I have a reason to be thankful for my troubles today. The disappointment of canceling my satellite service and the trouble of signing up for AT&T DSL have given way to the ultimate destination I was seeking in the first place. Turns out it is called U-Verse.
Background: I called AT&T today because I got my first bill. The phone line was significantly more than I expected so I was calling about that. As I was on hold, I was browsing their site and came across a DSL service they offer WITHOUT needing a phone line. I asked the representative about it, noting that the man who helped me before had a real strong accent and I never truly felt he understood what I wanted. She started to switch to this new DSL, when she asked me what I was doing with TV service. "Funny you should ask," I say.
She then told me about a newer, "advanced" technology of delivering TV through fiber optics, never once using satellite along the way. From there, she patiently waited as I read and researched this service called U-Verse. With the fiber optics line comes vastly faster internet speeds of up to 10 meg down, despite getting an internet package that touts 3 meg. I reviewed the technology quickly and compared the channel line up to what I have now. Locals are in HD and there are about 10 more channels that I'm not getting in HD with Comcast. (Plus there's ESPN-U. That's for you, Lupka.)
They were running a promotion for $250 check to people who got TV and internet and there is no commitment. That'll come in handy with the $700 repair I'm having done next week. First month is free as I try it out. The package I chose will run me $94/month. That saves me $40 over Comcast and I'll be completely out of their terrible structure. (I see today that I ended my internet service with them not a moment too soon.) The rep even offered to back-date all my current DSL charges since it was never quite what I wanted. I am so fortunate to have gotten her as my rep when I called!
Hopefully there will be no unpleasant surprises when they install next Saturday. A process that takes 4-6 hours apparently. But I'm already very excited at the possibilities...chief among them, the ability to use my AT&T phone to set my DVR to record remotely. Whaaaaat!!!! Heck yeah!
Update: I've spent the better part of the morning reading technical forums. Seems most, if not all, users agree that the HD quality is not as good as satellite or cable. AT&T has to compress their data to fit all the streaming for HD and internet in to their pipes. (All TV providers compress, but apparently AT&T does it a bit more than satellite and cable.) What results is a lot of macroblocking, or a pixelated background and a softer image. Makes me incredibly nervous but I'm going to have them come on out and install it. First month is free, after all. Won't cut off Comcast just yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment