AT&T Uverse vs Direct TV

We had dish & hated it! It never came in. We got Uverse & absolutely love it! We have a DVR & I record my soap every day & I can watch them whenever. I highly recommend it.

I have Uverse and LOVE it. Uverse is NOT Dish. Dish is what At&t can get you if you are in an area that can't get Uverse. They are different. I had At&t dish and it was not great, but Uverse is wonderful.

I've never had Direct TV, so I can't compare. We recently made the switch from Time Warner to AT&T UVerse. We've had a few glitches with AT&T UVerse - a few outages, but no big deal. It's been good, comparable to Time Warner, but the bonus is we didn't have to sign a contract in order to get a good price. Our internet is a tad slower than Time Warner, but it still works for what we need. We also get more channels for the price tag vs. Time Warner. I like the interface a lot better too. Plus, with their DVR you can record 4 things at once, which is pretty awesome.

We've had dish, but everyone raved about U-verse so much that we switched...mostly because of the recording 4 channels thing (so that the channel wouldn't change on us (to record something) while we're watching live tv). So we made the switch, but, unlike everyone else, we didn't like it. The biggest problem is that we would set it to record new shows in a series, and for several series (ER, Gray's Anatomy, Oprah), it didn't record them at all...we'd have to set it to record the whole series and delete the old ones...what a pain. I haven't found anyone else who had this problem, but when I called tech support, the third person I spoke to said it's a known problem and they are trying to fix it. There are several other things we didn't like about it compared to dish.

You can only set recordings, delete recordings, etc from 1st receiver -- (they say they are working on it). You can watch your recorded shows from any connected TV.

When you set a series to record, you can't set a max number of recordings for that series. (With Dish we could set a max number of shows to record, so new shows would record but wouldn't fill up the DVR--used this a lot for kids shows. After the 3 shows (or whatever number) it would record over the oldest one)

You can't see how many hours are left of recording time without going to another menu, several steps.

Better/more music channels on Dish (in comparable channel package) -- at least better for us. ex. Dish had a few kids channels with kids artists. U-verse has a few channels like Noggin music etc but they have a lot of pop music. I have turned it on and left the room and come in to find Avril Lavigne or something. Not for the little guys.

In U-verse, you can set one favorite channel list so you don't have to scroll through all the channels, but in Dish, you can personalized unlimited (?) channel guides...kids channels, sports, etc

U-verse can't search by category...movies, kids/family etc. -- you have to search by title or actor etc. With Dish I could select "Movies" (for example) and would get a list of all the movies that were coming up on all the channels.

We also thought the menus were awkward.

Like said , everyone else I've talked to loved U-verse, but I can't figure out why. We just switched back (what a PAIN), and AT&T (in our area at least ) is now selling Direct TV instead of Dish, so we can't bundle anymore, but we like our Dish. We could have switched to Direct TV with AT&T, but didn't want to switch to another unknown. Wondering what you liked about Direct TV over Dish. The tech who hooked dish back up says they get quite a few people who try u-verse then switch back.

We have direct right now. We are not in an area that can get Uverse yet. My husband is chomping at the bit. He works for ATT, but he does not buy everythign they offer. he is very tech oriented and chooses what makes sense to him. He has taken a look at both plans, from the customer side and also has taken a look from the company side, just to see if the reps are telling it like it really is.

If we had your choice right now, I would be waiting for the guys to come a make the switch.

The only thing you have to check into is any contract conditions about canceling with direct. Make sure that you will not be penalized for that. Also the one concern he has is about having his shows all watched on the DVR before the switch over. It seems minor but if you are taping a show and it has not been watched you will lose it in the switch over.

Happy TV watching.

Ok, I have AT&T Uverse. I've had it for about 4 months. We switched from Charter. A few cons about AT&T, their DVR is not very responsive. We had Tivo and it did everything so fast, not with AT&T. I have had a lot of trouble with our recorded TV locking up and I keep having to start the whole thing over and try to fast forward through the bad parts without missing too much. The service in general, when we are watching live tv, has a lot of little pauses and you miss like half of sentences. I haven't figure out what that is, but it is annoying. Ok, the pros of AT&T, their customer service is awesome. Our first DVR box acted up and they were out within a couple of days to give us a new, better box. Also, I called to add the HD service and they told me I could increase to the next channel tier and I actually ended up getting a bunch more channels and HD service for $5 less a month. There are a lot of channels provided (more than Charter for less money). Now Charter, I really, really did not like Charter's customer service. They were horrible. I went a whole month without service because they couldn't get out to my house and then they had to run a new line and then when they came back to bury the line, they cut the line, so another crew had to come out and run a new line and then another crew to come bury. And then I had to argue with several people before they would take the charges for that month off of my account. So enough said, AT&T's product isn't quite as good as Charter, but I would take AT&T's customer service over Charter any day, so that's why I am staying with AT&T.

We had Direct TV, moved over to Uverse and LOVED it. . . Unfortunately we just moved in December to an area that doesn't have Uverse and we are missing it! besides the price savings, it allows you to record 4 things at once & since it is fiber optics, and it is all IP addresses, you can set up a recording from any computer (so if you are at work and forgot to record Oprah, click on Oprah and you have it set to record.) I liked their On Demand options, they had free shows on demand, they offered a local weather, traffic channel you set up yourself, they offer a Flickr page, so when you put your photos in Flickr, you can see them on your TV. These are just some of the reasons I liked Uverse. Good Luck with the decision.

Switch - Save the money.... My parents have it and it works just like Time Warner's digital cable.

