The AT&T Uverse install debacle

I've stopped hosting all my friends and families photo sites, and bitten the bullet based on higher bandwidth promises. Here's the story so far with my "trying to install u-verse" experience.

Order #1 - FAIL

I place the order online and get an install date of 3 days out. I remember thinking, "Wow, they must really be wanting people to sign up for service because that's not a big wait at all." I get a call the day before saying they can't do the install, please call. So I call. After a frustrating 40 minutes of getting passed around from rep to rep who can't help but feel compelled to ask a crap ton of questions, I get Gary. Gary is really helpful. He explains that because of an existing DSL line and due to line sharing regulations and the FCC blah-di-blah they can't install. Okfine. So I explain the situation of hosting and not wanting to do without bandwidth, and Gary comes up with a deal. If they fax me something saying I give permission to release the line, they will provide DSL service until the U-verse order can be installed. I'm tempted, but then have to back out of the deal because I'm still hosting some friends sites. I tell him, I want to do this, but have to migrate my friends off my servers before I can take advantage. Can I get an email or direct number since he has working knowledge of my case? Sure, I can. I'll call back in a couple of weeks once the server migration has happened. The order is canceled.

Order #2 - SUCCESS! (sort of)

I follow up with an email to my buddy Gary. I get a return email saying the address was not valid. Asshole. Not for giving me a fake email, but for knowingly sending me back to voicejail hell to get some help on the issue again.

I place the order via the internet - it takes about 5 times for the order to go all the way through. There is something wrong with the AT&T site. A few times it errored out with things that were vaguely reminiscent of the DSL line issue and telling me to call. A couple of times it threw other random errors. And then I finally got it to go through. I think there are several bugs in the online ordering and validation methods. Someone needs better software quality control. The install date is a week out.

Because Gary is an asshole, I call support to try to get back to the point I was in the order process. You know, the concession whereby I fax something, AT&T does some magic and I keep bandwidth to the point of U-verse install. I get some tech support minion, they have no idea what I'm talking about. I weigh my options. I could spend another hour on the phone or I could abandon the DSL line and hope for the best. I choose the later and stock up on xanex for the inevitable shakes, chills, panic, and anxiety I will get from bandwidth withdraw.

I tell the support tech, keep the order open, I'll cancel the DSL line. Which I do. And despite being a good customer for over six years, they are all too willing to let me go. I feel a little bit hurt. I know Tivo won't treat me that way.

Install #1 - FAIL

So the day of the install comes. I've been without bandwidth for most of a week, and I'm in the throws of internet detox. Moody, irritable. I'm pretty excited about the install date, and so is my wife.

A guy comes to the door. It's only 15 minutes inside the install window, AT&T must be awesome. Comcast blows by install windows like they don't even exist. He's talking to me. Blah blah blah... install... look at the box. Whatever, do what you have to do dude, just get me back online. He runs off for a while. Another knock on the door about a half hour later. The installer tells me that the signal to the box is no good, got to get someone out to look at the line and fix it. Wow am I hating life right about now. When will the come fix it? Tonight. Whew, okay, when will I get another installer? They will call to set up another appointment. What? You mean it could take another week? WTF? I rant a bit about internet detox and how I've been without bandwidth for a week. The guy obviously doesn't care, but it makes me feel slightly better to rant a bit. He leaves.

The next day, I get a call. The next appointment is 3 days out. That's better than I expected.

Install #2 - FAIL

This one is hardly worth mentioning. The guy was an hour into the window before showing up. Same deal, blah di blah, sign some papers, here's the cable box, and the phone box. Have fun. A half hour later he's back at the door telling me something about the signal not being strong enough for service again. They didn't fix whatever they were supposed to fix, so they're going to have to come back for repairs again. I'm pretty pissed at this point. Over a week with no bandwidth, and still no real information from the techs. "The most I can do is let me manager know." the guy says. So I say, "That's good, let your manager know, and let me know what you're going to do next." He says okay. And then DISAPPEARS! Gone. Vamoose. Arrivederci. Not so much as a, "We'll call." much less "Goodbye." Asshole.

It's late in the day, I figure I'm going to be pissed for a while. I'm pretty fed up at this point, although the detox is going well, and the irritability due to lack of bandwidth is now subsiding.

My wife leaves the house to go pick up our daughter and calls, "There's an AT&T truck on the corner. Someone is working on something." We have a brief conversation which consists mostly of "F@$k AT&T"

FIX #2 - FAIL

The next day (today) I wake up, intent on calling and chewing someone out. My wife, on taking our daughter to daycare calls to inform me that there's an AT&T truck up on the corner and someone is actively working on the box.

Before I get a chance to call in my complaints the doorbell rings. It's the guy from the corner. He explains what's going on, low signal to the phone box, but good all the way to the curb. He wants into the garage to test the line into the box since that's the way it runs. Somehow the wires from the curb to the house don't match up. I'm a little blown away by all of this information exchange it's atypical to my experience so far.

I start unpacking the dark corners of my garage so this guy can look at the wiring. We pull a board off the wall that one of the wires goes behind and open a rats nest of old nasty cables and crappy splices. It's really ugly. I'm thinking, "This could explain a lot." The guy whips out a meter and takes some measurements. It's not good. We go back to the other side of the garage and take more measurements. It's still not good. He tells me that the signal is the same so the really ugly splice bundle had nothing to do with the signal loss from the street. They might have to run new copper from the street. He pulls out some cat5 and strings it from the curb to the box to test. Sure enough, the problem is the cable from the curb to the house. New copper gave roughly a 20% improvement in the capacity of the line.

At the moment, we're not fixed, but at least we're getting somewhere. They will come, dig a new line and install a new box. No idea of when however.

Total cost so far? Almost 2 weeks without internet. 2 1/2 days at home rather than at work waiting on installs. Massive amounts of frustration and waiting on hold.

UPDATE:

Fix #3 - SUCCESS!
Install #3 - SUCCESS! (sort of)

Monday they came and installed the new line from the curb to the house and new phone box. Tuesday the installer came for the internet and television. Apparently the order for transfer of the phone line was cancelled because of some time restriction on number portability. So we have call and reopen the number transfer order. What a pain in the ass!

As for the internet and television portions of the order, so far I'm pretty impressed. The television signal is better than Comcast, with less compression of the signal and more hi-def channels. The biggest hurdle so far is that recording doesn't scale with the number of devices, as it did with TiVo. If all of your HD streams are busy, you have to watch standard-def or recorded television. It's not a huge problem because the box does a pretty good job of upscaling and presenting standard-def, but it's taking some adjusting of viewing and recording habits. The best part of TiVo was you could set everything you wanted to record and never have to watch broadcast television. I have yet to figure out how to do this with Uverse. At least for the time being. Overall, despite the difficulties, still better than Comcast+DSL.

UPDATE #2:
We called and reset the order to transfer the phone. Other than hold time, it was fairly easy, and the made sure to point out that they would credit us with the install charges, etc.

So now we're all installed and its going smoothly. Got the bill today and it's prorated for the past month as well as the charges for this month. Nothing unexpected from the estimates that were given. So far we're pretty happy with the service.