IPTV is here!

After hearing so much about IPTV availability in other areas I was beginning to feel a bit left out. No more! Last week I came home to find a bag full of marketing literature hanging from the doorknob. Apparently all of the work AT&T was doing over the past months down the street was paving the way for a new service.
They call it U-verse, and the wiki found here does a good job explaining the details.

AT&T had a sales team stationed on the corner a couple of nights ago, so I had to go talk to them in person. I picked their brain until I was out of questions. The aforementioned link really does a good job of explaining things, so I’ll be brief.

A fiber optic trunk is run to the premise or a distribution box located within the neighborhood. (The latter in my case)
The signal is extended to my home over existing twisted pair wiring — much like current DSL.
A box transceives the signal into various media types, such as COAX and Ethernet.
The set-top boxes at each TV are run over the existing COAX or CAT-5 cabling.

My installation date is next Saturday morning, so I’ll post updates then. For what its worth, I’m going into this with a fair amout of skepticism. Much of the feedback found in forums and user groups on the Internet seem to be split decisions. I’m looking at this with the “glass half-full” approach, hoping that my Telecom brethren will get this right. Oh yeah, it also comes with a 30 day money back guarantee, so duh, why not give it a shot!

UPDATE 12-10-2007

The installation was painful. I ran CAT-5 cable throughout the house. I extended the twisted pair to the area I wanted the router installed. I made the installers job sooo easy, but as my luck would have it, things went to shit quickly.

The installer was great… nothing bad to say about him at all. Unfortunately the VRAD in the box down the street “burned out”. VRAD burned out = no service. I called the installer (thankfully he left his cell number) and he came back out, replaced the VRAD, then wrestled for hours with his internal BS. Then, to slap both uf us in te face, the guy on the other end of his cell phone told him “the system was going down in 10 minutes” and that “we’d have to handle this in the morning”. Now I see why they say not to cancel any existing services right away!

The next morning I plugged everything back in and nada. Called the tier 2 number they left with me and the Agent had things working within 15 minutes. Goes to prove the right person at the right time really makes a difference.

So, all installation issues aside I’ve been quite happy. The Internet is plenty fast enough. The HD quality is great. The channel lineup is pretty good, although I can’t find Discovery HD. Grrr. If I had any complaints it would be on the Customer Service folks. I know this is bleeding-edge stuff and not everybody is up to speed yet, but it seems like a lot of “I’m not sure” and “Do you mind if I place you on hold for a minute while I check on that” type of responses. Sounding smart isn’t a priority I suppose. The only other thing I have taken issue with is the booklet they left behind titled “Features Guide”. It shows me all of the wonderful ways U-verse is going to make my life better, except the first two I tried have yet to be rolled out in San Diego! Nothing tells me either; I have to call for support and listen to the helpless Agent fumble for answers before spilling the beans and admitting it isn’t yet available. Well, I guess I should have known — new services are bound to have their issues. Leave it to me to discover them.

UPDATE 12-27-07

Nearly a month after having things installed I’m happy to report that everything seems to be going quite well. I now have Discovery HD and several other new additions to the lineup. Good thing because I would freak out without that channel! Time Warner can officially kiss my ass once and for all. They now have their equipment back and I have my sanity back. Not that they are a bad company, but they seem to be a step behind Cox, the service I would have gladly taken if it was offered in my neighborhood. Since the AT&T offering isn’t really an apple-for-apple comparison, I won’t draw parallels — it just doesn’t seem fair. But if I had to, I would (so far) give the AT&T U-verse service a near perfect mark as far as an overall experience.

Keep up the good work AT&T !