Question for U-Verse Customers: Did AT&T rip out your incoming cable/telephone line?

[her209]

If they did, what happens if you want to switch back to cable service or land-line telephone service later? If not, what did they do during installation?

 

[rudeguy]

There was a big story about ATT doing this to a lot of people.

I can tell you that the cable companies will run new wire for you, but it may not be exactly the way you want it.


NOT posting as an employee or representative of any cable company.

 

[Modelworks]

If they did, what happens if you want to switch back to cable service or land-line telephone service later? If not, what did they do during installation?

You get to pay for a new install and they continue to count the cut line for records purposes as an active line to get tax incentives from the fed even though nobody can use it.
This page covers that and other tactics they employ to keep you on their network.
http://www.teletruth.org/

 

[sourceninja]

Rip out? Nope. Disconnect? Yes.

On the up side, I got them to run cat5 for me so I didn't have to crawl around in my attic. The Uverse installers I've worked with are a cut above even normal ATT people. They will go the mile for you if you are polite. It was the first installer I've ever tipped.

 

[Fritzo]

I'm associated with these kinds of installs. UVerse switches your copper lines over to DSL, so the pairs of wires running into the house must go through a different box. Therefore, the wires would be taken out of your network interface and hooked up to the new box. If you cancel UVerse and go back to standard ATT phone service, they will hook your standard network interface back up at no charge. If you switch to cable phones, this uses yet a different box so your pairs will be moved over to that.

If you switch from standard to UVerse to cable, you have to potential of having a very messy wiring situation on the side of your house.

 

[Nyati13]

There was a big story about ATT doing this to a lot of people.

I can tell you that the cable companies will run new wire for you, but it may not be exactly the way you want it.


NOT posting as an employee or representative of any cable company.

I've heard about Verizon ripping out existing wiring for a FIOS install, but never about ATT doing it.
Uverse does not replace any wiring at all. They pull off the old telephone box on the outside of the house, and replace it with a new box (reusing the incoming telephone line, and your house's telephone circuits), and then run a CAT5 from that box to the Uverse gateway inside the house. (I recently got Uverse installed, and I stood there and watched the guy do it)

 

[her209]

I've heard about Verizon ripping out existing wiring for a FIOS install, but never about ATT doing it.
Uverse does not replace any wiring at all. They pull off the old telephone box on the outside of the house, and replace it with a new box (reusing the incoming telephone line, and your house's telephone circuits), and then run a CAT5 from that box to the Uverse gateway inside the house. (I recently got Uverse installed, and I stood there and watched the guy do it)

Did they do anything with the coaxial cables in your house? Reason I'm asking is I wanted to see if I could get both cable Internet and U-Verse Internet concurrently.

 

[imagoon]

Did they do anything with the coaxial cables in your house? Reason I'm asking is I wanted to see if I could get both cable Internet and U-Verse Internet concurrently.

If you tell them not to, they are not allowed to touch inside the house. If they are like any other installer I have worked with, they will just leave the outside coax disconnected. Technically they are like any other service provider, they are not legally allowed to mess with the other services.

 

[her209]

If you tell them not to, they are not allowed to touch inside the house. If they are like any other installer I have worked with, they will just leave the outside coax disconnected. Technically they are like any other service provider, they are not legally allowed to mess with the other services.

If I wanted to get U-Verse television service later on, they would have to switch it though, right?

 

[imagoon]

If I wanted to get U-Verse television service later on, they would have to switch it though, right?

Depends on what you consider "have to." I believe uverse is nothing more than special box, attached via dsl that has a "TV out" designed to work with their boxes. I don't think the service requires the use coax at all as it can run purely on ethernet. The coax jack as I recall on the unit is for HPNA (coax network.) So you can let them pull cables but tell them not to touch existing. You can also instruct them to not touch the poke through.

PS Uverse has changed the gear like 4 times so it depends on what you get also.

 

[tboo]

Ive been thinking of jumping to ATT U-verse for tv & internet. Right now I have TW but come Jan. my discounts will expire & my rate will skyrocket. Anybody have experience with them?

 

[her209]

Depends on what you consider "have to." I believe uverse is nothing more than special box, attached via dsl that has a "TV out" designed to work with their boxes. I don't think the service requires the use coax at all as it can run purely on ethernet. The coax jack as I recall on the unit is for HPNA (coax network.) So you can let them pull cables but tell them not to touch existing. You can also instruct them to not touch the poke through.

PS Uverse has changed the gear like 4 times so it depends on what you get also.

OK, so AT&T installers will install a new box outside the house (NID) and disconnect and reconnect the copper(/fiber) wire from the CO to this new box. Then they will run a VDSL cable to the Residential Gateway (RG) device which will be the distribution point for the Internet, TV, and phone services. From the RG, the Internet is distributed via RJ-45 copper Ethernet, the telephone is distributed by RJ-11 copper (Cat-3?), and TV can be distributed via coaxial or copper Ethernet. Is that it?

 

[Nyati13]

Did they do anything with the coaxial cables in your house? Reason I'm asking is I wanted to see if I could get both cable Internet and U-Verse Internet concurrently.

I asked the tech to reuse an existing coax cable to carry the signal fromt eh gateway back into my living room for the main DVR, so he did that. They won't cut/reuse/remove existing coax if you tell them not to, and they will leave existing connections live if you tell them to except the phone box, which is of course part of the Uverse install. You do need to be specific about what you want done when they tech shows up, don't just assume that they'll do it right.

 

[her209]

I asked the tech to reuse an existing coax cable to carry the signal fromt eh gateway back into my living room for the main DVR, so he did that. They won't cut/reuse/remove existing coax if you tell them not to, and they will leave existing connections live if you tell them to except the phone box, which is of course part of the Uverse install. You do need to be specific about what you want done when they tech shows up, don't just assume that they'll do it right.

Did they charge extra for running new coaxial runs?

 

[Adrenaline]

They did not rip out any wire. They did however mess up my phone line for a few days until another installer was able to come out and fix it. The error had to deal with the main box inside my house where all my crap runs through with my alarm. It got fixed though.

Really nice installers.

 

[imagoon]

OK, so AT&T installers will install a new box outside the house (NID) and disconnect and reconnect the copper(/fiber) wire from the CO to this new box. Then they will run a VDSL cable to the Residential Gateway (RG) device which will be the distribution point for the Internet, TV, and phone services. From the RG, the Internet is distributed via RJ-45 copper Ethernet, the telephone is distributed by RJ-11 copper (Cat-3?), and TV can be distributed via coaxial or copper Ethernet. Is that it?

Pretty much yes.

If it means anything, I have 2 cable services at my place. When I went from Comcast to WoW I asked them to just disconnect Comcast and leave the wire. I have 2 cable NIDs now. Comcast cable goes inside the comcast box and just ends (fconnector still there) the WoW tech moved upon asking the poke through wire from comcast to their box. If I really wanted both, I could pull a second poke through and bring both inside. The trick is to ask them not to cut up stuff.