 Review by technologiq 
member for 12.7 years, 776 visits, last login: 9 days ago
updated 2.1 years ago
 Reno,Washoe,NV
 $45 per month about 30 days "Fast, Reliable & Cheaper than my prior DSL & Pots Service" "AT&T getting the initial order properly done. Bandwidth Caps." "U-Verse (especially in my market) is unmatched if you're ok with bandwidth caps"
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(ratings above consensus)
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Initially, when we first bought our house in late 2008 we had 6mbit Elite DSL from AT&T and standard POTS. The cost of the POTS with long distance and all the features started to add up and in November '09 we decided to order U-Verse because the the total cost for faster internet and voice was cheaper than what we have now.
Its important to note that my U-Verse install is FTTP/FTTH.
On to my experience:
After reading around it sounded like it would make more sense and have a lot less room for error by ordering U-Verse online. I went ahead and logged on, chose the services and levels of service that I wanted and submitted my order. I decided to port our existing AT&T POTS line over to U-Verse voice. All went well online and I had an appointment date scheduled for the next week. I got an order confirmation email from AT&T letting me know the date and time the installer would be there.
Fast forward to the following week and I tried to verify my install date/time on AT&Ts website and it wouldn't work. I got a little concerned at this point and decided to call customer service (the 2020 number). This was the part of the install that got a little crazy.
Upon being connected to support via telephone I talked to a CSR that quickly became obvious that he was a) ill-equiped to do support and b) not extremely well versed in the english language. After I gave him my information to look up my order it took about 30 minutes for him to get back to me. He told me that my order didn't exist but before I do anything else I should call and cancel my DSL.
I was a little skeptical with this because while I knew DSL had to be deactivated during install I didn't see anything about cancelling DSL before ORDERING U-verse. I tried to discuss this wit the CSR but it became to difficult. I thanked him for his time and we disconnected. I did get a case # at least (which helped me later).
Not wanting to call back AT&T to discuss the disconnection notice I decided to hop online and see if I could track down a different number to get someone based out of the U.S. and with better knowledge of how ordering U-Verse worked. I found a number on Consumerist.com that I called. The woman at the other end was with 'Executive DSL Support' (based out of TX I think?) and was extremely understanding. She made quite a bit of headway as she personally called the U-Verse support to see what was going on. After about 30 minutes she explained that she still was on hold and that I could wait or try calling back later. She took my information and said she would also follow up regardless of what I did. As this was around lunchtime during my day I let it go and decided I'd try to call again later that evening.
Once I got home that evening I called the same AT&T number. This time, after going through the same hoops with the IVR system I got a CSR based out of CA that handled only U-Verse. I explained my situation and according to her she called our local dispatch to find out what was going on. She discovered that the order was dropped and tried to find out why. After about another 30 minutes she came back on and told me because of the telephone number port the system was just dropping my order. She resubmitted the order several times (resulting in different order numbers) that all got rejected. Finally she admitted that 'maybe' someone will show up tomorrow.
Fast forward to the next day - nobody showed up, no confirmation. Made another call to AT&T. Next CSR apologized to see what they could do. More run around and more order numbers but no certainty about somebody showing up.
This is where everything changed though. I contacted Matt (mmay149q) with Tier 2 technical support though this website (DSLReports.com). Matt called me, told me he'd figure out whats going on. He called me back quickly and explained that we should just do the HSI install for now and order the phone service after we had success with HSI. He was friendly, understanding and seemed completely focused on making sure I was happy.
My DSL was turned off that evening - while it sucked that I didn't have internet - I was happy instead that it was (hopefully) a sign that things would happen right the next day.
The date for the install was the next day between 9-11. The installer called right before 9 and showed up at around 9:45. He did a great job and had everything done in about 45 minutes (note that it was quick because FTTP was in place and AT&T had already installed the ONT the year before with the DSL).
I was extremely pleased with the professionalism with the AT&T installer. Compared to Charter in my area it was a welcome sight.
Matt followed up with me later that day which was great and I was off and running. Matt also helped make sure the voice install went smoothly (it did - about 2 weeks later).
So heres the jist of it:
If you are PORTING a number you may want to call AT&T instead of doing the install over the internet
If you have AT&T DSL, you *may* have your DSL turned off a day before the install.
If you need help, contact Matt on this board. It will save you a LOT of time and work
All in all now that we have our 12mbit DSL and U-Verse voice we couldn't be happier. Looks like with the FTTP I have virtually no overhead and the voice service has better sound quality (and more features) than my old POTS service on top of everything being cheaper. I'm very happy now.
*** UPDATE Feb 11th, 2010 ***
With AT&T changing their pricing tiers it cost me nothing to upgrade from the 12mbit to 18mbit plan. Within a minute of making the change on the AT&T website I was flying along at 18mbit. It's sweet!
*** UPDATE Mar 18th, 2011 ***
With my families usage - I plan on canceling my U-Verse service at the end of April. Charter offers faster speeds for less money in my area. I'm done with U-Verse.
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