We’ve Got Cable… Sorta

att-u-verse-logo-600x400We spent a good part of the afternoon with Federico from AT&T U-verse. He came to install our cable TV and high speed Internet access packages. Our house came nicely wired, but it still takes time.

I think we have TV, but I can’t be sure. As of this evening our Connecticut stuff, including TVs, was just passing through St. Louis–not quite halfway here. We have no monitor to check with, but all outward signs say we’re OK.

I am surprised and a little disappointed AT&T’s Internet speed is only 16 mbps. Considering I’m on my own piece of fiber all the way to the central office, I could have a lot more bandwidth for nearly no additional cost to AT&T.

I knew this was the speed going in. No complaint.

What I didn’t realize was my upload speed is only 1.5 mbps. That’s crazily slow. There truly is no excuse for this speed in an all fiber install.

With vastly superior hardware AT&T is offering an inferior product. Why? Is there still a DSL/dial-up attitude within the phone company?

AT&T could easily blow Cox (the incumbent cable company) out of the water, but they don’t. They’re leaving cash on the table.

Home   AT T U verseMaxing out at these speeds when there’s fiber all the way to my house is ridiculous. If someone wants to turn up my speed, I won’t tell.

One of our cable boxes is wireless. That was a major selling point for me. I look forward to bringing a TV out into the California room and watching outside.

U-verse does provide some live programming on our PCs for the TVless Foxes, though CNN’s live feed shows only the little spinning icon. No video!

Most of U-verse’s streaming shows are provided through Hulu. I attempted to watch Family Guy and was ready for trouble when the synopsis was in German!

I clicked and was told I couldn’t watch, because it’s only available in the United States!

Family Guy   AT T U verse

It’s early, but some of AT&T’s infrastructure lacks polish and seems unfinished. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, both Helaine and I have our laptops out here in the family room. That’s a huge advance over yesterday.

18 thoughts on “We’ve Got Cable… Sorta”

  1. We knew you’d gone a long way, but didn’t realize you’d left the US!
    The thing that surprises me is that your moving van stuff is still so far away – did you know it’d wait so long before making the trip? Were they waiting for someone else to move to … well, Germany, or wherever you are?

  2. Just because my last name is Federico and I know how often it gets spelled incorrectly…especially Frederico…I have to ask…was it actually Frederico or Federico?

  3. If Uverse is like it is in CT the fiber only goes a certain distance and then continues to the central office on good old twisted copper. Unless all the ATT plant is very new in Irvine it’s doubtful the fiber goes all the way back to the c.o. and the cost of replacing copper with fiber would be pricey for the carrier.

  4. we are moving ( again ) from the west coast of florida to the east and when researching internet providers last night i was surprised that the fastest internet speed at&t offered was only 6mbps while comcast offered packages with 50 and 100 mbps . when we lived in ct we had a camper in preston and the fastest internet offered by at&t 3mbps . they really seem to be on the road aol went down by not taking an interest in keeping up with the jones or they just do not have an interest in keeping their internet division and therefore avoid investing in it .

  5. Oh, and I’ve read that speeds are much higher than any of the services offer. They all intentionally put a low ceiling on them. Why? Who knows? I’ve read that you can conceivably get as much as 50mbps downstream. Regarding the previous post, I don’t work for ATT. We have Comcast and are considering switching to ATT. The $109/month service is comparable to what we are getting now for far more money.

  6. You will LOVE AT&T cable….we had it here in CT….you will NOT like their internet. My husband was very disappointed when we switched from Comcast to AT&T for that very reason. Their internet is definitely sluggish! They really do have awesome cable options, between on demand, their dvr is WAY better than Comast, the picture is great. Too bad it comes as a package deal…..

  7. I have Comcast high speed internet and will NEVER switch to AT&T. My son had it for a month, and being the computer geek he is that was long enough. I hope it all works out for you!!!!

  8. I hope your UVerse isn’t using Carrier Grade NAT, I’ve heard they started doing that since they’re not ipv6 ready and then you can’t setup doggy cams or anything else that needs an external ip.

  9. I have not checked lately, but my AT&T broadband in CT is about 4x that speed……… I would call, sometimes (most times) all you need to do with AT&T is ask. My experience in CT is they are so in need of keeping their customer base they will do anything to keep a customer. I was about the first in my town to get UVERSE several years ago…..did not pay for TV for the first 8 months because the service was not up to their standards…..each time someone came out to repair, that equaled a free month for us. The refunds have continued to this day, every time I call for something they give me a refund just for my troubles…..so what I apy is really not what I pay…..

  10. I just ditched cable and went with AT&T here in CT. I knew the internet would not be as good as cable and it is not but the TV is well above cable in clarity. I am getting 23 mbps download speed and 3 mbps upload speed so I would call them it cant hurt.

  11. They probably give you the basic, lowest speed so they will tell you when you call and ask about it and then you will hear, ” we are sorry that you are not satisfied but we can give you a higher download speed for an additional cost of (insert price here)we can give you the speed you will be happy with “

  12. We were early adopters in Ansonia. Took them a full day to get the install done, then had to return to fix things. Must have cost ATT BIB bucks for that install. We’ve been happy for the most part. There have been glitches along the way, but ATT has been quick to fix any problems. Good luck with it.

  13. I’m really surprised at AT&T. Here in *very* rural VA, where I’m in one of the few places with cable internet, I get (and pay for) 30+ down and about 2.5 up. And we’re emphatically not fiber all the way. My cable company is a tiny little one– some New England locations and some MD and VA, and I think about 3 others. Metrocast.

    Good luck w/ helping AT&T figure out that it’s good business to give the customer what they want!

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