Audrey Simpson of West Hartford, Ct. thought she would un-complicate her life recently by signing up for AT&T’s triple digital package for her telephone, Internet and cable service.
Since then her life has been anything but simple.
For weeks she has been frustrated with the signal from AT&T freezing not only TV reception but her telephone, making it unable to use.
Worse, “customer service” personnel – just like at major competitors like at Comcast, make up reasons for her problems, and fail to follow through on their promises.
“The service has been ‘freezing’ since the first day we had it and after many, many calls the problem is still not resolved,” Simpson wrote me last month. “When the picture on the television freezes I also lose my internet and phone service for three minutes.”
“I have had AT&T techs at my door tell me that because my furnace is turning on that is why the service in freezing,” she said adding that many other explanations came along with techs who never even showed up for their appointments.
She said she and her husband have spent close to 50 hours dealing with the issue during the 13 visits from technicians.
I contacted AT&T’s public relations staff, which is usually pretty good at escalating these issues to competent people who solve the problem.
AT&T’s Kate MacKinnon promised to get someone competent on the case.
Within 24 hours another technician arrived at the Simpson residence and candidly told her that the issue was not just at her home but on her whole street.
“This is the first time I have heard this. He told me that they would be working on the lines tomorrow but I saw a truck on the street off and on today,” she said.
She was also given $100 off her first bill and was promised a $10 reduction on her next six bills.
The following day I got another email from her telling me “the service has not frozen so far today so I am becoming a little more optimistic. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel!”
Unfortunately she spoke too soon.
A day later she said “The problem with the freezing of the service is still not fixed.”
She said she had on numerous occasions told the customer service representatives not to call her cell phone, but despite that the calls continue. She finally told AT&T she does not want technicians at her home any more since the problem is not there.
“The problem is not at my house but with the wires on the street,” she said. “I do not believe how horrific their customer service is. How in this day and age is this allowed to happen? I am truly at the end of my rope here,” she wrote me.
I again contacted MacKinnon, who promised to do what she could.
[ad#uconn468]
Similar Posts:
- New CL&P Customers May Be Without Power Until Nov. 15
- Yankee Gas Won’t Let Customer Go, Likes Charging Monthly Fee For Nothing
- CL&P Attempts To Move Electric Home Connection By A Couple Of Inches
- CNG Damages Non-Customer’s Credit Rating
- Ct Consumer Complaint: AT&T U-Verse Internet Download Speeds Uneven
- Apple Phone Support Refuses To Help
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by George Gombossy and George Gombossy, Veronica Angel. Veronica Angel said: Signing Up For AT&T U-Verse Was Huge Mistake For Family: For weeks she has been frustrated with the signal from … http://bit.ly/eFAdzu [...]
I’ve long been wary of putting all my technological needs in one basket. I use ATT for landline phone service and DSL. I use Comcast for cable TV. And I have a Tracphone that has never dropped a call and that also has Internet access. I feel comfortable with this set-up because I doubt that there’s any way I’ll lose everything all at the same time.
I had so much trouble with AT&T over the past 2 years (without ever falling into he trap of getting ‘U-Verse’ tv, that I dropped them back in October. Customer service was obnoxious at best, and ofte when I called to discuss a problem with my bill they’d try and sell me MORE services than I wanted or could afford. After I dropped them they sicced their collections people on me who humiliated my on the phone, made fun of my job (hey it’s a JOB right?), called me names and basically bullied me into payment terms I can’t afford. I will NEVER EVER EVER have ANYTHING to do with AT&T (or it’s affiliates) ever again. Companies like this are why anti-trust and consumer laws had to be implemented.
I have service with Comcast now and things are fine.
Hopefully, everyone will read this. The “high tech bundle” that ATT pushes hard is nothing but old copper wire technology, poor at best.
What’s particularly laughable and irritating (and typical of the internet/tv/phone behemoths) is their offer to this family of $10 off their bill for the next six months.
When we lost our cable for a day recently, I contacted Charter cable and asked for a 1/30 credit of my monthly cable tv bill and that’s exactly what no-customer service did, they laughed.
When I then told them to come take their equipment out of my house, they magically came up with an offer reserved for new customers (another pet peeve of mine) and reduced my bill by $30 a month for one year.
Good luck to this family, I think the suffering associated with dealing with these companies is just below the death of a pet.
I have had the same thing in Guilford ever since I signed up more than a year ago.
I just put up with it as I figured I’d get the same response and no help from AT&T
Hi Don,
We’re sorry to hear that you are having trouble. Please email us at attcustomercare@att.com and we’d be happy to look into this for you.
-AT&T Customer Care
over the past 2 years we too have had continues problems with att,we have had at least 7 [maybe 10] different techs at our house,replaced the boxes [4] once and one box twice,had new wires run, been told the problem is with the boxes,the connections to the boxes,the main controller,the connection to our house,the line on our area and a main box down the street,we have rebooted the boxes and the main controller too many times to count.we have given up on on the tv in our bedroom completely,a nightly ritual is to turn it on see if its working and if not listen to the radio.in total i have spent days not hours on the phone with att cs.someone comes out,the situation gets better for a short time and then the tv’s start pixulating,our main tv is working now [although pixalating occasionally,not completely freezing], we have resolved ourselves to the fact that in order to receive att’s superior channel selection we have to deal with its technical issues.in all honesty all of the employees at att have been professional and courteous,i think its the technology that is the issue.
ps at no time have we ever been offered a credit on our bill.
I sympathize with the West Hartford family. I live in West Haven and had the same problem last year when I signed up for UVerse service. Except, our television and internet would freeze for days at a time, not hours. AT&T also sent technicians (we had 10 different visits); and all 10 gave us a different reason as to why this was happening. The most believable one, however, was that we should have never been sold the service in the first place because we are simply too far from the signal box. Additionally, warm and cold temperatures will affect the contracting and expanding of cable wires, further complicating the problem.Supervisors were unwilling to do much; gave us a very minimal credit and are still trying to collect for service we could barely use. Tell this family to stop wasting any more time and money and switch back to Comcast.
Our condo association voted to switch to UVerse in 2006. We had the same problem with freezing, and also “tiling”. They both stopped when we removed the second TV set from the system, but other problems persist: while watching TV the set suddenly slips into “blue screen” mode or “dvd” mode and has to be reprogrammed. AT&T techs have told us that we must be accidently pushing the buttons on the remote, but it happens when the remote is across the room. Other AT&T techs have told us that the cause is our “crappy” television and advised us to get a new one.
We also have freezing issues with At&T and their customer service is the worse that I have ever encountered. I too am looking for resolution to this ongoing problem. I cannot wait for verizon to come to Orange so I can drop uverse immediately. Thanks for the great article.
