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msuper69 · Oct 17, 2009, 03:28 PM

So I'm looking to replace U-Verse with something else.

The service has been less than optimal.

Problems with the remote and flat screen HDTV's: they say the light from the big screens interferes with the remote. Funny that. The remote is infrared but visible light messes it up?

Problems with the terminal box freezing and the guide responding to the remote slowly. Rebooting the box seems to fix it for a while but then the problems come back after a while. I'm inclined to think that it's caused by the OS on the box being Windows CE and it's crappy, half-assed resource management.

So I head over to Comcast on the intarwebs and find it's not available in my area. Ok. Then I get an email from Comcast saying there are specials in my area and I should call a toll-free number and be sure to mention the special code. So I call just for the heck of it and find out the nearest office is in Richmond, IN (I'm in Columbus, OH). And the customer service rep wants to transfer me to that office. Oh my God! Doesn't anybody have a brain anymore.

I also checked with Time-Warner and Wow. I could get service from them but with no real savings. And I used to have both of those cable services before U-Verse and both were nothing to write home about.

I wish I had a clear view of the Southern sky but it's blocked by trees (which I wouldn't cut down even if I could) so no satellite TV for me. Too bad, I had DirecTV and really liked it.

I could go on and on about how Time-Warner's stupid web site gives a 401 error when you click on their channel lineup link.

Incredible.

Dork. · Oct 17, 2009, 04:07 PM

At least you have competition. All we have is Time-Warner. We've been paying $70 per month just for plain old analog SD cable. I can get digital cable for "free", but since I have a TiVo and want a CableCard there are all sorts of hidden fees there.

Screw cable. I'm close to getting my wife to agree to drop it, and let me build a Linux box that would play shows off of Hulu. And we can use Netflix and Amazon Unbox with the TiVo without hooking it up to cable. There's so much stuff available legally now on the Internet that it seems insane to be paying so much for cable thee days....

msuper69 · Oct 17, 2009, 04:54 PM

The only thing I can't get w/o cable is ESPN and the Big Ten Network. If only I wasn't a big college football fan. I would get everything else OTA, off the Internet or at the local library.

EndlessMac · Oct 17, 2009, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by Dork.

There's so much stuff available legally now on the Internet that it seems insane to be paying so much for cable thee days....

Exactly. Cable companies have enjoyed the very limited competition in the past and in most places it was a total monopoly. I think customers are finally waking up and not letting them get away with their problems by looking elsewhere for their shows.

I use Hulu and network websites with streaming videos like a Tivo service. As these services become better I can see a point where people might watch all their shows off the internet. On the weeks I'm really busy I catch up on my shows almost exclusively off the internet because I don't have a DVR.

ghporter · Oct 17, 2009, 07:05 PM

It seems that while Uverse has technical issues, all "cable" companies are inherently evil. Or something like that. In my experience the ONLY cable company that ever seemed to be non-evil was Austin Cablevision, a city owned utility that I used from 1982-1987. They were OK, but this was the very beginning of the cable industry, and I guess they hadn't figured out how to be evil. They WERE stupid, or at least hired stupid sub contractors. Once, at the point where they split subscribers into "beginning of the month billing" and "middle of the month billing," our service just plain stopped. I went outside to ask a neighbor if their cable was working, and I saw a sub contractor's truck leaving. We both went to the cable entry of the apartment building, and lo and behold, half of the cables HAD BEEN CUT. Turns out they'd provided the sub with a list of ONLY people on the middle of the month cycle, about half of the apartments in the building, and stupid sub just plain CUT the cables instead of unscrewing and locking them.

But we wound up not paying for that month, even though they got a smarter sub to reconnect everybody the next day.

Uverse still has issues, but these are not "we're out to rape and pillage, and if you get service that's a wonder" kinds of things that Comcast and Time Warner are known for.

By the way, light from the big screen could reflect THROUGH the IR emitter's lens and screw things up. Have you thought of shielding the business end of the remote from the screen, so less of the screen's light gets to it when you're using it?

RAILhead · Oct 17, 2009, 09:04 PM

I'm a Time Warner/Comcast user forever, and I've never had any problems with them. So, I would also argue that all cable companies are evil.

Laminar · Oct 17, 2009, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

I use Hulu and network websites with streaming videos like a Tivo service. As these services become better I can see a point where people might watch all their shows off the internet.

That's me. I might catch some of The Office on Thursday before I leave for volleyball, but otherwise it's 100% Mac Mini. I believe the wife enjoys watching the morning news while eating breakfast, but besides that we never watch real TV. I haven't had cable since moving out of the dorms and I don't miss it. While I do miss some of the content that Discovery, Speed, etc. had available, I don't miss the temptation to waste time channel surfing. If I want to watch something specific I will.

Laminar · Oct 17, 2009, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by msuper69

The only thing I can't get w/o cable is ESPN and the Big Ten Network. If only I wasn't a big college football fan. I would get everything else OTA, off the Internet or at the local library.

Have you tried ESPN360?

msuper69 · Oct 17, 2009, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Have you tried ESPN360?

Just tried it. No go. All I get is a black window where the video should be.
And full screen mode does nothing.
I'm running Safari 4.0.3 under 10.6.1 with the latest Flip4Mac installed.

UPDATE:
It works with FireFox 3.5.3 but full screen is very pixellated.
That's not going to look good on a widescreen HDTV.

I still need the Big Ten Network.

Phileas · Oct 17, 2009, 10:53 PM

We got rid of cable some time ago and have never looked back. Bought a used Mac Mini, ripped our DVD collection for easy viewing and the rest is Hulu, the BBC iPlayer and iTunes.

Works perfectly for us.

Shaddim · Oct 17, 2009, 11:14 PM

I told Comcast they could go **** themselves because they were constantly raising our rates and their service was very poor (for both TV and internet). Now we have Dish Network and AT&T and I couldn't be happier with the quality and service. I think we do pay about $250ish /month, but I don't care as long as it all works.

iMOTOR · Oct 17, 2009, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

While I do miss some of the content that Discovery, Speed, etc. had available, I don't miss the temptation to waste time channel surfing.

Same here.

Laminar · Oct 18, 2009, 01:01 AM

Originally Posted by msuper69

Just tried it. No go. All I get is a black window where the video should be.
And full screen mode does nothing.
I'm running Safari 4.0.3 under 10.6.1 with the latest Flip4Mac installed.

UPDATE:
It works with FireFox 3.5.3 but full screen is very pixellated.
That's not going to look good on a widescreen HDTV.

I still need the Big Ten Network.

I couldn't get it working under OS X when I tried it a month or so ago but I booted into Windows and it looked to be about the same quality as non-HD TV on my 42" TV.

Phileas · Oct 18, 2009, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by Shaddim

I think we do pay about $250ish /month

That was actually one of the reasons I cut cable. With a PVR we were paying $125/month for the privilege of watching commercials and one day I just had enough.

ghporter · Oct 18, 2009, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by RAILhead

I'm a Time Warner/Comcast user forever, and I've never had any problems with them. So, I would also argue that all cable companies are evil.

My major issues with TimeWarner have more to do with business practices than service. Around here, they quietly bump monthly rates at odd times, apparently just because they want to. They also make a huge deal in their advertising about how you can get their service for $25/mo but in TINY print you see that's just for the first 3 months, followed by ratcheting up the rate to almost $40/mo (same package) after a year. To me that's just sneaky. They're getting better, as they used to just tell you about the first month and let you be surprised by the next month's bill. But they have permanently prejudiced me against them. And the press Comcast gets about their practices seems to paint the same sort of picture of them.

AT&T is no corporate saint, but at least when they do something like goober up your bill it's due to being too huge to communicate well internally-and they fix it fairly promptly on being made aware of it.

