THE HONEYMOON IS OVER

Some of you may recall my exuberant review, from a few months ago, of AT&T’s new all-in-one phone/TV/Internet service called Uverse. Well, the honeymoon is over. I still like to product but there is much to be critical of.  So if you are considering a switch, be sure to educate yourself.

First was the sticker shock.  I was originally paying about $170 per month for DirecTV, telephone and Internet.  I had been weighing various strategies of cutting that bill while retaining the same level of service and intimately decided on AT&T’s Uverse for “only $99.00 per month.”

Well, it appears that I did not have the whole story.  The $99 plan included phone service that included only 250 minutes.  The entire family has cell phones so why in the world do I need more than 250 minutes on a home phone?  I failed to consider that my dear wife works from home and part of her job is to stay on the phone much longer than I imagined.  So I had to add “unlimited” plan that cost an extra $10.00 per month.  Of course I only discovered this when I received a bill for over $200.

The next extra charge was for high definition TV.  I don’t know how I overlooked that. That’s an extra $10.00 per month. So that brings my $99 plan to about $120.  To add insult to this injury, AT&T keeps “forgetting” to change our “250 minute” phone plan to unlimited so that our bill has been averaging $170.00 per month instead of the $99 I sought.  That’s about what I was paying before I started this whole money-saving venture.  To AT&T’s credit, they keep crediting our account for the oversight but it’s a bit frustrating. When the dust settles, I’ll still be saving about $50.00 per month overall so that’s not too bad.

Another thing I don’t like is the remote control that AT&T provides.  It is the most unintuitive remote I have never used.  3 months with this thing and I still have to get up and turn on a light to read what button to push.

The “whole house DVR” is way cool but tends to lock up every now and then requiring a re-boot of the TV box thingy.  I’m not quite ready to give up on Uverse.  The technology is way cool and it holds great promise but we consumers are fortunate to have a few choices now.  Up until a few years ago, we had no real choices.

I know one or two of my readers expect me to deliver concise, accurate information and may have acted on my positive review of Uverse. The rest of you should know better. I have failed you this time.  I’m sorry.  But, hey, it’s a learning experience.  I am thankful there are other options available to us.