It’s too bad. We also had a few problems at the beginning of our U-verse subscription, mainly due to old infrastructure in our house. Our street was rewired about 3 years ago, before the service was even offered. So that was not the problem. The diligent technician who returned told us it turned out that the switches needed to be replaced and upgraded to something of higher power. Bear in mind, this is just my paraphrasing of the events. But we’ve never had an issue since. We’ve never lost any TV or internet signal. The quality of the services, the interactiveness, the wide array of channel options, it’s all been an upgrade to our former provider, Comcast. A few of my friends have also had problems with U-verse, but most of them haven’t. So I guess it’s one of those things that when it’s not working right, it’s a gigantic problem. But when it does work right, it’s far superior to any of the other options out there right now. Good luck!
I was a faithful Comcast customer for 31 years. On the anniversary of your your contract that you are warned in very small type at the bottom of you monthly statement that you are required to renew your contract. I missed the warning and my bill was increased drastically. The customer service supervisor said “nothing we can do as far as a refund”.
Two years ago we went with AT&Ts U-verse. After eight visits and countless hours on the phone for assistance it now only freezes occasionally.
Things you should know before ordering U-Verse service.
They do use fiber optic cable to connect the “Cross Box” on the main road. They use copper wire on your street. The use Cat 5 cable within your house.
***IMPORTANT… Your house must be well under 3,000 feet from the “Cross Box” to receive quality service. I am at 2,970 feet and they had to reduce the input signal at my pole which extended my service by 400 feet. I still get freezing on occasion. The voice sometimes does not match the video. I experience “streaming” motion on fast moving sports such as basketball games etc… sometimes.
Tips; If you call customer service more than a few times as for a “level two” tech after you explain that you have an ongoing problem. Level two has a history of your calls. You can request a direct phone number and a password code which is good for two days I believe to get right to them. This avoids all the sales talk messages and useless time wasting to get to level one.
If you have just experienced a quality problem ask level two to run a test on your line. They found several hundred thousand errors on my line over several minutes of testing!! They found an old Comcast devise outside that had not been removed. They found that I was getting AM radio frequency waves interfering with their service. This was after five service complaint calls. Previously they replaced ALL the house wiring with Cat 5 cable.
The single most important factor is that you must be well within 3,000 feet of the “Cross Box” which is the signal booster located somewhere in your area. It could be on a nearby street as was our experience and just to far away.
AT&T may be switching away from this technology in the future. For economic reasons they prefer to upgrade the “cross boxes” only in high density areas where they can have greater numbers of customers. If you are in a residential neighbor hood such as the original poster (Guilford) you may never see an upgrade to the Cross Box due to cost vrs revenue. Before you sign up have a tech come out. His laptop computer can plug into your phone line and measure exactly the distance to the Cross Box. In our case 2,970 feet was past the service limit and required a line drop at our pole. Our HD picture quality is OK but not spectacular for a new Samsung HD set.
Comcast and other typical “Cable” services tend to be overpriced for what they offer.
This seems to be a countrywide problem with AT&T when people sign up for Uverse and the rest of the package. It seems to depend on the age of your home and the wiring in your home and on the street. Houses built after 1960(iI don’t remember who told me this) seem to have new enough wiring to have no problem. Older homes do and that requires AT&T to update wiring and they do not want the trouble or expense of doing that. People who live in older homes in the Westville section of New Haven have had the same problem.
My sister, who lives in Kansas City and has a degree in engineering, had the same problem and had to nag and nag to get the wiring in her home replaced. Uverse, her computer and telephone now perform beautifully. In the meantime she was told by AT&T customer service that she was a lonely old lady who wanted someone to talk to on the telephone and that is why she kept bothering them with phone calls. She was also given the offer of $100 off her bill and $10 off her next six bills. But she had to keep calling to see that they fulfilled that offer. So when considering AT&T’s package, think about the age of your home, the wiring in your home and on your street. How old is the home of the couple you wrote about in your column?
Mr Gombossy,over the past 2 years we too have had continues problems with att,we have had at least 7 [maybe 10] different techs at our house,replaced the boxes [4] once and one box twice,had new wires run, been told the problem is with the boxes,the connections to the boxes,the main controller,the connection to our house,the line on our area and a main box down the street,we have rebooted the boxes and the main controller too many times to count.we have given up on on the tv in our bedroom completely,a nightly ritual is to turn it on see if its working and if not listen to the radio.in total i have spent days not hours on the phone with att cs.someone comes out,the situation gets better for a short time and then the tv’s start pixulating,our main tv is working now [although pixalating occasionally,not completely freezing], we have resolved ourselves to the fact that in order to receive att’s superior channel selection we have to deal with its technical issues.in all honesty all of the employees at att have been professional and courteous,i think its the technology that is the issue.
ps at no time have we ever been offered a credit on our bill.
jim
shelton,ct
Hi Jim,
We apologize for the issues that you had in the past – and thank you for the kind words. We are here for you, should you need any additional support. Please feel free to reach out to us at attcustomercare@att.com.
Regards,
AT&T Customer Care
I sympathize with the West Hartford family. I live in West Haven and had the same problem last year when I signed up for UVerse service. Except, our television and internet would freeze for days at a time, not hours. AT&T also sent technicians (we had 10 different visits); and all 10 gave us a different reason as to why this was happening.
The most believable one, however, was that we should have never been sold the service in the first place because we are simply too far from the signal box. Additionally, warm and cold temperatures will affect the contracting and expanding of cable wires, further complicating the problem.
Supervisors were unwilling to do much; gave us a very minimal credit and are still trying to collect for service we could barely use. Tell this family to stop wasting any more time and money and switch back to Comcast.
Trish
I just got the Uverse triple play a week ago (phone, TV, internet). The TV freezes and pixulates, the internet is very unreliable… very unhappy thus far (I had better internet service on my old DSL connection). It’s only been a week. I will call AT&T and and try to resolve the problem. I’ll absolutely allow AT&T to make a reaonsable effort to solve the problem (I think 10 to 20 Tech visits over many months like I’ve read here is way beyond resonable… I won’t wait that long)… If they can fix it, great, otherwise, they’ll be getting their equipment back (and they’ll either refund my money or our new Connecticut AG will be getting letters)… I’m hoping for the best….
This is for the lady with the AT&T problem. I to had a nightmare on my hands when I switched from Comcast to AT&T package for TV, phones and internet less than I year ago.
I had 7 techs. at my house in 1 week. They tried everything and nothing they did solved my problem. They also worked on outside wires, inside wires, they even changed my equiptment inside 3 times. My TV’s were freezing with the picture etc. Finally a supervisor came after I requested one. I had 2 phone numbers in my house. I was told to take them off of the package and go back to the land line that I had before. It solved my problem. At this time I have no more trouble with my service. Of course I had to pay a few more dollars since I was no longer in one of their packages through no fault of mine.
Check with the lady from West Hartford. If she has more than 1 phone number (not phones) tell her to go back to a land line. It worked for me.
Marion
I live in new haven and cannot use the u-verse for my phone service, I had nothing but problems with the phone. The t.v and internet is just fine, i never had a problem with that.
