Internet provider question

[horses4courses]

Here's a simple question directed to everyone out there:
Have you used AT&T U-verse and, if so, what do you think?

We are making the switch soon, and I wondered what
the pros and cons are. Our old router and modem
are dinosaurs, and connecting has been giving us fits lately.

Any thoughts?

[GameTheory]

Originally Posted by horses4courses

Here's a simple question directed to everyone out there:
Have you used AT&T U-verse and, if so, what do you think?

We are making the switch soon, and I wondered what
the pros and cons are. Our old router and modem
are dinosaurs, and connecting has been giving us fits lately.

Any thoughts?

Switch from what? Is it cable, dsl, or fiber optic in your area?

[horses4courses]

Originally Posted by GameTheory

Switch from what? Is it cable, dsl, or fiber optic in your area?

I believe all three are available.
We have dsl.

Another factor is that combining phone and internet
should save us between $50-70/month, and they
say our internet speed will increase.

[GameTheory]

Originally Posted by horses4courses

I believe all three are available.
We have dsl.

Another factor is that combining phone and internet
should save us between $50-70/month, and they
say our internet speed will increase.

What I mean is what do you have now, and what are you going to get (in terms of tech). DSL is the slowest, then cable, then fiber optic (true fiber optic, not just "we are using fiber optic in our network somewhere"). DSL is probably more reliable than the others, but depends on the area and the company, but I think DSL is just too slow for modern uses (if you want to watch Netflix, etc, or have several people in the house using it at once). The better cable options are pretty damn fast these days, so just a matter of the bundle and cost. AT&T seems about average in terms of custom service, i.e. not great (none of them are great), but at least they aren't Comcast.

If you need to do anything "custom" in terms of your router setup, they can all be a pain now because they have built-in routers that might not allow what you want. Fine for most users, but something I always have to get around...

[horses4courses]

Originally Posted by GameTheory

What I mean is what do you have now, and what are you going to get (in terms of tech). DSL is the slowest, then cable, then fiber optic (true fiber optic, not just "we are using fiber optic in our network somewhere"). DSL is probably more reliable than the others, but depends on the area and the company, but I think DSL is just too slow for modern uses (if you want to watch Netflix, etc, or have several people in the house using it at once). The better cable options are pretty damn fast these days, so just a matter of the bundle and cost. AT&T seems about average in terms of custom service, i.e. not great (none of them are great), but at least they aren't Comcast.

If you need to do anything "custom" in terms of your router setup, they can all be a pain now because they have built-in routers that might not allow what you want. Fine for most users, but something I always have to get around...

Thanks.
We are a bit slow and overloaded at present.
Two kids, although one is off to college soon
and the other should be moving before long.
I'd say we are fairly average users.

[SuitedAces]

We have BrightHouse (TimeWarner) and like the picture. Can make videos of the races from the computer. Also can stream NetFlix to the TV and get a good picture. In my opinion the cost is high but they do provide excellent unlimited phone support as well as free unlimited on site service.

http://suitedaces.org

[DJofSD]

Originally Posted by horses4courses

Here's a simple question directed to everyone out there:
Have you used AT&T U-verse and, if so, what do you think?

We are making the switch soon, and I wondered what
the pros and cons are. Our old router and modem
are dinosaurs, and connecting has been giving us fits lately.

Any thoughts?

I was an early user of U-verse and it was strictly DSL since it was provisioned over TWP.

Even though it was two pairs, I found the speed to be just too slow. This was comparing experiences to high speed/broadband both at work and with prior providers.

Additionally, I often found I was waiting for a page to finish being rendered, I felt there was something getting hung somewhere in the chain. I never could prove my theory but I suspected the 2Wire gateway was the culprit.

I eventually cancelled U-verse and did so for multiple reasons. I replaced it with TWC and those experiences where I thought I should have seen a page being completed much quicker went away completely.

[horses4courses]

Originally Posted by DJofSD

I was an early user of U-verse and it was strictly DSL since it was provisioned over TWP.

Even though it was two pairs, I found the speed to be just too slow. This was comparing experiences to high speed/broadband both at work and with prior providers.

