Mad Mad Product Review: Uverse by AT&T

Disclaimer: While writing an article on U-verse entering the Sheboygan market, I was invited to AT&T’s offices in Milwaukee to test drive its new product, U-verse. This is my review of the product, standing alone on its own. In an effort to remain unbiased and offer up full disclosure, I will tell you that I do not subscribe to Charter Cable, and this is not intended to be a point-by-point comparison of the two products. It is simply a review of U-verse, and U-verse alone.

Uverse: Coming to a television near you

Like many people, I spend a lot of time watching TV. Not as much as some people, but definitely more than others. Needless to say, I take television very seriously. So, when I was invited to check out U-verse - the IP television service offered by AT&T that recently became available in Sheboygan - firsthand at AT&T’s offices in Milwaukee, I jumped at the chance.
During the drive down to Milwaukee, I tried to imagine what the experience would be like. I thought about my experiences with cable and satellite products in the past (I have subscribed to Time Warner Cable and Dish Network) and I pondered what new technology AT&T would be peddling.
I arrived at AT&T with the expectation that U-verse would just be TV. And while on the surface it would really appear that way, I couldn’t have been further from the truth. The fact is, I was pretty much blown away by some of U-verse’s features.
Brian Van Hoof, director of U-verse, talked me through the product’s finer features.
“When you start talking about video, it’s probably one of the most personal things consumers have and use in their household,” Van Hoof said. “You have your gadgets and gizmos, but fundamentally, entertainment and television really surrounds a lot of people’s lives.”
To break it down to its simplest elements, U-verse is a television service, coupled with high-speed Internet. Just like cable, satellite or broadcast television, TV shows magically appear at your house. But instead of shows being broadcast to your set (via the airwaves or through cable) they arrive on your TV via the phone lines.
There is some technological stuff that makes this possible. If you care, go to the end of the review and read my brief “How It Works” summary.
U-verse offers a healthy dose of programming, much of which, by default, is comparable to the programming offered by cable and satellite systems. The top package (U400, $114 a month for TV and Internet) offers more than 320 channels, and you have access to 26 high definition (HD) channels, while the less-expensive U200 ($74 a month for TV and Internet) boasts 190 channels. But it’s the little extras that would make me consider U-verse.

Something to guide you

For one, the program guide is really cool. First, it gives you a clear and easy to read list of shows that are on — which is expandable to two weeks — and indicates which shows are being broadcast in HD, perfect for those of you who have ever recorded a show you thought was in HD only to find out you recorded it on the standard definition channel.
The guide also has a picture-in-picture function, whether or not your television has picture in picture.
Adding to the impressive feature, the guide is translucent. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but while you’re looking at the guide to see what else is on, you don’t miss a second of the action of the show you’re watching.
Nice, especially if you watching a boring football game that all of a sudden gets exciting while you’re trying to find out what time the next “MythBusters” is on. The program descriptions are also fully interactive.
For instance, lets say you’re looking up which “Law & Order” is on TNT. With the click of a button, you can get a description of the episode. With another click you can get a list of cast members. Then, and this is truly awesome, by clicking on an individual cast member’s name, you can see what other programs that actor/actress is going to be in for the next two weeks. It’s like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, only with Jerry Orbach.
This is a particularly useful function for those of us who have left a show at the commercial to go into another room, get on the Internet and surf to the Internet Movie Database to find out where else you’ve seen a particular cast member. I’m guilty of doing this about once a week.

To record or not record

Another nice feature is the digital video recorder (DVR) you have the option of getting. (It’s included in the U200, U300 and U400 plans.) What makes it so cool? Well first of all, you can record up to four programs at once. Yes, at once. Second, you can program it directly from the program guide. While those features are cool, they are nothing compared to this one:
Let’s say you’re at work. You look at the clock and realize you’re going to miss the latest episode of “Scott Baio is 45 and Single.” But there is no way you can get out of work in time to see it. What do you do? Before you had to suck it up. With U-verse you can get online, using your SBC-Yahoo account, and tell your DVR to record it. You can also program your DVR from your AT&T Wireless phone.
And, though it has nothing to do with the product itself, AT&TS marketing behind U-verse intrigues me. They have teams of door-to-door salesmen hitting neighborhoods where U-verse is becoming available, and meeting potential customers face to face. In Milwaukee, AT&T also uses ice cream trucks to get people’s attention, giving out ice cream and telling people about U-verse.
AT&T has also tried to make their product as easy to use as possible, from the easy-to-read menus and a comfortable, easy-to-understand remote control, to home installations that also serve as a educational forum for customers to learn how to use U-verse to its fullest in their home.
“If our customers don’t understand how to use it, and the power of it, then they’re going to think it’s just TV, then who cares?” said Van Hoof during the demo.

To infinity and beyond

During my product test, Van Hoof stopped short of talking about AT&T’s future plans for U-verse, but he jokingly hinted that the product would get even more interactive.
“We’re really trying to give customers the ability to access information and content wherever they are,” Van Hoof said. “That’s where you can really see where we’re starting to blend the Internet and television together. That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish."
It will be interesting to see how this already impressive product evolves as more and more people welcome it into their homes.

For more information on U-verse or to see if it is in your area, visit uverse.att.com.


How it works
U-verse travels over AT&T’s network of fiber optic phone lines. To optimize quality, U-verse sets up all of its channels and receivers as individual IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, so when you tell the receiver you want to watch a certain show, it will go to that IP address and get it for you. With cable and broadcast all of the channels are beamed to you at once, and your television or cable box dictates what you are watching. Because the only signal that’s coming in to the residential gateway (the box) is just the single stream, using only the bandwidth the show needs, U-verse gives the viewer the ability to have more options. In addition, the residential gateway that operates at the brain of the operation also serves as the home’s WiFi router and home networking device for Internet usage.
Did you get all of that? Good.