On Comcast, Uverse, and other things….
Wow… It’s been awhile since I actually wrote anything for this blog… but I’ve got some stuff I wanted to yap about.
Last Friday, after a huge debate in my brain, I broke down and ordered AT&T’s Uverse.
Mona and I have become HD connoisseurs, and the HD channel lineup provided by Comcast in our service area is totally anemic. Comcast offers at most 15 possible HD channels in our service area, while other areas in the state have nearly triple that. I became frustrated that not only am I limited in HD channels for Comcast in my area, but those in other Comcast service areas are paying the same amount I am, and getting far more. Thus, I began searching for alternatives to Comcast. The satellite providers (Dish & Direct) offer far more content, but there is no bundled Internet or Phone service. Therefore, I would end up paying more for those services through Comcast, if I didn’t maintain cable service. Satellite also has limitations with weather conditions, which really concerned me. So, I looked into AT&T’s Uverse offering. A couple weekends ago, Mona went to a Uverse “open house” in our neighborhood, where someone demonstrated Uverse in their home. She was easily won over by the amount of HD channels Uverse had (FoodTV HD, Bravo HD, etc….) However, the big concern with Uverse is a major limitation in the amount of “streams” that can be sent to a home. Uverse, at most can provide 2 HD streams, and 2 SD streams at one time. Of course, this could be a major issue in the house, especially on certain nights, when Mona is recording one show in HD and watching another. Our second HDTV couldn’t watch any HD channels. Ugh! A nightmare situation for sure. How am I to watch anything in HD on Mona’s “must see TV” nights? Anyway, my complete frustration with Comcast, and Comcast’s apparent lack of support for our service area has driven me to look past Uverse’s limitation and move forward with ordering Uverse. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee… so why not give it a shot? What’s also really neat, is that since UVerse is IPTV, all the converter boxes can use Cat5 cable, instead of coax. I can then keep my coax intact, in case Uverse turns out to be an Epic Failure.
I did my best to give Comcast every opportunity as a customer. I sifted through Connecticut’s regulatory filings by Comcast to find a higher level representative for the company. Even after getting in touch with him, and Comcast’s we_can_help@cable.comcast.com staff, they provided no solid insight into how they were going to upgrade my service area to support more HD channels. “Maybe by Spring 2009″ they would have more. I highly doubt it. Comcast has truly lost my loyalty as a customer.
Anyway, I have high hopes for Uverse. I’m hoping the install will go well. Unfortunately, they’ve told me that demand in my area is very high, so the installers can’t get to me for 3 weeks. I won’t hold the long lead time against them, as long as they don’t screw up the install. 
