AT&T Fiber / U-verse

[wtburnette]

So, AT&T came by during the fall and tore up all the yards in my neighborhood and generally made a pain of themselves. Coming home from work one evening they're running a line across my driveway, so I ask what they're doing. Installing fiber to your neighborhood the guy says. Well, carry on then I say. I went from annoyed to pretty happy because I've been wanting fiber for a long time. As much as I hate AT&T as a company, I hate my current Comcast as much or more. I'm currently paying ~$80 per month for a smoking (/s) 100Mbps download speed. I get basic cable as well, but I haven't used that in ages. I only get that because it lowers my internet price. AT&T is offering 1000Mbps download speed for $80/mo for internet only service. I can get U-verse added in with a decent channel lineup (the 200 level I believe) for $125 a month. I'm not sure if it would be worth it, as we get Amazon Prime Video, Hulu Plus and Netflix currently for most of our viewing needs. The occasional series that we can't watch with those services we end up buying through Amazon. So far that works out just fine.

I have two questions, first of all, does anyone have AT&T fiber and if so, what do you think of it? For all that I hate Comcast and my package is definitely slower, I haven't had too many outages. A few, but not bad. The ones we've had haven't lasted too long either. Is AT&T fiber as good as I hope it'll be?

Secondly, who has U-verse for TV and what do you think of it?

My ETF for Comcast is only $40 right now, so I'm thinking of getting AT&T installed as soon as possible, I just wanted to get a temperature check first.

 

[woowoo2]

Be aware that U-verse is going away, they are building the newer TV delivery service as we speak.
The fiber is being run to support the new service.
( I work in the biz...)

 

[wtburnette]

Be aware that U-verse is going away, they are building the newer TV delivery service as we speak.
The fiber is being run to support the new service.
( I work in the biz...)

Am I better off just doing the Fiber internet and sticking with streaming services until then? That's the direction the wife and I are leaning...

 

[ws6guy]

I have their fiber internet buy am very cheap only only pay for the 15MB speed( will be increasing speed soon). Once they got my lines figured out in my house the service has been rock solid reliable for the last 4 years. honestly I cannot think of a time that I've had an outage. However I'm thinking about switching to spectrum as it appears to be less money when I increase speed.

 

[wtburnette]

I have their fiber internet buy am very cheap only only pay for the 15MB speed( will be increasing speed soon). Once they got my lines figured out in my house the service has been rock solid reliable for the last 4 years. honestly I cannot think of a time that I've had an outage. However I'm thinking about switching to spectrum as it appears to be less money when I increase speed.

Thanks for sharing this information. Spectrum isn't available for me and since I'm paying less than $1 less for 100Mbps internet service through Comcast, I think $80/mo for 1Gbps internet from AT&T would be a good deal. Hopefully anyway.

 

[87iroc]

I've heard people out in Cali griping about Spectrum. No idea, probably same company. We had uverse for several years here. Killed phone and only kept the 13 mbps or something service. It worked OK. My wife struggled sometimes as it would lock up on her...but overall happy. We went to New Wave Cable(comcast not our Cable provider) and its OK...but at night, it seems to lock up on us. Called them last night....they helped...but not sure how much as their solution seems to be 'well, change router channels if you have issues'.

Regardless, I wouldn't mind going back to uverse. Their TV was OK, but we went to streaming and haven't really looked back. Have antenna for local channels, but hardly use it.

 

[wtburnette]

I've heard people out in Cali griping about Spectrum. No idea, probably same company. We had uverse for several years here. Killed phone and only kept the 13 mbps or something service. It worked OK. My wife struggled sometimes as it would lock up on her...but overall happy. We went to New Wave Cable(comcast not our Cable provider) and its OK...but at night, it seems to lock up on us. Called them last night....they helped...but not sure how much as their solution seems to be 'well, change router channels if you have issues'.

Regardless, I wouldn't mind going back to uverse. Their TV was OK, but we went to streaming and haven't really looked back. Have antenna for local channels, but hardly use it.

That's similar to our experience, with streaming and with an antenna for local broadcasts. That's probably why I'm leaning towards just the 1Gbps internet service and just stream as we do now. Even if we buy a season of something every month from Amazon, we would still pay less than we would adding TV service to the bill.

 

[spec4]

AT&T really charges a premium in my opinion. The thing is, it works. Tried Comcast and is simply didn't work.

 

[wtburnette]

AT&T really charges a premium in my opinion. The thing is, it works. Tried Comcast and is simply didn't work.

I would agree, but I'm paying $79/mo and change to Comcast for 100Mbps service. Google Fiber charges $75/mo for 1Gbps fiber and ATT is charging $80/mo for 1Gbps fiber. Granted, after the first year it'll go up by $5/mo, but I don't think that's too out of line with the rest of the industry for the speed offered. No idea if there is any real difference in speed between AT&T and Google Fiber. My guess would be no.

 

[Tactically Fat]

AT&T really charges a premium in my opinion. The thing is, it works. Tried Comcast and is simply didn't work.

I will also agree with this.

We've had UVerse for way way way too long now. And we spend way way way too much on it. But it is, generally speaking, rock solid and utterly dependable.

 

[eldirector]

No fiber here, unfortunately.

I work from a home office, so REQUIRE reasonable speeds and 100% daytime reliability.

I fired Spectrum last summer because they could NOT stay up for any length of time. Outages were exceptionally short (sometimes only seconds), but I could not go through a day without my connection dropping. Usually in the middle of an important Skype call. Had techs out a dozen times in a month, and they had no idea. Great speeds (100 Mb+), but no reliability at all.

