Anyone glad they "upgraded" to Uverse?

[jhansman]

I called AT&T to complain about how they are metering my internet usage and was immediately switched over to sales where I was promised that if I upgraded from DSL to the glorious fiber that Uverse uses, I'd get a larger data cap (250GB), faster speeds, pay less, and all kinds of other joy. Majority of reviews I've read say avoid at all cost. Your experience?

Mods: wasn't sure where to post this, so by all means, move if necessary.

 

[Danimal1209]

I had problems with Uverse when I first got it like 4 years ago. None since. Only pitfall for it here is that the router/modem they give you only has 802.11G

 

[drebo]

I've had both versions of uVerse (ADSL2+ and VDSL) in two different cities and both services worked very well. No complaints here.

 

[ScottMac]

OP: Depending on where you live, you may not (probably won't) get fiber service, especially for data-only hookups.

I've had U-verse for ~four years, I really like it. For full disclosure, I work for AT&T and get a discount ... but even so, I moved from DirecTV after 13 years (mostly for cost and DTV's ever-evolving getting suckier policies and services) and prefer U-verse, especially now that they/we got the DVR issues cleaned up (I have data and TV services).

 

[jhansman]

Thanks to those who replied. Yes, I doubt I have fiber in my area (rural, just got a cell tower that finally gives us 4 bars on a good day), certainly not over the last mile. And, I don't want to have to give up my Netgear N600 dual-band router. It runs flawlessly and delivers a strong signal on both bands over my entire house. So, looks like I'll stay with plain ol' copper DSL.

 

[Danimal1209]

Just run your n600 as an access point and enjoy the higher DL speeds.

 

[jhansman]

Just run your n600 as an access point and enjoy the higher DL speeds.

Well, right now I am set up for 6MBs down, which is all I'd get for a bit less per month. Not willing to pay more for more speed, but if I can continue using my router, that would be the only way I'd go for it. So, not being very conversant in network tech, can you explain how the above is done? I just want to be sure I don't have to depend on AT&T's equipment for my wireless needs, just to get hooked up. Thanks.

 

[Mushkins]

When you log into the AT&T provided router to configure it, you should be able to disable the wireless completely. Then configure your router as only a wireless AP (instructions vary per device) and plug it into one of the LAN ports of the ATT router like any other PC. The router still acts as the DHCP server for the whole network, but offloads the wireless bits to your AP.

Once its set up it's totally transparent to the people connecting, they still just see the SSID, put in the password, and connect to your network.

 

[jhansman]

When you log into the AT&T provided router to configure it, you should be able to disable the wireless completely. Then configure your router as only a wireless AP (instructions vary per device) and plug it into one of the LAN ports of the ATT router like any other PC. The router still acts as the DHCP server for the whole network, but offloads the wireless bits to your AP.

Once its set up it's totally transparent to the people connecting, they still just see the SSID, put in the password, and connect to your network.

Excellent, thanks. If I decide to switch over, these instructions will be most helpful. The new firmware for the N600 shows the wiring scheme diagram (not terribly complicated) on the page for the AP setup.