AT&T rolls out U-verse IPTV in Texas

Consumers frustrated with the current dearth of TV delivery options will be pleased to learn that AT&T -- now an SBC property -- has joined alternative provider Verizon and its FiOS service with an IPTV rollout that promises distinct advantages over satellite and cable. The company's U-verse service, which just went live in some 5,000 San Antonio area homes (and which should not be confused with its Homezone offering), uses either fiber directly to the home or connected to last-mile copper to deliver up to 200 channels of programming, hundred of hours of video-on-demand content, and download speeds up to 6.0Mbps. Customers can choose from among four TV packages and three Internet packages ( the 6.0Mbps Elite, 3.0Mbps Pro or 1.5Mbps Express options) to create service bundles that range from $69 to $124 per month, and include three set-top boxes (one with DVR) and a wireless router. Although AT&T is currently only using the technology to provide a few peripheral value-added features like picture-in-picture, IPTV opens up the possibility for other, more exotic functionality like TV-based caller ID and remote DVR programming that cable and satellite operators would have trouble implementing.

[Via Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

[pmacnow @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:37AM]

AT&T U-Verse is a Nightmare though and through. Do not Switch until they fix their issues and find someone who can provide support.

So I took the plunge and canceled my Cable TV and switch to AT&T U-Verse package. Here is what I got. I ordered the U200 package ($84), the HD package ($10) the middle-tier "Pro" Internet Access ($25) and 5 IPTV Motorola recievers (1 was a High Def DVR). Five is the Max you are allowed to go and you are only allowed 1 HD/DVR box. Each box after the first one costs you $5 more a month.

The AT&T installer came out and started the installation. The installation was suppose to take 1-2 hours. It took 4 so don't plan on doing anything for a whole afternoon. After the installation the technician checked all the TV's and Internet access. All worked checked out OK. When I got home I was ready to test drive my new service. I first noticed intermittent delays and and many malformed pages using the Internet. I called AT&T U-verse tech support (expect to be placed on hold for at least a 1/2 hour, finally be connected to a live person after a menu system that always seems to get you to the wrong place and then be fowarded by a person to the correct group and be placed on hold for another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.) Also be prepared to get AT&T's first tier tech support (they know nothing about the system and can only perform basic tests that prove nothing. This takes about another 1/2 hour. They then transfer you to second tier tech support. (another 10-15 minutes on hold) and if your lucky you get someone that understands English). The second tier techie spent 20 minutes running the same tests as the first tier guy did. Got no-where. After another 20 minutes of mundane questions we figured out that the technician used the default IP address range of 192.168.1.x where the AT&T Residential Gateway defaults to 192.168.1.254, which was the same IP address as my Linksys router, hence an IP conflict was occuring which explains the intermittent network problems. We were able to set the 2WIRE RG (Residential Gateway) to 10.0.0.1 and all things were worked fine. So I hung up and thought my troubles had passed. Boy was I wrong.

The next day I awoke to find that all of my IPTV boxes displayed error messages on the screen. (Gears or a Red X) I had to call tech support again. The number they give you sends you to a voice response system that always sends you to the wrong place where you are put on hold for an extended period of time until someone answers and then forwards you to the corrent department where you are put on hold again for at least 20 minutes. I finally get to the tech support group (first tier support first for 20 minutes who can never figure anything out and then second tier who performs the same lame tests as the first tier) The test prove that their are no errors on the line and there is connectivity. Whoopy! Again after 40 minutes of troubleshooting and rebooting every device 2 times and waiting forever for them to boot (or not boot) we found that the first tech support guy never had me set the 2WIRE device to DHCP on the 10.0.0.x network, so none of the IPTV devices were able to get a new IP address in the new 10.0.0.x subnet. Once the devices got their IP addresses and loaded from the AT&T server (another 5-10 minutes) my TV's started working again.

The very next day my wife called me and said our TV's are out again. Oh my god!!!! I called tech support (same 1/2 to 45 minute wait until you reach the right person). Went through at least an hours worth of tests and being pu on hold for the techie to tell me there is an outage in a surrounding community (Brecksville, Ohio) I live in Strongsville which is about 40 miles from Brecksville. They told me that I should wait until the issue is resolved. I waited an entire day and called Tech support again because my TV's were out and my phones were down (I use Vonage VOIP, which is another nightmare when using the AT&T U-verse network in which I will explain later) Also my Internet service was acting very flakey. I could ping addresses such as www.google.com and www.yahoo.com and I would get ICMP echo responses but when I attempted to surf using Internet Explorer I would get Page cannot be Displayed Error messages being sent by the AT&T residential gateway. What was very strange was the fact that I could connect to Secure web pages i,e., HTTPS sites and not HTTP sites. Tech support went through the same useless tests that take 1/2 hour to perform and then performed a "Policy Push" to my Residential Gateway. My Internet Service started working again, horray! but my TV's still had "Bootstrap errors, Client Initialization errors" After the second level support guy spent another 20 minutes testing and asking questions to other technical support guys within his department, they had my shut down the computers on my home network and then reboot my IPTV's. So I had to shut down my computers and rebooted all 5 of my IPTV devices. Finally the bootstrap loaded. It takes about 10 minutes for these devices to get the bootstrap information then load it and then reboot and load some other information and finally my TV's started working. The AT&T support guy told me that the IPTV devices are very sensitve to bandwidth. They need just about the entire bandwidth to boot, so if you have computers on your network that are on when these things boot you may have problems loading the bootstrap. I told them that this is unacceptable. I asked them if I should increase my bandwidth. I was already at 3.0MB down and 1.0MB up. They said this could might help. Might???? They of course could'nt do this for me and told me to call sales. I called sales and was on hold for the longest I've ever been on hold and not hung up. 1-3/4 hours. I finally got sales, they told me that I would have to pay another $15 a month to go to the next level, I said to them that it is not my fault that thier systems need so much bandwidth and I should have to pay more to go to the next level. They didn't agree. I bumped up to the next level even though I didn't want to pay the additional $15 a month.

Througout the whole 4 days of misery my wife complained to me of poor voice service. I've had Vonage for over a year with my old cable Internet service which had much less bandwidth and my wife never complained of poor voice quality. She also complained of many dropped calls. Dropped calls? It's not a cell phone for Pete sake! After many hours again on the phone with AT&T tech support and Vonage support I found that the QOS (Quality of Service) that Vonage offers through their Telephone adpater device cannot be forwaded through the AT&T Residential Gateway. We tried Vonage's suggestion of setting up the Vonage device on the DMZ via the Residential Gateway but this made matters much worse for an entire day. After another tech support call the AT&T guy told me that I should think about using the AT&T U-verse VOIP service. I called to see how much this would cost. I pay $24.95/month for unlimited voice in the US at Vonage and was expecting the same price at AT&T. I got a quote of $40 a month for the same service from AT&T even with me being an existing U-verse subscriber. I said this was unacceptable and although the sales lady told me she spoke to her service center this was the best price she could give me. Of course I did not switch and was ready to cancel my service with AT&T. But not until I had another outage on my IPTV devices and Internet Service. This time there was no network outage to blame it on. I called tech support and wanted them to run the same policy push to fix my Internet Service and I shut down all of my machines on my network and rebooted all of my IPTV devices. The tech support person got me to second tier support but they could not do a policy push because the server to schedules the AT&T policy pushes was down for maintenace in the middle of the day. So I tried to reboot the IPTV devices with my computers off. This time I got Big RED X's on the screens. This was new and istead of going though tech support hell again. I attempted to call the sales group to CANCLE THIS GODFOSAKEN service. I was on Hold for 2 hours this time and finally got in touch with a person who of course had to transfer to the right U-Verse group. On hold for 10 more minutes and was finally free from this HELL ON EARTH called AT&T U-Verse. I did not allow AT&T in my house. I removed all the devices and boxed them up and sent them on their way back to what ever idiot who manufactured them. I'm happy to say that I am back on my old Cable plan and within 5 minutes of reconnecting everything, my TV was up, my Internet Service was up and running smoothly and my VOIP service was clear as a bell.

This nightmare series of events is a warning to anyone thinking of swithcing to AT& UVerse. This is a True Story that I had endure for one whole week.

