AT&T Review

I’ve probably tried everything AT&T has to offer. I like their customer service more than most of their competitors but they don’t always have a superior product. Those products also don’t work well together. You can end up with a couple different bills from them. They also have a couple apps that do 80% of the same thing.

Phone Service

Their coverage isn’t as good as Verizon which is bad for me because I work in a hospital in the country so I went with Verizon. Their phone customer service is better than Verizon’s though.

TV

This is why I got U-Verse in the first place. Its much more responsive than Time Warner. I had a TiVo on Time Warner and its more responsive than that too. I love that. The U-Verse app is very good if you don’t compare it to anything. Unfortunately I’m constantly comparing. They have an app that has your guide that uses your id to control your DVR from anywhere. They have a second app that will control DVRs on the same wifi network and has voice control. I wish those two apps were one app. They make it seem like you can download TV shows to take with you but its a very limited list of things that you can download so its virtually useless. I’d pay more for a bigger DVR. It would be nice if each box had a remote locator the way Dish does.

Over the year that I’ve had U-verse they have gotten less and less credit for the quality of the app. They aren’t a mom and pop shop. They are a billion dollar company. The AT&T apps should be the best apps on the app store. It annoys me that I have programmed my favorites on my phone, but its much harder to program favorites on the cable box when the box should just sync with the favorites on the phones. Furthermore the app has to ponder my favorites, making them unavailable to me when it first loads. I have other apps that just remember my favorites and have the information it knows I want ready right away. I would like to turn off standard def if there is an HD version.

I am waiting to see what happens now that they’ve bought DirecTV. I’m hoping to be able to switch.

Internet

I’ve got the gigabit internet. It doesn’t change my life. Netflix loads faster but webpages feel the same. Its not really worth $70/month to me. On top of the internet goes down more often than Time Warner who is the other cable provider in my area. I hate that.

Lately my wife and I sometimes take our phone off wifi to use Verizon. I hate that too.

Security and home automation

I’m looking forward to getting my home automated. They already do lights and cameras but they are missing several opportunities. They have taken us from the cellphone age of security to the palm pilot age, but we are far from the iphone age I’m looking for. I know most of this portion is unfair criticism at this point, but in a year or 2 it won’t be.

1. Nest is not the thermostat they offer, nor is the thermostat they offer equivalent
2. Voice controls everywhere. I want to be able to say unlock the front door, increase the temperature, turn to HGTV.
3. I want smarter light switches, like Nest smart, to learn my routine and turn on automatically along my regular path. This isn’t new technology but it seems related enough. Its the same sales pitch as the Nest. Save money while using something cool.