As the old saying says:
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”
I long for the days of SNET.
I’m just starting to try to deal with this AT&T situation. I’ts been 3 months and my bill it over $600.00. I was origionally paying $116.00 for internet,television and home phone. AT&T service reps actually came to my house and gave me their card (Joanne Davies 203.804.1957 Sales Executive AT&T and Pete Lombard 203.804.1984 Sales Executive AT&T) I was told my bill would be 15 – 20% cheaper if I bundled. I was also told that they would take care of charges my other cable company would charge for disconnecting early which is now $455.00. Today after calling AT&T over 10 times and them telling me that they would correct everything I am now getting late charges added to my bill. I think its time to get together and contact Randall Stevenson President of AT&T to get these problems and many like them corrected. We consumers decide to go with AT&T because we think we can actually afford it but they just get you to sign up and tell you they can’t do anything about it.
Until I read your column on Sunday, I thought I was the only one frustrated with AT&T!! I have the exact same “freezing” problem that Audrey Simpson has, and I don’t even live in her neighborhood! We have had our unit with the DVR replaced twice but the freezing problem persists. Sometimes if we turn to another channel the action is actually going on, and then we turn back to the original channel. Our other “trick” is to turn the set off, count to 10, and turn it back on. We have learned you have to count SLOWLY.
I’ve never had an AT&T service man miss his appointment, but it sure is frustrating trying to get to talk to a person for help. There is an entire time-consuming procedure to go through before you can talk to a person. This from a COMMUNICATIONS company.
It was just nice to hear that AT7T is not picking on just our family! Pam, Guilford
Hi Pam,
AT&T Customer Care here, we’d be happy to look into this for you. Please email us at attcustomercare@att.com and we’ll see if there is anything we can do to help.
Afternoon George–I have had ATT Internet srervice for about a year. Their telephone HELP is variable —-some of the overseas helpers seem too operate strictly by rote and dont appear to be well trained. The service guys who have had to visit twice were first class.
I suspect Ms Meadows has their U Verse system.The service men told me they have a lot more trouble with that than my basic connection. Among other things you have to be within a certain distance of their special pole mounted U Verse box–300yards?
Dennis
And here I thought I was the only one who was having problems with AT&T phones, internet and TV. I had the system installed in late November and it has been nothing but trouble since. I’ve had the freeze-ups mentioned above(and still do), Two of my 3 TVs didn’t work at all for the first 2 months although I had AT&T Techs at my house so often that my neighbore thought I had taken in borders. They changed cabeling, all the connectors, as well as some of their own equipment. (they changed 3 of their major boxes twice!). They even tried multiple fixes over the phone having me disconnect various of their boxes, push buttons and wait and wait to see if there were any results. They even threatened to start charging me for service calls if I kept calling. Although I never signed any sort of contract, when I threatened to toss their equipment out in the snow, they advised me it would cost me $350 to discontinue the service after the first 30 days. I know what the problem is – Their system is too complex, has had inadequate testing before being put into service and their technicians are poorly trained. But, what is the solution???
I have had UVerse for about 2 years now (December of 08). When first put in, it was a disaster. The initial issue was due to a very, very poor, sloppy installation job by their own admission. Freezing, complete malfunction, no phone or internet.
Long story short, I had many dozens (no kidding) of visits here to try and get things working. Many, many phone calls. They replaced and rewired everything. I spoke with many of their call centers and they even bumped me up to an engineer (Nathan Boyd) in their Texas HQ.
After gradual improvement over about the first 6 months it got to an acceptable level. I cancelled the digital phone part of the service and went back to an AT&T analog phone. I have kept the internet and TV service.
The internet now generally works OK. The TV will freeze but infrequently. The picture occasionally has a “jitter”. It is generally good enough at this time. The alternative is to go back to Comcast and they were horrible to deal with.
Chris
New Britain
ESCALATE TO THE TOP. THATS WHAT I DID. AFTER MORE THAN 25 VISITS TO MY HOUSE ALL IS RESOLVED. OVER 2 YEARS I RECEIVED OVER $1000 IN CREDITS
The first comments I have are that several (and I mean several) friends called me and thought I wrote the Audrey Simpson article and faked my name.
The article reflects, paragraph by paragraph the exact experiences, in the exact order, that I have had. Spooky! I was especially taken by the heat thing. I was told it was because of the summer heat and had to wonder why Dallas (wires underground) had the same problem.Humph!
I do have to say however, when you finally get to one of the “on the road techs” that come to your home, they are wonderful, are knowledgeale and are very judicious, they’re just not sent out when you need them.
I finally told ATT that I wasn’t doing anymore troubleshooting for them (including serial number research), and was not going to repeat anything their techs should have reported in their activity report . That was their job.
I am so skilled now, I am cheap labor for one of those overseas, over the counter techs. Hey call me if you need front line support – I am very good.
As far as the phone / tv / freezing problem, it has been since Jan 20th (this time), but has been a problem for over 2 years,.The techs are coming to replace 2 boxes on the 10th which I am now told have caused all of the problems:)) Crazy
Oh and finally, I have read everything George above had to say (who is right on) but I can beat him 100 times over, I make my 800ATT2020 “answer the phone people” read for themselves ,their own notes. I can’t go to Comcast because I am in a COX area, been there, done that.
I believe this whole concept is so great, I love it. BUTT……………
I just wish ATT would be less greedy, less cheap and spend more time supporting their local employees to help integrate their product correctly with their equipment, their software, local help desk (the front line help desk need to come back to America) and the out door line guy staff.
The line guy (poor guy) takes the hit for everything. It’s always the line guy.
If I have to speak with that machine man one more time I think I will end this all and begin to read more, but if you yell (and I mean yell the word “agent” many times the machine man will transfer you to a person. Thank the Lord!
We have been pleased with the AT&T Uverse package. Except for a few moderate, but not major, distractions on the phone, the overall product and service have been great. It has been annoying at times to contact customer service, but the overall response has been reasonably adequate. The ultimate recourse is to change vendors. Thankfully, we now have competition, and reverting to the original provider keeps everyone alert and responsive. Competition and oversight by a free press can only help the customer and the the market for these services.. Joe Fox
Yes, AT&T is the worst consumer provider of anything I have ever tried. Buying Uverse was the easiest thing I did. Upgrading my channel package and getting a DVR took 60-70 days, 3 missed service visits. The product is weak at best- not a good HD picture, and they bill me for dialing TF calls.
The worst part about this was my discoing the old DSL and Dish service: they put me into collections on the 31st day despite dish network saying they got their equipment back. I was billed the $300 equipment fee, tried my damnedest to dispute it (AT&T SOLD ME AND BILLED ME FOR DISH.) They sent me to an outside collection agency to collect the $300, when my balance was $96, and the account was closed. 120 days and 8-10 phone calls later Dish send me a check. WHEN YOU BECOME A UVERSE CUSTOMER, THEY IMMEADIATELY SEND YOU TO UVERSE CUSTOMER SUPPORT- you will be transferred 2-3 times if you want to talk about your “old” services.