Brien · Oct 18, 2009, 04:48 PM

I don't think TWC is TOO expensive, but I do agree that they seem to raise our rates "for no reason" at least once a year. The problem I have with them is that they are totally inept. At least a dozen times they've done something wrong, like accidentally disconnect our phone (we have digital phone through them), or change our phone number, or punch a hole through our wall to "fix" a signal issue, etc.

If they weren't the only game in town (it was much worse when they had exclusivity agreements in the city), I'd have jumped ship long ago. We're supposed to be getting U-verse soon, so maybe.

msuper69 · Oct 18, 2009, 05:32 PM

Here we go!

Just got this from AT&T:

Stick it to us, AT&T.

U-verse is built on IP technology with the same old nickel and dime crap.

If I had anything to do about it, I would make cable providers offer cafeteria pricing so we can select only the channels we are interested in and not have to deal with all the crap that is uninteresting.

I've got nothing about making a profit but why do we have no choice in what we get?

EndlessMac · Oct 18, 2009, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by msuper69

If I had anything to do about it, I would make cable providers offer cafeteria pricing so we can select only the channels we are interested in and not have to deal with all the crap that is uninteresting.

That's one of the things I've always hated. If I want only one extra channel I have to pay for a whole package that includes the channel I want. They really should have à la carte channels.

Of course they do this on purpose because it costs you more to buy the whole package rather than individual channels if you want only a few.

Eriamjh · Oct 18, 2009, 07:37 PM

They all suck. The best thing you can do is switch every time a deal comes along and never pay full price after the initial introductory specials. Stick it to them but not staying a customer.

Phileas · Oct 18, 2009, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by msuper69

If I had anything to do about it, I would make cable providers offer cafeteria pricing so we can select only the channels we are interested in and not have to deal with all the crap that is uninteresting.

The cable companies are aware of these things - they are called customer pain points. Thing is, for as long as they think they can get away with playing games, they will.

msuper69 · Oct 19, 2009, 04:02 AM

Another thing that pisses me off about U-verse.

The guide is often wrong. The show is either not what is displayed or it's not the episode that's described.

mattyb · Oct 19, 2009, 05:20 AM

Originally Posted by Phileas

We got rid of cable some time ago and have never looked back. Bought a used Mac Mini, ripped our DVD collection for easy viewing and the rest is Hulu, the BBC iPlayer and iTunes.

Works perfectly for us.

What do you do to watch the BBC iPlayer in Canada?

Phileas · Oct 19, 2009, 06:52 AM

Originally Posted by mattyb

What do you do to watch the BBC iPlayer in Canada?

You use a VPN solution. perfect-privacy.com has servers worldwide and specifically allows video streaming, meaning they have the bandwidth to handle it. They bill in Euros, which isn't ideal for us, but they are the best solution I've found so far.

mattyb · Oct 19, 2009, 08:12 AM

^ Cheers, I'll have a look.

msuper69 · Oct 19, 2009, 04:15 PM

U-verse touts their Weather on Demand, Online Photos, Games (among others).

But if you select one of these 'features', you have to wait while the application starts. This is absurd. The feature should appear instantly, just like any other channel (which don't appear instantly; there is a slight delay when changing channels).

But selecting one of these features causes a Windows program to start and you have to wait until the program is up and running. AT&T cheaped out and used Windows CE on hardware with minimal resources. A decent box capable of running a UNIX-based OS with protected memory and real multitasking would have made a big difference. But of course for the masses, they will think it's just the way it has to be.

The Final Dakar · Oct 19, 2009, 04:28 PM

Yeah, cable companies are awful. My particular company offers digital cable for a nominal fee over analog – the catch being a mandatory converter fee for every tv hooked up. I just bought a tv recently, and had it program automatically; I found out I'm getting all my regular channel in digital as well, including the local affiliates in HD. Guess it's the closest thing to victory I'll get, considering it seems like they raise their prices every few months.