ATT Uverse

On 10-13-09 I had ATT U-Verse Television and Internet installed. I was having this done because of the absolute inability of the ATT Company to provide a fully functioning DSL connection even after aprox. 17 hours of phone time (mostly on hold) and the nearly heroic efforts of one install tech to make it work. This process cost me $170 in Cell phone overages.

The people who installed the system arrived within the time window. They were reasonably courteous and businesslike.

1-They did not install the equipment carefully. My Internet was connected using a very cheap, weak WiFi receiver (2wire USG-AT-02) which did not have the range to deliver the 6 megs promised over the distance. Period. They knew that but did it anyway hoping that I wouldn’t notice. A speed test from the ATT’s own tester indicated that I was getting 1.6 megs only (after they left.

2-They installed the wrong TV package and converter box, which did not have the channels we wanted. That was the fault of the sales office who wrote the order wrong.

3- I carefully detailed to the man in charge where the wire should be routed. Out of sight at the base of the kitchen wall cabinets. Easy to do. The other man stapled the cable along the countertop backsplash putting many holes into the laminated surface and putting it in plain sight. I must now either have the backsplash replaced or fill the holes.

After discovering these problems I had to spend two hours on the phone with first The Philippines, then Texas to get a service call scheduled. Early on in the call they threatened to charge me for the service call to correct their problems. Wednesday I stayed home and a different service person came and changed things around so that I had what I ordered and moved the cable that was stapled to the backsplash. The holes are still there.

The system worked. Saturday it rained and the internet and television stopped working. They came and went for a while I tried to figure out what happened. I called. The third person I talked to said that I would have to stay home once again and someone would come to look at it.

I will update this as it develops but at this point I would not suggest that anyone get the ATT U-Verse or DSL service. Currently they have an unregulated monopoly in most areas and you may be forced to use them but try not to.

Comment On This

Here is an update on my complaint. A tech from ATT came the next morning and did quite a bit of testing on the incoming signal. He said that it was the incoming lines that were the problem and that that they would have to be repaired or replaced. He said that that was why I had had problems with my earlier DSL and that the installers on both systems had to have known about the problem but often preferred to ignore it and let it be someone elses problem. He put in a service call for a lineman.

The lineman came the next day and spent some time trying to prove that the line was OK. Eventually he went to work on the line. He said that it was mostly a problem of age and neglect. He worked on it for two entire days and on the third day he told me that he had routed it to a different set of lines and all would be well. He replace the cable from the pole to the house. Several days later another man came to bury the cable. It works well now.

In the end the problem went back to a lack of maintenance and a steadfast desire on the part of ATT to just hook it up and get out of there without regard for the customer. My system works well now but the week of shady dealings, phone time to the Philippines customer service and being kept home so that ATT could come back again and again make it not worth it. The monopoly on Internet and TV service should end so that we can choose our provider.