Bottom line: AT&T UVERSE and AT&T wireless and even AT&T business: an absolute catastrophe. It stuns me this company doesn’t get sued daily for its staggering incompetence.
Hi folks,
We’re sorry to hear that you are having trouble, and we’d like to help. Please feel free to email us at attcustomercare@att.com so that we can address your individual concerns.
-AT&T Customer Care
Regarding cable television, I used to have Cox cable and I hated it! So when a couple of years ago AT&T started offering U-verse in my town I decided to switch. Right from the start the problems began! In fact, no lie… I had one U-verse installer at my house telling me how bad other U-verse installers were. In the two years since switching, I have hated U-verse as much as Cox. My problem with Cox and U-verse is not so much their product… overall, when it is actually working correctly their product is quite good! No, in both instances it is their (in the words of Clark Howard) “customer-no-service”! It seems to be designed to take a customer who is already frustrated by the trouble he/she is having with their TV from a state of mild annoyance to complete insanity. I believe that the CSR managers give out a gold pin to the CSR who is able to make the most customers insanely and furiously frustrated each day. Those CSRs who are able to make the customers happy are publicly shamed then summarily dismissed and told to never return. Choosing your cable TV service is not a matter of which one is best (none of them even qualify for that category), but rather it is which one has not yet sent you into therapy.
Here I thought I was the only one having such problems. We switched to Uverse when it first hit our area of West Haven about 7 years or so now. Very little problems to begin with but as more people signed on more trouble happened. Signals would stop, video froze, internet would freeze etc.What bugs me the most is when I call for tech service I end up with someone in India or Pakistan who does not understand the problem I am having. One day I was on the phone for 3 hours with one lady and she finally says “Oh I see service too your area is out.” This after running up and down stairs disconnecting power and boxes trying to get the system going again. Just as I hung up everything came back up again. Another problem is when something happens with the internet service. Major run around again. My email account was hacked back at the end of Oct. and I was given the run around trying to get the mess cleared up. Mostly I wanted to access my contact list which the person who hacked it blocked on me. ATT ; Oh That’s Yahoos problem. Yahoo; That’s ATT’s problem Took me several weeks of yacking with idiots to finally get one who created a new email account for me without canceling my whole account which would jack up my payments from my original plan. Recently I spent several hours in a chat session online with Tech Service because I had one simple question. Why did Facebook contact me saying a new IP address had used my account and was it me. This after their founders account was hacked. The IP address given was for Wallingford, CT. The clowns online couldn’t understand that it is ATT’s problem not Facebook’s problem. Just glad I didn’t get rid of my land line for phone service. Sure do miss SNET. At least they used local people to solve local problems not somebody half a world away. Maybe someone will come up with something that lets people watch whatever they want when they want without paying a fortune to do it. After all we still have to suffer through all those commercials.My wife is still mad that ATT dropped Hallmark channel because it was to expensive for their viewers. Yeah Right.
I am paying for 3mb of speed on my present AT&T service but I am receiving half of that speed most of the time. When I phoned AT&T they acknowledged their equipment as being obsolete and the issues I was having would require upgrades which they are not willing to do since they are concentrating their efforts on U-verse. I asked when U-verse would be available in my area. They have no idea. So in the meantime I am being billed for 3mp of speed when in fact I’m receiving half that speed. They offered to downgrade my service (which is not acceptable) for a lesser price or give me 5 months credit for paying for but not receiving the 3mps of speed I am paying for. You can’t charge people for one thing and deliver another yet they don’t seem bothered by this at all. I call it misrepresentation and fraud. And they can’t tell me when or if this will ever improve before U-verse is introduced in my area. Watch your bills, if you are not receiving what you are paying for call AT&T’s customer retention service. While your speed may not increase at least they can make restitution for services paid for but not received. Their customer service department leave much to be desired.
I am very nervous now. We got u-verse on Jan 29. The whole system crapped out 2 hours before the Superbowl. After spending an hour on the phone turning things on and off, and unplugging them, it was decided a technician needs to come. I was told we would be first priority in the morning (8:00 am). Twice now, no tech has come early. I refuse to miss work to stay home and wait for the tv guy. He is supposed to come tomorrow evening, we’ll see how it works. We are currently using a digital antenna plugged into the tv, and the picture is clearer than it was when our u-verse worked for a week.
After reading the newspaper article I found it imperative that I comment. I too bundled by telephone and cable service. I do not have a computer at the present time but receive my service from MSN.
I had a problem with the telephone picture freezing and of course that would freeze my telephone as well. I also was informed that when the electricity went out or the cable went out I would have no phone service. My cell phone is only used for emergencies and because of where I live I don’t always get a good signal. Besides, it is a wise idea to keep your landline incase of an emergency and if you wish to call 911 in an emergency your number will come up on the computer. I especially think it is important when you have young children in the home to have a landline at all times.
Anyway, I called AT&T and asked them to switch my phone back to a landline. Ever since then my cable service from them has been absolutely beautiful. We are pleased with the amount of channels and the variety we have to watch. There is never a time when there is nothing to watch. Much better than Comcast. I would like to let everyone know that in all the time that I have done business with the telephone company (38 years) and most recently SBC and AT&T, they always have a special price or package available and usually when that package expires they will offer you something else. Comcast has never offered anything except to shut you off on the 16th if your billis not paid on the 16th.
I would suggest taking the telephone and switching back to a landline or don’t bundle it and see what happens.
MAW
We switched from Cox to AT&T Uverse 2 months ago. I loved Cox – great customer service and cable better than fiber optic in my opinion. I was told when I switched that the internet speed would be the same as what I had with Cox. Well, it turns out it’s half the speed 12 mgbs vs 20 mbps with Cox. I called about it but AT&T said I’m too far to get the 18 or 24 mgbs speed. But they told me it’s “like” the same speed because it is a “dedicated” line. It’s not. It’s painfully slow, locks up, pages have trouble loading. So I called again because it can’t possibly be this slow. I was put on hold while the customer service rep said she would get a service tech on the phone. For about 30 min she came back on the line about every 7 min and asked if I still wanted to hold. Finally, she stopped coming back on the line and I put the phone on the coffee table just to see if the music would stop and she would eventually come back on while I watched tv. She never did so after an hour I hung up. The only reason we’re still with them is that their introductory offer included a lot of extras and my husband wants to keep them til it runs out. I was warned before I joined that they have the worst reputation for customer service, so I guess it’s my fault for not listening.