[don @ Aug 26th 2008 4:30PM]

The worst nightmare you can imagine happens when you move to another town that does not have uverse. They would not send the "special" box for us to send the equipment back to them. It took 9 months of phone calls and correspondence to get the box with their label. Now they don't know if they got the box, even with the UPS tracking# and confirmation of delivery. They keep sending us a bill for $487.00 for not returning the equipment. All of their departments are so spread out that they have no idea what is going on. I will never consider using uverse again.This is month number TEN. I hope the nightmare ends soon.

[Pat @ Nov 17th 2008 5:18PM]

Don, did you happen to record the address on their mailing labels? I cannot find an address anywhere, and U-Verse will not release any info other than their address that receives payments. I have suffered the same process that you have gone through...been told everything from "...gee, boxes were sent" to "I'll make a note on your account...the equipment is outdated anyway and won't have to be returned if we don't send you boxes". Now, I get a $162.38 bill for "non-monthly dues" after paying a final bill of $2.50? I still have the equipment to send them, if they will send me their boxes. If you have an address, I can at least send a certified letter of complaint. I have also filed with the FTC, FCC, and Texas Attorney General (extortion).

[Pat @ Sep 9th 2008 8:56AM]

I signed up for U-verse TV/Internet in Fall 07. Cancelled TV service and waited...waited...waited for return boxes (calling every two weeks, different customer service rep each time...always told the boxes were sent, or that they would be sent, or that the equip was outdated so boxes wouldn't be sent, etc.). In June 08, called to cancel internet and return gateway receiver. Gave U-Verse six weeks notice of my pending move date...no boxes. None...Zilch!! Received a final bill for $2.50, thought I was done with 'em. Nope...just received another "final bill" with "non-monthly fees" due of $162.38. No other explanation...still, no boxes. No addresses to write my complaints or make written requests for boxes, either. U-verse has been a nightmare...I cannot return this equipment without using their boxes/return labels, yet they will not perform on their contract with me to provide the same! Anyone have a real address for this company? I have filed a written complaint with the FTC, FCC as this is extortion...I encourage all others going through this to do the same! BBB will not accept my complaint because I do not have a valid address for U-Verse...

[ashbob @ Jun 27th 2006 11:11AM]

"AT&T -- now an SBC property"

No dude...SBC the brand name is no more. AT&T the company is no more. SBC the company changed its brand name to AT&T.

[Rocky @ Jun 27th 2006 11:19AM]

One telecom to rule them all...

[TVGenius @ Jun 27th 2006 11:32AM]

Dish's receivers have had built-in caller ID for a few years now... and I thought some DirecTV ones do too...

[spurfan15 @ Jun 27th 2006 11:39AM]

There are a few issues with AT&T's U-verse. I'm disappointed that they're only doing fiber to the premises on new housing tracts, and only fiber to the node on existing homes. There are several big differences between the two. Eg: Verizon FIOS could potentially do up to 1000Mb/s/home, while U-verse is only 25Mb/s/home total. They can't use that much of the bandwidth for net data transfer because video is such a hog, so their internet packages will be limited until they decide to do full FTTP, while Verizon may expand. (already 30/5 max compared to AT&T's 6/1) Also, because it's limited in bandwidth AT&T has to do channel streaming. With normal cable or FIOS, all channels are received 24/7, so you could have a hundred TVs and watch 100 different channels. The most this service could handle is about 3 channels, so any more TVs than 3 and you can't watch different content. Finally, you need a set top box no matter what, while FIOS and cable can often be viewed without one.

On the flipside, the PIP, on demand content, and faster channeling changing times is reassuring.

Really AT&T needs to upgrade to full FTTP down the road.

[TVoIP @ Jun 27th 2006 11:53AM]

Fiber to the node could be ok ... VDSL2 will get you 100 MBps downloads from the node, plus they can come back later and run that last bit when the REALLY need too ...

25M will buy you alot right now ... 2M / Channel is what they are running and they'll hit 1.5M with new H.246 encoders ... the real trick is HD. I saw some really nice H.264 HD at 5.5M ...

As for FIOS, I'm really surprised that they are doing it that way. It makes upgrading to "new" features a pain. Right now neither solution competes well against cable, so stay tuned ...