Additionally, I often found I was waiting for a page to finish being rendered, I felt there was something getting hung somewhere in the chain. I never could prove my theory but I suspected the 2Wire gateway was the culprit.

I eventually cancelled U-verse and did so for multiple reasons. I replaced it with TWC and those experiences where I thought I should have seen a page being completed much quicker went away completely.

Thanks to all for the input.

We've been getting some of that "frozen page" problem.
I'll be interested to see if it improves, or not.

[DJofSD]

Originally Posted by horses4courses

Thanks to all for the input.

We've been getting some of that "frozen page" problem.
I'll be interested to see if it improves, or not.

Separate and distinct from my U-verse experiences, I had a problem with similar experiences/symptoms. Long story, short: the router was bad. While some what incredulous while troubleshooting it with a remote tech-support person, I got a replacement and that problem was fixed.

[HUSKER55]

FWIW

We had TWC and the speed and pictures floated all over the place. No one could figure out why. The repair men knew me by my name.

Then one day a person from ATT came around and our area had new fiber optical cable put in. You would not believe the difference.

Long story short is that TWC puts large areas in one loop and not all of that cable is their lines.

Also, if you can hard wire your system you are better off.

Verify before you make changes and make sure your equipment is functioning correctly.

[wilderness]

FWIW, If your present provider is ATT/SBC DSL?
Than I would NEVER switch to ATT UVerse.

When you switch from ATT/SBC DSL to Uverse, you CANNOT return to DSL.

The price for standard internet service at Uverse is nearly double any price that your locked into at ATT/SBC DSL? (plus ATT charges a monthly fee for the use of their router, which you never own).

2d FWIW, most of the early ATT/SBC DSL routers were junk, and burned up fairly often (creating slow connections and no connection at all) without any warning. The 3d ATT/SBC DSL router that I acquired (different model # than the two previous versions) is still good (despite very heavy use).

[Dick Schmidt]

I switched to U-Verse about 3 years ago looking for more reliable internet service. Previously I had Charter cable and it would go out almost once a month. Since I trade online, an outage can be critical and cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I have been very pleased with U-Verse's internet connection. It is fast (23 mips) and has proved to be reliable. I do have some problems with the TV occationally, but they are minor compared to losing a connection during a half million dollar forex trade.

One thing you'll find is that the people at ATT on the phone are script kitties who don't know what the hell they are doing. On the other hand, the installers and trouble shooters who come out to the house are highly trained professionals who understand the network and give great service.

Dick

• Test ideas by experiment and observation.
• Build on those ideas that pass the tests.
• Reject the ones that fail.
• Follow the evidence wherever it leads.
• Question everything.
• Accept these terms and the cosmos is yours.
-- Neil deGrasse Tyson

[GameTheory]

Originally Posted by Dick Schmidt

I switched to U-Verse about 3 years ago looking for more reliable internet service. Previously I had Charter cable and it would go out almost once a month. Since I trade online, an outage can be critical and cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

For a long time I needed "mission-critical" internet in my home -- I subscribed to both DSL and cable during that period, and made sure I knew where all the fast free wi-fi was in the neighborhood. Now if my internet goes out I can just put my phone into hotspot mode...

[horses4courses]

Thanks for all the great feedback

24 hours after installation - so far so good.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

When changing providers, you should also visit speedtest.net to make sure you're getting the speed you pay for - the modem, router and ISP connection all have to play together nicely to make sure your end device (PC, tablet, e-reader, TV, etc) is getting the best throughput.

A couple of years ago I switched back to cable from DSL, and had to get a new modem. My 8 year old wireless router still allowed for decent download speeds, though (25-30 Mbps). When I moved last year, I kept cable service from Comcast, but had to replace the wireless router because of the local service's config (v6 IP, I believe). They also failed to provide the "blast" service at first, and the techie had to call in to the local office to tweak the throttling off.

Speedtest.net shows 55-60 Mbps download speed consistently, though that may only be for the first 10 MB or so. I often see 30-40 Mbps downloads for larger files, and that's more than enough bandwidth.

Now, if Robert's would just update their server farm to provide better streaming from the Spa and Del Mar, life would be great.....