Switching From Satellite to ATT UVerse -- The Installation

I'm tempted to say "you just won't believe this," but with technology, almost no amount of frustration is a surprise these days.

As someone who makes a living by being up-to-date on the latest technology, and helping people craft plans for new technology businesses, I make a point to try a lot of technical things. So, when I heard that ATT's U-verse was available in my area, and that they had enabled whole-home access to their personal video recorder, I thought I should investigate. After a trip to the ATT store, I learned that we could save about $40 per month by switching from satellite to the ATT quadruple-play package of U-verse television, broadband Internet, cellphone service and land line service. That sounded like a deal, so we decided to try it. What they didn't tell me was that it would take 10 hours to install it! That's right, TEN HOURS.

Why did it take so long? Well, for starters, they need a line that goes from outside of the house, directly to the 2Wire gateway box that they install in front of the phone, Internet and TV services. That line can't have any branches off of it like most phone lines do. At first, he thought he would run a new line, but our crawl-space is very tight, and they couldn't get a tiny installer out to our house to squeeze through and install the line. Eventually, they were able to open EVERY SINGLE PHONE JACK IN OUR HOUSE and find a way to rewire them so there was a straight path to the gateway. At one point, he asked me if it was important that the phone jacks still work when he was done. I can kind of understand this question, after all, nearly everyone uses cordless phones these days, but I insisted that "yes, I would like for my house to still be in working order when you finish." He was very nice, very polite, and did as I said.

So what have I learned by trying out ATT U-verse so far? For starters, I can see why the telephone companies are having trouble rapidly growing their business. I asked him what was typical, and he said that they are allocated 3 hours for a one-TV household, 4 hours for a two-TV household, and up to 8 hours for a 3-or-more TV household. What I learned though was that the number of phone outlets, or the size of the crawl-space can also extend the installation time. I'll write later about how we like the service, but for now, let this be a warning to consumers that switching to ATT U-verse may take longer than you think. And for investors, it may take longer for telcos to eat satellite video service provider's lunch -- if for no other reason than that it takes so long to install these things!