I finally let the ATT rep's rap* win me over, and ordered U-Verse 12MB Internet+TV incl HBO+phone as an upgrade to my long-time pathetically slow DSL. Any tips, tricks, cautions, bribes, entreaties I should lay on the installer?

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*(you know, the one where you call in to CS about a discrepancy on the bill, and then they give you the never-ending sales pitch to spend more money? That one. I continually got him to whittle down the price to $139/mo w/some sort of $50 Visa card kickback. Probably the same or worse deal I could have signed for online, withOut spending 30mins listening to false claims and empty promises, but what fun is that?)
All I really cared about was the faster web scv, and that supposedly I'd be able to keep my old email address.
12mb should be a good 15X faster than what I've got now, so I can get a head start on wasting my life watching all those YouTube clips I've only read about...

Plan to be around for a long time for connection, at least that was the case for 2 people in my building. It actually took them about 2-3 days to get it right.

sometimes the u-verse people sign you up but the wiring infrastructure won't support it.

can you keep the DSL for one more month? just to make sure everything works OK

When the power goes out, so will your land line. Just an FYI. That was an issue for us with our security system. Agreed with above. If your house wiring won't handle the service, cancel it right then, have the electrician put things back to the way it was before he leaves.

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Spiff
"When the power goes out, so will your land line."

Not necessarily true. Phone lines also provide power to the phones. I have had power outages yet the phones still work. Same thing with cable internet. Each service has its own lines. A blown transformer down the street may kill you power, but it does nothing to phone/cable lines.

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Ed (modelamac)

I think I will just put an OUT OF ORDER
sticker on my head and call it a day.

Yeah, a small UPS running the U-Verse box is a good investment.

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modelamac

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Spiff
"When the power goes out, so will your land line."

Not necessarily true. Phone lines also provide power to the phones. I have had power outages yet the phones still work. Same thing with cable internet. Each service has its own lines. A blown transformer down the street may kill you power, but it does nothing to phone/cable lines.

Yer right, I forgot to mention that you have 4 hours of phone time with a UPS that AT&T supplies. After the UPS dies, you have no phone. Reason being is that ALL information comes through the modem. If the modem has no power, then you get no phone. So while we rarely have power outages more than an hour or so in Columbia, SC, we did not want to risk it.

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deckeda
Yeah, a small UPS running the U-Verse box is a good investment.

AT&T should provide you with a Belkin UPS designed to work with the U-verse Residential Gateway...

Wouldn't any UPS work with their modem?

Sting is correct, Uverse comes with a UPS.

Ive had it for almost 2 years, no complaints.

I was even able to get the U450 plan for $117. =)

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Remember that the installer is supposed to orient you to the new features including the remote, pick his brain and get as much time as you can having him demo the remote functions including recording and playback with the DVR. I insisted my wife be present and let the installer answer her questions and get her up to speed on the new system, saved me a lot of time and grief later on.

Thanks, after I posted this Q, it had dawned on me that the phone svc wouldn't work in a power outage, one of the reasons I kept the landline this long. -Very glad to hear they supply a small UPS as part of the install.

update- the sales rep did pull one over. I specifically asked him if the deal he was offering was at least as good as what I'd see if I just ordered it online, "Oh Yes, sir. Much better." But now on ATT's site I see most of the plans, even a cheaper one, incl a $200 gift card. I called ATT back, they're now taking off an addt'l $20/mo for 6mo for me.
These guys always try to get that extra nickle from you!

The UPS that comes included is claimed to run the phone for "8hrs". I just asked how many days the batt might last if idle, in an extended pwr outage, and the guy guessed "maybe 24hrs".

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space-time
can you keep the DSL for one more month? just to make sure everything works OK

Note that AT&T makes a point of disabling any access to dsl with a uverse install. This is a dirty little secret that relates to the competitive situation. Firms are still forced to share lines on legacy systems so you can get dsl from a competing provider. However the FCC abandoned line sharing several years ago if a provider makes "new investment." Thus, AT&T does not have to share uverse infrastructure (and Verizon does not have to share Fios.)

I was refused uverse service when I insisted on maintaining a legacy dsl connection as a matter of "policy."

Matt Yglesias had a nice piece in Slate about the current state of non-competition in broadband....

The Visa cards are kind of a scam. They don't just send them to you, you have to take action to get them (instructions of course are vague and not easily found) and there is a pretty limited window to do so before you're SOL. Plus, IIRC, you can't get them until you've had service for 30 days or something. I lost $200-$300 worth of them because of their scammy rules.

In lieu of the cards, I would rather have had the value of the Visa cards taken off my bill over the course of the year and specifically asked for that instead but of course they wouldn't do that.

Yes, that's why I was ok w/their offer of $20/mo x6, w/the $50 card= only 30 less than $200, and I don't have to deal w/using up the card in 90 days, waiting for some postcard by reg mail! 5wks after the install to be able to order the card & then wait for it, etc etc. Not that I didn't Try for that last $30...

& yeah, I'm pissed jdc was able to get the U450 plan for $117 ! -what'd you do, threaten sexual harassment??

funny, it was more expensive the first year -- think we were paying $148?

Sounds like the same sorta deal -- $50 a month off, $200 card, etc, etc

but after a year -- they wanted $188. Got a whopping $10 off for complaining. So then I threatened to boogie. dude just said "how about $117". I said "done". Still only good for another year, but fine.

dunno why it has to be so freaking hard to get this crap -- worse than buying a new car sometimes.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.