I just wanted to clear up a few things with my at&t mess. I have three services bundled together: tv, internet and LANDLINE phone. The reason that I was so frustrated by this whole mess was having to explain the problem everytime I spoke to someone whether it was on the phone or at the door. You would think that at&t would document the problem and the information would be available to anyone who wanted to read it. I lost count after explaining the problem 20 times. This has been ongoing for 6 weeks now and I was told the problem would be fixed on wednesday (it wasnt) and the techs were here most of the day today (thursday). Let me say that I was without my three services for a good part of wednesday and part of thursday. While they were on the pole yesterday I got a call from at&t in texas asking if the service was fixed and if I needed a tech sent out. So you see at&t is a communications company with NO COMMUNICATION. When and if the problem is fixed I will post again. P.S.–they are still calling our cell phone number.
We need more competition is this area.
If the three COX, AT&T, and Comcast, I am not impressed.
We let these companies get too big and this is how they treat all of us.
i have only phone service with AT&T and for several years have had chronic problems with my lines. In the past year they have come out at least 6 times to change things with no avail. I have a business and when I call repair I am told to expect a repair in 7 days (if you have the perserverance to go thru the arduous task to get someone on the phone). I finally gave up and contacted consumer affair dept. I did get a response in 2 days with a promise to look into the old lines in my area. If this continues I will be switching to VOI
Yesterday (2/12) we had three AT&T trucks running up and down our road for a good portion of the day, when they departed we were without phone/Internet service! I called their repair department and was told the problem would be fixed by Wed’s evening and was asked if that would be OK to which I replied no. I was basically told that was the best they could do!!!
We were scheduled to have UVerse installed next Saturday but because of their lack of response to my phone/Internet problems I decided I should cancel that so this morning I called their customer service number 800-288-2020 and spoke with Louie (really)! I told him I wanted to cancel the scheduled installation, he must have said he was sorry 20 times and finally asked me if he could put me on hold for 2 minutes so he could connect me with an account specialist (Louie cannot cancel an install) after several minutes Louie came back and announced that the account specialist department can only be reached Mon/Fri from 8am to 7pm, he then provided me with their phone number and asked if there was anything else he could do for me? I informed him that I already wasted 13 minutes of my day with him, so no there was nothing else!
Needless to say you know I’ll be calling them tomorrow morning to cancel. By the way I read “A bundle of problems with AT&T” in today’s paper, that was all I needed to make up my mind.
Best regards,
Lee Adams
George – I am so glad that you spoke about AT&T. I ask how a good company can go “down-hill” so fast.? For years I have only had the basic phone service. No frills, no caller-ID, no answering nothing but I decided to try wireless. What a loss that was. In two weeks I canceled. My basic bill has more than doubled in cost. I am trying AT&T inter-net service but they can’t even get that price right. Since last September I have been working to get credits. This month I did receive a few but not clear what they are for. I thought I was the only one with a problem but I am not alone ! I am going to their customer-care and see what response I get. Stay tuned ! As said before – it is just staggering incompetence.
Unfortunately, this does not surprise me one bit. About two years ago, I broke down and got an AT&T land line so I could save some money on my cell bill (I estimated I could probably cut my minutes in half if people called the house instead). I just wanted a vanilla phone line, no call waiting/answering/etc; two installs and five phone calls to AT&T later, I finally had what I wanted. The initial install was non-existent (installer came to the house, so a demarcation box with four lines in it and two hooked, figured he was done…. had to call him back to actually get mine hooked up) and then the billing issues started; I got billed for every feature AT&T offered plus long distance (which I definitely did not want, most people I call are local and phone cards are cheaper for those rare times I do need to call long distance). It took two months and a complete refund of my first bill to clear all that up.
As time went on, I decided to ignore what happened before and get a DSL line. A bit of background, I share the internet with other people in the house (we are in a duplex, get along great with the people on the other side of our door). However, I noticed when everyone is home thing would get slow. So I bit the bullet, called and ordered DSL. $150 up front later, I had a router waiting for the mythical activation signal (this thing is evidently so rare and legendary it can only be scheduled to be transmitted at odd windows no closer than 3 days to each other; strange since when I worked at a small ISP and even had cable internet two houses ago we could send it out at any time… but I digress). The day came and went and my router sat in the corner, red status light and looking like a 3 figure paperweight. A quick check told me there was a severe signal issue (you can check this on you own through the 2wire routers diagnostic pages when your computer is hooked into it) and everything was green from the demarcation box (you know, the grey box on the side of your house, where the phone line from the pole comes in) to the router (I ran all the wire myself and have the tools to check it).
An hour and half later, I was gritting my teeth as I was talking to my third tech support script reader who insisted I didn’t know where to plug the cord coming out of the wall. Finally, I got told I had to wait for the next “signal” for activation… a minimum of 3 days. 4 days later, still no internet, time to call AT&T again. Over the course of two hours, trying very hard not to swear profusely, I finally get to non-script reading tech support. Talking to them, it was quickly agreed the problem was not in my house and I needed a line tech dispatched to the house. The schedule actually worked very well as he showed up the next day, armed with two business cards (one for him, with his company number; the other was the line to non-script tech support in NY). While he went and chased the problem down the wire, I went in the house and opened my first “big bill” from AT&T; despite not even having internet yet, they had nicely charged me my first month of service plus activation.
What happened next requires some explanation. In order for DSL service (and to a greater extent, uVerse) to work, one’s house must be within a certain distance from the nearest CO or RT (both are “hubs” for local phone wiring). This is because copper can only carry so much signal so far (attenuation); the more data packed into the signal, the higher the attenuation over distance will be (voice uses the least while uVerse uses the most). For a DSL line to work, it has to be about 2.5 miles from the CO/RT to work (in comparison, uVerse requires the house to be less than a mile from the closest VRAD, which obviously have to be placed more often than a CO or RT in order to deliver service). When I ordered the DSL service, I was sure to make sure I was within distance to the RT to get service (it is only 1.2 miles from my house).
Calling me some time after I had seen him, my line tech was ashamed to tell me there was no room in the nearby RT. Not only that, but it appeared that my line actually went to a CO about 6 miles from my house (surprising, since there is another located only 2 miles from the house and just recently built). I thanked him since he couldn’t do anymore and quickly called the direct line to AT&T support. I informed them at that very moment I was packing up all the DSL equipment and going to the local AT&T store to get a refund. They attempted to pull the “early termination fee” line (I laughed, since no service was provided you can’t penalize for terminating the contract as you voided it by failing to provide the services in it) and then told me I had to mail the equipment to Texas. I laughed again and took it all to the store anyway; I got my refund check in the mail 3 days later from AT&T (guess the machine that activates equipment also prints checks).
A few weeks after this all went down, I got my monthly bill from AT&T. Within, they charged me another month of service for DSL and then charged me a partial ETF. Within seconds, I was on the phone again, but this time demanded a full refund of the last two months of service as I was now canceling my phone service as well as contacting DPUC and the Attorney-General of CT (Blumenthal at the time, so I didn’t have much hope of getting a result there) and the BBB. That night the phone was disconnected and 2 days later I had a full refund check that I wanted.
