bunch of times, get a menu from Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

Guru

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594 Messages

11 years ago

That and improved HDTV picture quality. Which I have to say that even TWC has been getting worse and worse as of late. I have no idea why but they have been getting worse in the HDTV department lately.

Why can't we have decent looking HDTV in this nation of ours?

Expert

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20.4K Messages

11 years ago


@trparky wrote:

That and improved HDTV picture quality. Which I have to say that even TWC has been getting worse and worse as of late. I have no idea why but they have been getting worse in the HDTV department lately.

Why can't we have decent looking HDTV in this nation of ours?


Well, I've been seeing better and better HD on Uverse in my 4 3/4 years.  ATT installed better compression units on the national channels and then the locals and things are noticably better after that.  I can get 2' from my plasma and PQ is decent, before the units were installed it was blotchy up that close. Smiley Very Happy

 

Chris


Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? 1-800-288-2020, After he gets acct info, press # a bunch of times, get a menu from Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

Expert

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14.5K Messages

11 years ago


@trparky wrote:

That and improved HDTV picture quality. Which I have to say that even TWC has been getting worse and worse as of late. I have no idea why but they have been getting worse in the HDTV department lately.

Why can't we have decent looking HDTV in this nation of ours?


The HD quality tends to get worst with cable as more HD channels are added to the system because all channels are sent down the pipe to your home at the same time.  In order to fit more channels in the same pipe, more compression may be need which results in a degradation of the picture.

 

Contrast this to U-verse which only sends a maximum of 4 channels at a time to your residence.

Guru

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594 Messages

11 years ago

I used to have uVerse before I went to TWC. Like I said I have 50/5 Internet now from TWC so if AT&T can come close to that I might just have to look at them again. Especially if they can offer the same services for cheaper than what I'm now paying.

TWC used to have much better HDTV picture quality but they have been getting worse as of late. I was watching the SYFY channel last night and I really noticed it while I was watching Defiance.

Tutor

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11 Messages

11 years ago

I had TWC last year in KC. I was in a rental house for a year while moving to a new home.......

TWC sucked so much! We couldn't wait to get to our new house. When my wife complains about the tv/internet, you know it's bad.

Had Uverse for 8 months, fiber to the prem, and couldn't be happier!

Guru

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594 Messages

11 years ago

When these upgrades become available, then I'll come back to uVerse; but not before then.  I need more than 24 Mbps downstream due to the fact that we have two people in the house (myself included) that are real bandwidth hogs.

 

NetFlix and Amazon.com Streaming is something that I do a lot of.  Plus, with the fact that I just got myself a Roku device, I'm going to be really using those services.

Guru

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594 Messages

11 years ago

Have the DVR's gotten more storage capacity?

Guru

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594 Messages

11 years ago

I pay about $200 to TWC as of right now with Whole House DVR, 50/5 Internet, and home phone. If I can get a better deal with close to the same Internet speeds, I'll jump at the chance. Anything to save some money.

 

EDIT

It would be $137 for the top speeds now which are 24 Mbps, U200, and Home Phone.  Here's to hoping that AT&T doesn't price themselves out of the market with the higher speed Internet tiers.  If they are competitive, then I'm switching.

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