[Stefan Constantinescu @ Jun 27th 2006 11:54AM]

Where in the hell are my HDTV channels? That's why I use Direct TV!

God I wish I was in an area that allowed me to get FIOS, I'm stuck in SBC territory and have to deal with a 50 dollar a month 3 Mbps line. Atleast Direct TV has quite a few HD channels.

[Jeff @ Jun 27th 2006 11:55AM]

"an IPTV rollout that promises distinct advantages over satellite and cable."

I don't see any "distinct" advantages here, or really even any *indistinct* ones.

I read through their press release and for one thing, there is no HD at all yet. Their press release buries this factoid in a proclamation of future additional features: "AT&T plans to add more channels, high-definition programming, more video-on-demand titles, a whole home DVR feature, and other interactive applications later this year."

For another, their "200 channels" of programming includes music channels, which at least on my cable box is literally about 60 channels worth of junk. So the real number of channels available is probably fewer than a standard cable box - and again, with no HD.

The top tier "bundle", then, includes fewer channels, no HD and slower download speeds - at a higher price! - than what I'm now getting with cable. Where are these "distinct advantages"?

The promise of IPTV has always been on-demand - but the problem with on-demand is licensing, not technology. And that's not something AT&T is going to solve, anymore than Cablevision or one of the other cable nets will.

[Richard Garfinkel @ Jun 27th 2006 11:59AM]

Sounds great, if you're willing to put up with this: http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/top/att-all-your-phone-are-belong-to-us-182593.php

[Sleepless in San Antonio @ Jun 27th 2006 12:23PM]

I am in San Antonio.

Who?

Wha?

I didn't hear ANYTHING about this on the TV this morning!

So, what would be the plus for getting this AT$T thing? PIP, DVR, Caller ID on the TV?

I got that already (damn Time Warner)as well as all the on demand Cartoon network/hbo/showtime movies and shows.

Maybe i'm missing something...

[Bootes @ Jun 27th 2006 1:02PM]

Verizon is not doing IPTV. They're just doing regular cable type TV over Fiber.

[GhostDoggy @ Jun 27th 2006 3:49PM]

Be prepared to give up your personal account information to whomever AT&T decides to give (Feds) or sell (marketers) to. This was stated last week: 'Agree or No LimpSpeed' in regarding to them changing their privacy policy.

AT&T would rather bow to the whim of the Federal government breaking privacy laws than side with their customers. The flip side is just as bad (they'd rather abuse the customers than fight illegal activities of the government).

Enjoy.

[brion @ Jun 27th 2006 6:48PM]

Give them time. This is an initial rollout and they will most likely step into new features for that market over time. The flexibility you can get with an all IP solution is awesome. Remember back in the day when you could channel surf and how that went away with digital cable and satellite. Well that is a kick ass feature. I am curious to see how well it scales as they add customers. Too bad it is all running on microsoft. Here's looking forward to an HD BSOD.

[Chad Brantly @ Jul 4th 2006 11:22AM]

Hey guys, if you are interested in U-verse or IPTV in general, you might like to check out http://www.uverseusers.com. They have some reviews of the set top box, channel guide, etc.

[Alan Weinkrantz @ Jul 17th 2006 11:01AM]

I am a trial user of the IPTV service from AT&T.

See my blog about it at: www.satechblog.com

[Richard Watson @ Oct 31st 2007 6:56PM]

As an AT&T Uverse customer this is the worst service that I have ever seen. We had this installed in July and it has been nothing but a nightmare ever since. We constantly have a new problem every week. They just took away 22 of our channels and add one. We also have to sometimes reboot our TV just to get it back up and working. If anyone is thinking about going with AT&T Uverse you better think twice maybe sleep on it for about a month. It is going to be a long road before they can figure out all the problems that they have. The technicians don't even know what they are doing and the managers don't care. Not one manager ever returns our call when we call them. This is the worst customer service and these managers should be out of a job because of this...

Sincerely,

Very upset customer and soon will be changing everything in my house away from AT&T…

[John @ Jan 4th 2008 6:27PM]

What part of the country are you in? I am looking for better aternative than Time Warner cable.

[John @ Jan 4th 2008 6:30PM]

What part of the country are u in ? I am looking for better laternative than Time Warner cable.