To George Gombossy, The Day:
Your article about the Simpsons pales compared to our experience. Not weeks, but years, with AT&T and computer/DSL problems. Our situation is that we have NO choice. We are in a remote place that only has AT&T telephone wire; no Cable, no alternate telephone company, no Vonage, nothing else. We are locked into AT&T. If we could get ANYTHING else, we would abandon AT&T tomorrow. (That’s what I don’t understand about the Simpsons…why do they stay with AT&T?) I tried to get Thames Comm Company to string a line across the rail line and marsh to us but they never responded. Cable would string a cable, maybe, but only if we pay’d for the cable, which would cost tens of thousands of dollars.
So the thing I have concluded is that AT&T, on the weekends, and perhaps after 6 p.m. in the evenings, turns the telephone transmission lines’ power down. We are at the very end of the line, away across a wetlands area, and the signal gets so weak we revert to the speed of the old days before high speed DSL (that is IF we can get on). IF we can get on the internet, it is as slow as a snail. We pay extra for the max speed DSL, but on weekends we get nothing most of the time, can’t get on to the internet, no poop.
Today in the early a.m. I spent another hour or two with a AT&T wireless rep in Manila and he got me to crank up the power from 4 to 6, which improved the reception for a time, but not enough for our 2-Wire wireless to transmit fast to both our computers (we have two offices in the house) and the printer. The trouble is, that it’s probably an AT&T service problem (lines, power, etc) but the impact is on our internet high speed DSL connection. They are two different entities and the account numbers are different even though we get one bill…go figure. We have paid for years for this high speed DSL, but for two days out of five we get little if any satisfaction; if we get any connection it is as slow as molassas, and we get short-changed for 5/7th of our billing. For years. We should sue AT&T for a couple years’ refund on a part of out fees for this gawd-awful DSL service that drives us utterly crazy.
Your article hit a responsive nerve. I wish to heck we could get out of this AT&T mess. (By the way, like the Simpsons, we have EVERYTHING with AT&T, two lines, TV Dish, Hi Speed (such as it is) DSL, and a whole slew of billing (taxes, freebies, subsidies, non-understandable titbits) items that cost us huge dollars every month before they even start to itemize the actual service totals. The monthly bill is 6 pages long, and completely indecipherable.
Sincerely Juan O’Callahan Stonington,
There is no such thing as “turning down the power” in the world of telephony, at least not in Stonington. I am an AT&T technician in that area, and there ARE “rural” areas, but if you have had issues for “years” without resolution, there may be more than one problem. Keep calling it in, get a person OUT THERE no matter what they tell you on the repair line. Insist on a field visit, and, with any luck, you will get someone out there that will take the time to correct it, or at least get you on the road to recovery. Believe me when I tell you, we as technicians WANT the services to work, and although the company wants us to rush through ALL the jobs (time is money, after all), there ARE a few of us that don’t care about the “numbers” and will do whatever it takes to get it right.
Only problem is that AT&T suspends or terminates its employees for taking the time to correctly install or repair its customers service. Only time given is to patch it up. And its UVERSE equipment is substandard.
Signing Up For AT&T U-Verse Was Huge Mistake For Family ……
[...]I told him I wanted to cancel the scheduled installation, he must have said he was sorry 20 times and finally asked me if he could put me on hold for 2 minutes so he could connect me with an account specialist (Louie cannot cancel an ….. And her…
Let me tell you our horror story with AT&T U-Verse. As I work from home we decided to get another LAND line installed. When my husband calls, they sell us the AT & T U-verse bundle which will save us money…my husband even asked if it was available in our area-they said yes.
We scheduled install. The tech guy comes out and after already turning off my other LAND line/DSL and working outside for 2 hours he comes in and states there is something wrong with outside line-you may not be eligible to receive-will call engineers to come out. He then turns back on my phone/dsl. The engineers came out that night worked on pole outside the house…the following week ATT U-verse calls to reschedule install. We set time on a Sat. for install which was this past wknd. He comes out-disconnects our land line /DSL again and after 2 hours tells us, sorry you are too far away from connection—initial engineer that came out noted you can not get it. But it seems it was never entered into our account. My husband was PO’d-a wasted Sat. as one dept did not tell the other.
Now to today, I wake up turn on computer for work and no DSL, try the phone disconnected…what the?? Husband calls repair—they transfer us to ATT U-verse as they put the cancel order in as we were now on U-Verse? My husband stated no we were never connected we were told not eligible. The cust. service rep states your order says pending. My husband states just turn our phone service back on—after 20 min…sent to person # 3, who my husband has to repeat the whole story–she then puts him on hold after he asks for supervisor..Person #4 comes on-my husband relies the story and requests a supervisor, instead he was sent back to DSL repair the original number we called 1 hour before. He said my wife is paid by the hour and lost 2 hours worth of work time and I am missing work as AT T doesn’t do their follow up correctly…this person a little sympathetic…anyway 1 hr 30 min. later our service was installed. Person # 5 a supervisor assured my husband everything would be fixed and we would receive $50 credit on our bill…We for sure will not be endorsing ATT U-Verse
My name is James Bruni, from Hamden, and I am writing to you because I am in dire need of your help! I read your article in the Sunday, Feb 6th business issue of the New Haven Register. This article told the story of Audrey from West Hartford and her many issues with her ATT service. This article spoke so clearly to myself and my fiancee. We are new home owners and we had our closing on the 28th of December (2010) and had ATT U-Verse installed on the 29th of December. We have been in our home since then and I have to say, there has’nt been a day that the service has worked properly. Our problem is the same as Audreys, however ours is a bit worse. We have had tech after tech come into our home, each one telling a different story. Our service freezes just like Audrey’s, however when our TV freezes, our phone and internet go out as well! This is more of an issue now since I had an alarm installed. Now that I have a home alarm, when the ATT VOIP freezes, my alarm goes off line as well.
The way ATT has handled this has been atrocious to say the least. It is almost as if they don’t care if I keep the service or not. After countless hours on hold with customer care and tech support, and literally 23 techs in my home alone, not counting techs who were sent to the lines outside my house, I have had it with how I have been treated as a customer. I am paying for the highest level of channels, when it come to the packages as well!
Help George! What should I do?
Thank you,
James Bruni
As a suggestion, you should try the old basic copper phone line and not the VOIP phone service.
