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Will's Comment on
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Main thread--Other Complaints
State: Texas Posted: 09/29/2007 Subject: U-Verse Product Performance Comment: Let’s discuss my problems with U-Verse service: 1. Receiver: The primary receiver often resets itself without any discernable provocation. This generally happens about once or twice a day during normal hours. Sadly, the receiver doesn’t reset immediately and often doesn’t come back on-line for 8-15 minutes. I have seen the “ATT U-verse” screen for at least 45 minutes in the last week and it is the only thing I can be guaranteed to watch with any degree of certainty. 2. Internet: Settings to the router and firewall cannot be made without interrupting television service throughout the entire house. This typically wouldn’t be a problem, but as the router can’t maintain a reliable signal (on any frequency with any level of security) at a distance greater than five feet, then the resetting has added to the wait times described in Section 1 above. However, I must admit that I have had reliable internet service when I am hardwired directly to the 2wire router – though it makes the integrated 802.11 pointless. So much so that I have resorted to plugging my old D-Link wireless router into the box so that I have a “router behind router” architecture (ridiculous). 3. Installation: the service technician did an excellent job installing the router – behind my 61” television. This means that NONE of my PCs have a direct connection to the router, which is a problem if you have issues with U-Verse internet service (as described above). Luckily, I can just run a CAT6 cable from behind the TV, under the couch and over to my laptop – as I’m sure U-Verse engineers intended when designing the system. 4. The remote: I read U-Verse FAQ with such helpful tidbits as “make sure you have a clear line of sight to the receiver” (really?) and “check the batteries” (fascinating) and it represents fifteen minutes of my life that I’m not getting back. However, in no section did you explain the latency issues inherent between depressing a button and the receiver acknowledging the command. This causes a bit of overshoot when trying to find something in the menu. The first few days it’s a mere annoyance, but after two weeks it exemplifies the flaws seen elsewhere in the U-verse. 5. DVR: The receiver failed to record a scheduled recording twice. One of the times, it showed that it recorded 1 hour and 23 minutes worth of video but whenever we selected “Start Over” (or “Play”) for that matter, it would say “This program has ended”. Both the forward (jump/skip) and reverse functions were inoperable. In addition, the DVR also once prompted me that it was “too close to the scheduled time to automatically record and I would have to do it manually.” Apparently 14 hours is “too close” to the scheduled time. My best friend works for AT&T and I was early to jump onto the U-verse bandwagon. After all, AT&T has always had an impeccable reputation for quality and service and I was under the impression (albeit false) that U-verse would offer the same. This product is useless and after two weeks I have every intention of sending it back to you with the promise that no person I know will ever subscribe to this service. I would rather have a dial-up modem connected to a payphone than continue to use this bug-ridden appliance. At the end of the day, this product and service is vaporware. Even with free premium channels for a year this is hardly worthwhile. The television flaws make watching unbearable and the router problems make downloads impossible. The only thing I have been impressed by with this product in the last two weeks is that I have managed to maintain a signal long enough to get this message delivered. If you have any tips to get any of this working, please let us know. Otherwise, please send a technician to come pick up these paper weights. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I may actually have to go back to Time Warner. Sincerely, Will Wilkins A Less Than Satisfied Customer P.S. I have included a brief outline of my two day experience with U-Verse telephone service department. 8:30 PM – Service goes down. Only the AT&T logo is being displayed. It takes several resets before we realize it’s not going to come up on its own. 8:55 PM – I start writing this e-mail with the intention of submitting an on-line service request. Unfortunately, for each of my five attempts I get an error stating, “We're sorry. U-Verse request cannot be completed at this time. Please try again later.” Impressive (sarcasm) 9:22 PM – I have contacted the 24/7 tech support who performed a line test that shows a good signal is being transmitted. Although the service technician is courteous and patient, we are unable to get the issue resolved in 30 minutes. Several resets have been attempted on all of the televisions (3) without success. I am now waiting to be referred to the next level technician… 10:04 PM – Kent, the second level technician has been outstanding as well, very courteous and apologetic for the service interruption. It takes a few resets of the televisions and the router but Kent gets all of the televisions up by 10:30 PM. 10:35 – Kent attempts to fix the internet service problems but after manually setting a static IP, restarting the Wireless service, disabling the firewall, flushing the DNS, and resetting the gateway box, Kent determines I have a bad router and we will have to schedule a technician to install a new one. I cannot understate how apologetic Kent is throughout this process, and manages to make an unpleasant experience tolerable. 10:58 - After attempting to set a service time, Kent advises that the system is down and is not allowing him to key in new tickets. He offers a phone number and advises me to contact tech support in the morning. Does anything work at U-verse (other than the service folks, that is)? More importantly, am I being charged for this service during these periods of intermittent service? The next day…. 10:30 AM – Unfortunately, the 1-877 number provided to me by Kent does not go to AT&T and the lady who answered stated that she was “tired of getting their calls.” Therefore, I had to contact the standard support number again. 11:04 AM – After recounting the episode of the previous evening, another apologetic technician is attempting to contact dispatch to determine when service at our residence would be possible. Frustrated by this system (which has already reset itself once this morning, causing me to have to reset the gateway box) I have advised her if a technician could not be out by 4:00 PM that they should feel free to cancel my service and have someone pick up the materials at their leisure. Gabrielle, the service technician who has helped me this time, has advised that it will take 20-30 minutes before she can get through to dispatch. She advises me that someone will call me back within the hour (by 12:00) to schedule service and 4:00 PM should not be a problem. She has given me the option to wait on the phone but I am not in the mood for another two hour wait with tech support. 11:15 – Waiting for a return call… 12:52 – Still no phone call from service, so I call back again. I am now speaking with Tony. Tony, as with all the other phone techs needs me to re-explain my situation – a story which is now taking about five minutes. I find it amazing that none of the phone techs have added comments to my service request so that I don’t have to go through this every time I call them. He advises that a dispatch request was generated around 11:00 AM but doesn’t know the status on it. He offers to contact dispatch directly while I am on hold. Tony offers a 4-6 PM service time which I have determined is unacceptable based on my conversation with Gabrielle. I request to speak to a floor supervisor. 1:10 PM – I speak with Joseph Estrada, Floor Service Supervisor who I recount the previous two days events again. I explain to him my dissatisfaction with the processes in place and the products U-verse provides. Joseph is equally courteous and seems more embarrassed than the previous technicians I have spoken to. He offers a $50.00 credit on my next bill, though that’s hardly worth the time that I have invested to point. For those keeping score, I have been on the phone with tech support for over three hours. 1:19 PM: Joseph advises that he “can not promise that get a technician out at that time.” However, Joseph does state that he can have someone out before 6:00 PM. I then inform him that if a technician arrives at 4:01 PM there will be a stack of receivers and a gateway box awaiting him. Joseph states that he will call me back shortly to confirm service. 1:41 PM – Joseph calls me back as promised and states that he was able to get a 2-4 PM appointment – another credit to the people AT&T has working for them. He confirms the problem description I gave him earlier and asks me to recount the recommendations that Kent offered the previous evening. |
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