AT&T Nightmare

[cabinetman]

Our internet (DSL) dropped off again Sunday morning and was out for 24 hours. At about 9 PM Sunday night, the CSR tells us that an outage has to be cleared first before our problem can be solved. This has been the same lie we've been told for about two months now.

So today, the internet is up, but we couldn't connect. The network didn't recognize any of our usernames or passwords. They tried resetting them and no luck. This morning, got a two hour walk through tutorial of reconfiguring our modem, network, and email. Too many different sets of numbers, usernames, and passwords, SSID's, and encryption codes.

We asked if our outages were due to U-verse in our area or at the DSLAM. Today, they admit that their upgrades were/are the cause. We will be changing to U-verse. The cost will be about the same, but we'll get a bunch more channels. Maybe then our internet won't be dropping off.
.

[cgallery]

Is there some reason you don't want to switch to cable?

When DSL works it is okay (still not as fast as packages available via cable). But when it doesn't work, they (ATT, specifically) do a terrible job getting it going.

My various cable connections, however, have been very reliable. And when there is a problem, they are pretty responsive.

Just a month or so ago I noticed that I had to power cycle my Motorola cable modem (original unit, was about ten years old) twice in the previous month to get a connection. So I unhooked it, took it to their office, and they replaced it w/ a brand new unit with no arguments and no cost to me. Problem fixed.

They had offered to bring one to the house, but I drive by there anyhow and it was just more convenient to swap it out myself.

[crokett]

Seriously, why would you stay with ATT at this point? Is cable not available or does it cost that much more?

[cabinetman]

Is there some reason you don't want to switch to cable?

There are several reasons. If we switch to cable, we would lose our bundle pricing. Cable costing more is the primary reasons. I think that AT&T isn't interested in fixing DSL technical stuff if it costs a lot to do it. Their U-verse program seems to be more important.

So, we will be getting 6 months free box use, free installation, all of Showtime, Encore, and Starz movie channels, and other channels that we don't get now, for the same price. Seems like the best deal.
.

[LinuxRandal]

So I unhooked it, took it to their office, and they replaced it w/ a brand new unit with no arguments and no cost to me. Problem fixed.

ROTFLMAO

NO cost to you? Ten years rental, wasn't a cost?

[crokett]

ROTFLMAO

NO cost to you? Ten years rental, wasn't a cost?

Huh? If he buys his own modem out of pocket, the cable co isn't going to give him a break on the bill each month. He isn't paying extra for the modem, so yes, no cost to him.

[LinuxRandal]

Huh? If he buys his own modem out of pocket, the cable co isn't going to give him a break on the bill each month. He isn't paying extra for the modem, so yes, no cost to him.

If he bought it, they aren't supposed to swap it, as the numbers are NOT in their system. They will offer to sell you another I am sure, but they told me it would be cheaper elsewhere. (I picked my original up due to a damaged freight thing, and the cable company tried to charge me the modem rental fee of $4/month for around a year)

[crokett]

Then your cable co is different from mine. Unless they've changed things since the last time I checked they did not give you a price break for owning your own cable modem.

[LinuxRandal]

Crocket, who do you use?

I have Comcast, and my parents have Time Warner. They went with the rental when they moved into that area, as they were told it had been a bad area for electrical issues. (I will have to check how much it costs them)

[cgallery]

Crocket, who do you use?

I have Comcast, and my parents have Time Warner. They went with the rental when they moved into that area, as they were told it had been a bad area for electrical issues. (I will have to check how much it costs them)

I'm on TW in Milwaukee. They don't provide any discounts for BYOM (Bring Your Own Modem) as far as I know.

[Kristofor]

Comcast in the Twin Cities doesn't charge for the modem or discount for having your own (well, both my 'rents and I were customers before it became Comcast, so I can't say 100% that new customers don't have some fee...).

They will also replace it for free if you bring it in (my parents were experiencing brief (<30 second) disconnects several times per day). I don't like Comcast as a company, and would rather have an alternative of equal cost/speed/reliability, but their cable internet has been fine for me for the last 8 years...

[JSUPreston]

I've been with Knology here in Montgomery for 7 or 8 years now, after having billing issues with AT&T (had to get the Public Service Commission and a couple of lawyers involved). Up until recently, I've been very pleased with them. However, I've noticed a billing issue recently where they're charging me $10/mo for a digital receiver I should be getting for free. Plus, their webmail access sometimes just doesn't work, and I've had to take 3 receivers back for replacement in the past year (1 DVR, 2 regular digital boxes). All told, I get phone, internet and cable for $175/mo. That price has been creeping up a few cents every month for the past couple of years.

I've been reading up on the AT&T U-verse and am actually considering moving back to AT&T, if/when they offer it in my area. Reading up on how it works, I think we might like it better. It's all IP based service using VDSL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-verse). From what I've read, the main complaints one person had was service was a little off when doing a huge file transfer. One perk from what I read is that you can have one DVR and stream its recordings to other tuners in the house.

[TB Roye]

I can record 2 HD programs and 2 SD programs at the same time. or any combination up to 4 programs at one time. You can record up to 24 hours in HD or 250 hours in SD. It is really more that LOML and I need. There were issues in different when they first started but I think either they have solved or are solving them. We had some pixelation problems when we first got it and some problems with Basketball in HD but haven't noticed any issues in a long time. The big thing as I understand it is distance from the local neighborhood switch box, close the better. Try these sites for more info.

www.uverseusers.com
http://utalk.att.com/utalk/

Tom

[dkerfoot]

Seriously, why would you stay with ATT at this point? Is cable not available or does it cost that much more?

In my case because Comcast is so very much worse. I dropped Comcast for ATT UVerse and am so very glad that I did... Cheaper, many more channels, a much better TV "box", better service... Shall I go on?

Different areas of the country have totally different rules regarding modems, etc...