So, I switched to ATT aDSL (copper wires). 20Mb connection. It has been rock solid for months. I have had zero network issues, as apposed to 10-12 PER DAY with Spectrum. Speed is actually fine, even for my heavy use. I'm running at about 250 GB per month, and anywhere from 3GB at the low end to 21 GB at the high end moved per day. My wife streams all kinds of random stuff all day and night, and I never really notice.

u-Verse TV has been fine as well. No issues, and it just works. The iPhone app even works. Whole-house DVR is great, and their wireless "cable boxes" work pretty well. I have one that is flaky when we shut a door, as the signal is pretty weak.

I also have a couple of digital VOIP phone lines. I HAVE had to reset those a couple of times. Not sure what makes them freak out, but they will lose caller ID and occasionally not ring. I reboot, and all is well. TV and Internal don't seem impacted.

 

[wtburnette]

No fiber here, unfortunately.

I work from a home office, so REQUIRE reasonable speeds and 100% daytime reliability.

I fired Spectrum last summer because they could NOT stay up for any length of time. Outages were exceptionally short (sometimes only seconds), but I could not go through a day without my connection dropping. Usually in the middle of an important Skype call. Had techs out a dozen times in a month, and they had no idea. Great speeds (100 Mb+), but no reliability at all.

So, I switched to ATT aDSL (copper wires). 20Mb connection. It has been rock solid for months. I have had zero network issues, as apposed to 10-12 PER DAY with Spectrum. Speed is actually fine, even for my heavy use. I'm running at about 250 GB per month, and anywhere from 3GB at the low end to 21 GB at the high end moved per day. My wife streams all kinds of random stuff all day and night, and I never really notice.

u-Verse TV has been fine as well. No issues, and it just works. The iPhone app even works. Whole-house DVR is great, and their wireless "cable boxes" work pretty well. I have one that is flaky when we shut a door, as the signal is pretty weak.

I also have a couple of digital VOIP phone lines. I HAVE had to reset those a couple of times. Not sure what makes them freak out, but they will lose caller ID and occasionally not ring. I reboot, and all is well. TV and Internal don't seem impacted.

Thanks for that information. I too work from home, at least part of the week and hearing the uptime is good eases my mind!

 

[CountryBoy19]

Haha... this thread makes me laugh... at myself... and a bit at you guys complaining of your "slow" speeds of <20 Mbps...

I have 1 Mbps; best I can get without going satellite (3-figure cost range) and I'm ecstatic when I don't have to reset my modem on a daily basis...

 

[wtburnette]

Haha... this thread makes me laugh... at myself... and a bit at you guys complaining of your "slow" speeds of <20 Mbps...

I have 1 Mbps; best I can get without going satellite (3-figure cost range) and I'm ecstatic when I don't have to reset my modem on a daily basis...

That said, there's a lot of positives about living out in a rural area like Bedford. My Mother-in-law and Stepdaughter both live there and I enjoy visiting. A slow internet connection like that would drive me crazy though. Good internet speeds is one of the good things about living in Indy, but there are plenty of downsides as well.

 

[Trigger Time]

I was just able to get att fiber in my area and I love it. They had to install a little fiber box in the basement that then has a line that goes into my modem upstairs but it was very quick for them to do. The speed and reliability has been great. I was having all kinds of problems with att internet before the fiber. And I even had the best they offered under fiber of coarse.
I don't even know what I pay for it I honestly didn't care I jist wanted my internet (I have kids with tablets and phones) to not break down, and I also didn't want to have any streaming issues with my TV. We have vulu, Amazon prime, Netflix, directv with the highest channel package with all of the movie and sports channels, so we stream and record a lot of data. I am pleased now. I do miss uverse because it was easier to use I thought, but I'm getting use to directv.
I'm not a very technology smart person so I'm not aware of all the tricks and stuff most of you probably have, but I just found out my Tv's even have internet on them and I can surf ingo on a 65" screen lol awesome

 

[wtburnette]

Thanks for your thoughts on it TT. I'm pretty sure I'm going to give them a call today.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I started out with Comcast, when I first got broadband service. Then, after Uverse became available, I switched to that with TV/Internet. It was fine at first, then as more people got connected, the interruptions became more and more frequent. At the end, you could count on periodic freeze-ups every night during prime time.

I switched back to Comcast and haven't had any trouble.

 

[wtburnette]

When you say that, were you subscribed to Fiber, or DSL?

 

[indykid]

I got AT&T fiber when they first came through several years ago and have been very happy. I bought the "I am cheap" package of just internet and have to say that I am amazed that the router that they supply can keep up when my daughter visits. She runs her own business out of two computers and her cell phone, both connect to the router via WiFi. I have my main desktop PC connected to the router via wire, but have both an iPhone an iPad connected plus my TV which is an internet TV that also connects through the router. With everything running I have never had a connection issue, and what really surprises me is my daughter doesn't complain as she expects instant loading.

In short, big thumbs up for AT&T fiber.

 

[wtburnette]

I got AT&T fiber when they first came through several years ago and have been very happy. I bought the "I am cheap" package of just internet and have to say that I am amazed that the router that they supply can keep up when my daughter visits. She runs her own business out of two computers and her cell phone, both connect to the router via WiFi. I have my main desktop PC connected to the router via wire, but have both an iPhone an iPad connected plus my TV which is an internet TV that also connects through the router. With everything running I have never had a connection issue, and what really surprises me is my daughter doesn't complain as she expects instant loading.

In short, big thumbs up for AT&T fiber.

I'm hoping that will be my experience, as I went ahead and ordered it. They will be here Monday to install. Fingers crossed!