AT&T used to be the gold standard for customer service. My how things have changed! Their sales rep failed to explain that when you switch your phone to U-verse, it’s VOIP, it was only when the battery backup was installed did I question what was going on. I have skype (VOIP for free) I can call other skype users for free. We had nothing but problems with U-verse-the tv froze, and we lost the picture. After spending hours trying to fix the problems and attempting live chat to resolve the problem only to have the internet connection evaporate during the live chat we boxed up & returned the equipment as per the instructions given us including the Return Authorization number provided by AT&T. We tracked the pkg and it arrived to AT&T. Nevertheless, we were repeatedly threatened and harassed to return the equipment. Despite spending a cumulative total of 19 hours on the phone asking why we were being threatened for not returning the equipment when 2 different supervisors verified its receipt, the harassment continued. My certified letter to Randall L. Stephenson, CEO dated April 29 has still not been acknowledged or answered. Phooey on AT&T U-verse. It was the worst customer experience I’ve ever had. Give me my DISH satellite; even during our record breaking snowfalls last Winter it was more reliable than U-verse, by far.
I did not get any results with AT&T regarding equipment return until I filed a complaint with the FCC. You can also try the BBB.
OMG!! I thought I was the only one with this freezing issues; I have work men coming to my house on a weekly basis and still they keep telling me all the wire in my home is ok so it must be the line on the street; so I told them do not send anymore workmen to my home, send them to the outside line because I can’t waste anymore time staying home waiting for AT&T, its like I am living my life around At&t the phone, internet and cable goes constantly; and each time I tell them I am going to cancel the service they keep giving me free stuff; and discounts on the bill; At&t need to step their game up or quit; the customer people also gets on my nerves like they are program to say the same crap over & over again; without them opening their mouth I know exactly they will say. I run a bookkeeping busness out of my home and need the internet to work remotely and this is a total mess I tell you.
Right now i’m on the phone with At&t and this past Sunday and Monday a workmen was at my home; my daughter call and told me service is down again; total madness!!
All the stories about AT&T service mistakes and none response sound like AT&T typical. I know because I experienced the same service problems for about 10 years until I switched away from AT&T.
BUT you have not seen horrible customer service until you deal with DirectTV.
Unlike AT&T’s service problems and its inability to correct them, DirectTV works great; very little technical issues if any at all, but that is were the good stops and the horror begins.
A very quick search on the WEB will explain in detail the many atrosoties that are committed and continue to be perpetrated by DirectTV. From the start of negotiations, where lying is a sales tactic, to extortion, fraud, deceit, bullying, etc. etc. etc.
You want to experience gangster mob style bad customer service, try DirectTV.
I can’t believe it; I live in
texas and has and is going thru the same thing with my U-Verse. I am checking into other cable Co. I am so tired of their not knowing what they are doing and I work for AT&T and they will not help me. Can you believe it. Maybe we ought to get together boycott and cancel our servce with them-make a stand. Tech tole me the lines needed to replace and since I was the only one complaining in my area, they would fix the problem correctly. How is that? I HATE THAT THEY WON’T FIX IT. BETTY
I had this sort of a problem here in Houston almost from moment one.
It took close to 6 months for me hounding them and working with them to finally determine the problem was in fact the lead in wire from their distribution box outside my apartment building into my apartment. The complex was built in the early 1970′s and the copper was old and the wiring burred in the concrete slab had deteriorated somewhat. This had not effected us when using standard telephone (though I suspect it was responsible for some of the line noise) or bothered out DSL service.
An old timer who was an outside cable tech spent 6 hours here on a Saturday working this problem and was finally able to prove beyond a doubt this was it by running a temporary line from their demarcation box into my apartment right to the U-verse gateway totally bypassing the buried line. Once this was in place all my problems with the U-verse service I was experiencing ceased.
Since I live in an apartment complex my next problem was getting them to replace the line but that was a separate issue.
I suggest Audry have the line from the pole of demarcation box into her house replace as well as from the distribution point in the basement or utility closet to where every the U-verse Gateway is.
The line from pole to house would be on telephone company (more fun since U-verse swears its separate from the rest of AT&T) however if its an underground line from a demarcation box in that well my be her responsibility unless the demarcation point is inside her dwelling.
We have had our u-verse for over 3 years and had no issues. I am very satisfied with the service. At least when there is a storm I am able to watch TV. Unlike the DISH.
We leave in a larger metropolitan area. Perhaps that is the difference.
AT&T Uverse has been a complete and utter nightmare for us as well. We are going back to DirectV for t.v. service. Beside many, many issues with this service – one of the main reasons now that we are switching is that Uverse was never with our alarm system. I asked both the alarm co. and uverse techs before having this put in if there would be a problem. “No, not at all!!” Our system will go off during the middle of the night when the uverse system decides to shut down. For months now, we have had no medical alert monitoring that my mother needs. If she had fallen during this time, we would have been SOL!! Now, I have called them to tell them we need to go back to basic phone service and they tell me that we can’t! They say if you are on Uverse now, you can’t be switched back!! That is ridiculous!! I would love to be able to NEVER have another conversation with an AT&T employee, their products, or services but unfortunately where we live the only landline service available is through them but now they say I can’t even get that!!!! I am so thoroughly disgusted! Wish there were more companies than this one that monopolizes the whole industry and knows that you are limited to services but only through them!
AT&T cannot force you to have your home telephone number on Uverse. They are moving DSL customers to Uverse so that would be a problem. The early termination fee is a maximum of $180, dropping $15 per month. I seriously doubt that this fee would hold up in court. File a small claims suit against them to prevent your credit from being hurt. The law is on your side. Find a new provider for internet. They probably installed service when you were out of loop distance. A class action suit is something you could look into after you get your phone back. In all probability you are still using copper from the “node” to your home. It is not all fiber optics.
It seems as though only people with complaints will write something. Working for a small business, we get the same thing although we have hundreds of return customers after 20 years in business who refer by word of mouth.
I love Uverse!!!!!!!! In the beginning a few glitches had to be cleared up, but I have all of my services billed on one monthly bill. When I have called customer service, I have had the best customer service anyone could ask for. I started using ATT over 40 years ago when they only had land lines.
Before Uverse I had Direct TV and almost all of the previous letters could have been writtin about them, with the poor (rude)customer service, so anyone considering Uverse, give them a try, I think you wil be happy with their service, as I have recommended it to family and friends,
Sharon, you are generally right, but there are some exceptions.
OMG! Sharon- YOU must be MARRIED to the CEO of ATT! Did you READ AND DIGEST ALL of the above messages??????? I don’t think there were more than TWO people who found the Uverse and ATT “customer service” acceptable!
ATT is HORRENDOUS! Give me back my good old SNET! They were the best for OVER 100 years!
I cannot for the life of me understand why ANYONE would buy ANY AT&T product. The “new” AT&T is just a renamed/rebranded SBC Global which was noted for horrific service. I currently have Comcast for internet, Dish for TV, http://www.itpvoip.com for broadband phone service (a great service), and Verizon for cell phones. AT&T is NOT in the picture (no pun intended) and never will be. Their treatment of customers is completely unacceptable.
As I am writing this, there is a DIRECTV installer at my house putting DIRECTV back in after my unfortunate year of misery with Uverse.
Never again.