Hi S.! I went from Direct TV to ATT U-Verse and it's been about a month now. I had a few gliches with ATT the first week, however customer service was great and a tech even came out the same day I called for a quick repair. We are saving $$$ and are not tied into a contract. ATT offers a month-to-month plan...not a two year contract I had with Direct TV...so in other words. I'm happy with ATT and I have no regrets leaving Direct TV.....Good Luck!

I currently have dish through at&t but not sure what the uverse thing is I like the dish an mine runs like 36 a month before they hit the taxes on it. Only bad part is make sure you got a dvd player with it as sometimes it goes out when we get bad weather. I am in Mo. so not sure if it affects others or just mine.

My husband and I looked into AT&T Uverse several months ago, and we were informed that it was Dish, but contracted under AT&T. So we went with Direct TV. Check with AT&T before signing up if you hated Dish before. Be sure to read the small print on any of the literature.

Hi,

Well I don't have any advice on this but I am switching to direct tv today actually!! I have heard really great things about it and i hope it's worth the switch. Right now I have Mediacom which is horrible and I would not recommend anyone using their services, their customer svc is horrible so right now anything would be better.

We are getting a better/cheaper package from direct tv since we are new customers and are getting HD and DVR free, I am excited about this DVR thing i have never used it and i heard it's great!! I tried to see if i could get the Uverse and unfortunately they are not in this area so I am hoping I am making a good choice with Direct. The only thing is i did not know it was a 12 month contract :\ not too excited about that but 12 mos goes really fast and i am nervous about the whole satellite dish but I am sure it will be ok. Any suggestions or advice for me??!! Hope you all don't mind me just jumping in with my own questions (i guess i should make my own posting to get responses?)
Thanks
L.

I would like to hear about your experience if you switch..we have comcast & its expensive, we switched from Dish because if the wind blew it went out. Good luck to you!

S., I have AT & T Uverse, and every chance I get I tell people how much I love it. We ended up getting the works (whatever that is called on their plan). We love having every channel to choose from. Make sure you get a DVR. Anyhow, never had any problems with it, and it has only went out maybe 3 times in 3 or 4 years, and came back on in a few minutes. Prior to that we had Comcast, which we HATED too!! Also, with the plan we have, internet is included in our plan, and we have not had any issues with internet either. Good luck!!

I had Charter before switching to AT&T so I have never had satelite, but I LOVE my U-Verse!!! My family has the U300 package so that the kids have all of the children's channels and I have even set the DVR to record one of their favorite shows since it is on during the day when we are at work and daycare. If and when you switch, make sure to ask them about all of their promotions, I was able to get a $100 Visa card just for switching and have since received promotions in the mail for free upgrades here and there. AND, we have saved a LOT of money by having the phone, high speed internet, and cable bundled together. I hope this helps!

Looks like you've had a lot of great input. My 2 cents: LOVE that U-verse never goes out in bad weather. That was one of the main draws for me. A good stiff wind and we had trouble w/ both Direct TV and DishNet. Noggin is 24hrs!!! We don't watch all 24, but it was really irritating that as soon as 4 or 5 pm rolled around on Direct, noggin switched to the pre-teen "N". Now, if the kids want to watch something at 7p or later, it's no problem. I also have had the trouble w/ shows skipping out or locking up a bit, but it's better than losing the whole channel for however long in not-perfect weather. My only real complaint about the DVR is that it does not have a "time remaining" feature. It tells you how many shows are recorded, but not the time left on the disk. The only reason you know it's running out of space is that you start seeing "!"s to let you know a particular show is in danger of being erased.

All in all, for me, there's no question, save the money (HUGE plus there) and switch. If you don't like it, trust me, Direct will be begging you back in no time.

Excellent question S.! I was just researching this very thing myself last night. While I don't have the answer for you, I'm hoping of seeing some of your responses so I too can make my decision. Good Luck to you in whatever choice you make.

We switched from Direct TV to AT&T Uverse and have been very happy. No problems so far. The biggest reason we switched was every time the wind blew our Direct TV went out. It was very frustrating to be watching a line of thunderstorms with tornado activity heading straight for us and then buh-bye Katie! We never knew if it was time to head to the bath-tub and cover up with a mattress!

We have At&T Uverse and like it real well. We have the basic U100 channels, but that's a lot of channels! The next step up adds a DVR to your package. We like it, and so far have had no problems. We use to have Time Warner, but was paying a lot more than what we are now. It was worth the switch.
V.

Hello! We switched from Charter to AT&T Uverse about two months ago and love it so far! Charter kept raising their prices every so many months so we decided to switch. We already had our phone and internet through AT&T, so when we added our cable, the cost of cable is actually cheaper for us. We are paying $30 less than what we were paying with Charter! We signed up for their "200" package which includes the DVR. Although we don't watch much TV, there area few shows we like to watch, but hardly can with having kids. The DVR is a bonus for us...we can record our favorite shows and watch them after the kids are asleep...and even fast forward through the commercials! I highly suggest switching to AT&T Uverse...we have no complaints!

We switched from Comcast to Uverse a few months ago...have not looked back since. Not only can you record 4 shows at once, you can watch them from any of the other boxes. That is a huge plus for us as we usually don't get to watch our shows until kiddos go to bed. With Comcast we were stuck watching in the living room w/the DVR. Now we can watch our shows in any room. You can also program your shows from the internet so when I'm at lunch with co-workers and they are talking about some new show, I can log on, record it, and not think twice about it. We had one of the larger packages when we first joined but when I got news that I'm loosing my job we went online and lowered our package in like 2 min. It was so easy and we didn't have to deal with explaining the situation to a CSR and them trying to sell us on something different. If you have phones and internet included you can get even a cheaper package as well. I talked my mom into swiching. She is the most tech challenged person I think I have ever met and she took to it like a duck in water and is head over heals in love with it.