Time Warner vs. AT&T Uverse woes

Today we're switching cable companies and I'm not sure if it's such a good idea. First world problems, I know.

We've been with Time Warner since '08 and paying $143 a month for:

• HD cable service with no pay movie channels
• 1 DVR that holds about 20 hours of HD programming
• Road Runner internet service of 15mbs download with an extra $10 "Speed Boost". This morning when I Speed Tested the service I got 30 download, 1mb upload, and 11 ping.
• Cable modem

AT&T Uverse showed up at my door a week ago and after listening to their offer I had to make an immediate decision as to whether or not I would accept it. I did. The deal is good for six months and I'd be paying $100 a month for:

• HD service with no pay movie channels. Pretty much everything I got with Time Warner but with more "On Demand" free movie channels and the NFL and MLB networks
• 2 DVRs that holds about 65 hours HD programming each and you can watch content from both on the televisions they're hooked up to.
• 18mbs download "fiber optic" internet service with 250gb monthly cap (which I found out later after reading the fine print).
• Modem/wi-fi router

I live in an apartment building with three other units if that makes a difference.

I'm very leery about the internet service because I'm afraid that I'll notice a speed hit, but granted this is before I tried it out. I don't think the cap will affect me, but I do watch a lot of videos online and download the occasional Steam game. I also stream a lot of online content wirelessly from the office to my computer in the living room. I've been reading a lot of negative things about Uverse online, but I've seen a lot about Time Warner as well and I love their internet service (just not the monthly bill).

Does anyone have any experience with AT&T Uverse that can make me feel better about my decision or is my complacency with Time Warner getting the best of me?

I had a similar offer and I declined. The one benefit you get from AT&T is a dedicated line to your place. Which means that no matter how many people are on in your building, your speed won't be hit at all. In an apartment building with so few people, it probably won't matter to you anyways though. I have the same choices as you do where I live and I stuck with Time Warner because there's no caps. I dropped cable from them a long time ago in favor of streaming. I pay for Hulu Plus and Netflix and rent movies and buy TV shows through an Apple TV. It's all personal preference and amount of consumption. I would advise you to attempt to see how much you normally use monthly in terms of GB. But it sounds like you've already taken the plunge, so I guess you may just find out first hand if you have any issues. I can't support a company that is going to impose a cap on my service, so I'll likely never switch. I just upped my speed to the second from the top tier speed after they added the DOCSIS 3 upgrade in my area. I get around 30/5 on that plan instead of 14/1.

@BonOrbitz: Don't get U-Verse...jesus. That's not fiber optics...that's fancy DSL.

Stick with Time Warner. Can't get Verizon FiOS though huh? I pay 100 dollars a month, HD box, prime HD, HBO and 50/25 internet.

Call up Time Warner and tell them you're switching to AT&T U-Verse, they will probably lower your rates down. You are paying way goddamn too much.

@BonOrbitz:

I have AT&T Uverse and it has worked out pretty well.

Had a few problems with the actual boxes getting burned out/ damaged after some really gnarly power surges/lighting/howcouldtheycutthepower?! going on in a really bad storm, but replacements were prompt and without charge.

It was a step up in terms of speed and I have no issues with streaming netflix or playing games. Downloading steam games works well though downloading 12 at once due to steam sales is a bit of a mixed bag.

Do you watch a lot of TV? If so then it should be to your liking. Do you prefer hulu/netflix/other options? I like actually watching T.V. and so do the other people I live with so it all comes up milhouse. Three set top boxes pushing HD signal and simultaneous laptop use has not affected my Starcrafting nor Battlefielding to a noticeable degree.

Chances are that every major internet option in your area will be imperfect, just in different ways.

With Uverse there is a 250GB monthly cap and higher pings due to the VDSL tech they use. I had it for a week before getting fed up with 70-80 pings to Texas (I'm in Florida). Also you have to pay extra for HD channels. Fuck that.

@Doctorchimp said:

@BonOrbitz: Don't get U-Verse...jesus. That's not fiber optics...that's fancy DSL.

Stick with Time Warner. Can't get Verizon FiOS though huh? I pay 100 dollars a month, HD box, prime HD, HBO and 50/25 internet.

Call up Time Warner and tell them you're switching to AT&T U-Verse, they will probably lower your rates down. You are paying way goddamn too much.

You know, yer goddman right. I've called and cancelled installation (they were really cool about it) and will call TW this aft and battle it out with them to lower our rates and upgrade our DVR box. I live in the Milwaukee area and I don't think Verizon FiOS is an option for me? I am a Verizon cell customer, so I will look more into it. Thanks for the suggestion.

@reverendk said:

@BonOrbitz:

howcouldtheycutthepower?! going on in a really bad storm, but replacements were prompt and without charge.

The Aliens reference made me laugh.

@ds8k: In doing online research on AT&T Uverse, I saw a few posts about Texas having problems with slow service. That fueled my paranoia though I don't live in Texas.

@BonOrbitz: Nice to hear they were good about it. When I cancelled the woman on the phone really wanted me to talk to a tech about my "slow internet" problem. It took about 10 tries of me saying "It cannot be fixed, it is inherent to the technology you use" before she gave up and let me cancel.