Customer service? Depends on who you talk to…just like every other major company. But the big issue was that the service SUCKED. TV would freeze in the middle of a show for no reason. Sometimes once a week, sometimes every 15 minutes for weeks on end. Had them come out 6 different times, and each time they had a different excuse, but it never got fixed.
How about the performance of the box itself even when the service was working? Also SUCKED. I’d be watching live TV and be right in the middle of a show when suddenly the channel vanishes because “all HD channels are currently in use”. What? So when a scheduled recording is about to come on I get no warning like “hey, if you want to keep watching this you better delete one of the shows that are about to start recording.” Wouldn’t that be nice? This happened over and over and over. And what a HORRIBLE remote control. If it is dark, forget about using it. lots and lots of buttons…all about the same size…might as well be in braille. Oh, and the remote would not work with my Pioneer Sound system, unlike DIRECTV, so the only volume I could control was that on the TV speakers. Thought I might be doing it wrong but after the first 3 tech visits to fix the signal I asked each of them about the remote and they couldn’t figure it out either.
Uverse may be good for those who don’t care about the quality of a DVR AND who are also lucky enough to have consistent service but I AM NOT ALONE. I’ve asked many of my neighbors who have it and they have either gone back to Charter or DIRECTV or are about to do so very soon.
I can’t wait for DIRECTV to come back. I no longer care about the “convenience of a single bill”.
I worked for over two months to get Uverse internet this summer. After I switched my landline to Verizon, AT&T said that DSL was no longer available and that Uverse was my only option. I live in Farmington and the computer system at AT&T directed the first three techs to the wrong address in New Britain. It took many, many, many mutually uncomprehending phone calls (actually, often I thought the customer service representative understood me completely and would have it fixed in a jiffy) and many, many appointments to find out that while my next door neighbor has service, my house was out of range. Out of range meant that the line was about thirty feet away. Once the problem was identified, it took about an hour to resolve. This was the most frustrating experience I have ever had with a corporation – and that includes insurance companies. In all fairness, I will tempt fate and say that my internet has been reliable since it was installed.
*** WANT TO CANCEL AT&T UVERSE / U-Verse WITHOUT DEALING WITH A NIGHTMARE WHEN YOU CALL ?***** Call there regular customer service phone number 800-288-2020 and tell them you do not want to be “transferred” or “placed on hold” you are moving out of the country and no longer have need for the service. OMGosh, they are super nice and will not transfer you and CAN cancel your service same day! They will give you a confirmation number / Cancellation order number for your reference. Best way to handle them without any headache!!!
Yep, I’m done with uverse! We had it installed last summer just to switch up from 10 years of Direct TV and to save a couple bucks. Man, the 1st two months were a nightmare with the phone service/non phone service. Now, within the past week, two of our TVs are have been freezing every couple of minutes. I’ve tried all of the online fixes, and every time I call tech support, I get a message saying the wait is 30 minutes. Every time! I will pay the early termination fee and go back to Direct TV. Besides, with the incentives, it will be a wash. And don’t get me started on the Weak and intermitten wireless signal. I had to reset it twice to post this message. I’m done with them!
I had similar issues here when they came to hook up U-verse. I live in a 205 unit apartment complex built in the 1970s.
We had installation and line techs out here for hours on end about once a week for probably close to 4 months before we got a real knowledgeable old timer of a line tech who kept coming back to this tap on the line that his equipment was showing him.
When in total frustration he finally ran a new line the length of the apartment from their demarcation box outside into my apartment thru a window to our gate way our problems totally disappeared like magic!
His belief was that what was appearing as a tap was in fact a partial short in the line at that point as was also the cause of the noise on our phone line we would complain to AT&T about periodically when it got too bad.
The solution to the issue was for the Apartment Complex to run a new phone line in to the apartment from the demarcation box. We have had none of the troubles described here that we previously experienced once the old copper was replaced with new.
I’d suggest that those with these sort of issues ask for a line tech with U-verse to come out and examine the line for noise signal loss and taps that make no sense and if these things are seen then look into replacing the copper lead in to their house or apartment.
The phone company may or may not foot the bill for this depending on several factors. You may need an electrician to do this for you
Hate to rain on everyone’s parade of misery, but my Mom has had U-Verse for over 2 years and only had one issue in that time.
On Thanksgiving Day 2010, the TV signal froze right before the football games (major panic), so I called AT&T and a tech tried to help me reset the system. I followed instructions but failed to unfreeze the signal.
Amazingly, a tech showed up an hour later in a personal vehicle (had a badge), took 5 minutes to check out the system and discovered an unplugged wire to the main modem in a spare room where my nephews had been playing video games. Problem solved, not AT&T’s fault.
My Mom and my brother who lives next door love their U-Verse service and have no complaints at all. I’ve been impressed with my Mom’s picture quality and channel offerings.
I’m a current DirecTV and an AT&T HSI DSL subscriber. U-Verse just came online in my neighborhood. I abhor my DSL service as I pay dearly for ‘pro’ speed which is a total crock (and deceptively advertised). If U-Verse internet speed is proven better, I will strongly consider switching all of my service to it.
We have had the I-ned installed in 2011 to stop the loss of service to the telephone, television, and internet at any given time for 1-5 minutes. We have had numerous service calls started from 2009. It appears the freezing has returned, even with the I-ned!!!!!!!! I am a former Direct TV and Time Warner customer. It looks as if it is time to return to one of them for better service! I do not know about the prices for their service. However, just received notification AT&T will be increasing their prices. Not a happy camper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe it depends on city or state. I had uverse at my old house about 4 years ago a loved it. we moved and couldnt get it at first but now its available and we switched. So far so good and its been a week. I know my parents only a couple blocks away have some problems with the picture once in awhile but nothing major. There features are second to none so i hope you guys all get your stuff taken care off. I would be pissed to.
I can relate to this article! After five months, untold hours, perhaps as many as 20 premises techs, outside linesmen, and the assistance of the BBB my problem has been resolved. Their technology is sound, but the problem is running the signal through existing lines and old copper wires. Very convenient to blame it on the customer, and very easy to tell you an endless amount of times to reboot your system (and I hate constantly talking to India!).
My problem was wires running under the road that needed to be replaced. Once that was done everything was acceptable. Another problem is that I am 2800 feet from the node.
These people are slippery. Don’t let them get away with it! Call the BBB (Atlanta), your state AG, and demand a refund (I am paying under $80 per month for a bundle of three services for a year because of this stupidity). Keep after them!
I had very similar problems with freezing, intermittently and consistently dropping the wireless connection and slow internet, if I could event get there. I called 1-800-288-2020 multiple times–reboot my computer, reboot the modem, again, and again. Yesterday I spent from 9:01 am to 10:15 am with tech who had me try different things only for him to decide I needed a new modem/router. That came today and all seems to be working a LOT better. I refuse and will probably have to dispute again paying for the service call to my house because it is their equipment that is being replaced, not mine.
When I had to use my cell phone to talk to them because AT&T was working on my problem, that was just another insult.