AT&T'S UVERSE

Now this is advanced television. AT&T's UVerse is a vastly superior product offering versus your basic cable company package. The cable companies could learn a lot from the phone companies in terms of technology. Your cable comes through a cable, but your Uverse signal comes through your landline. The TV signal is hooked up through the landline, into the modem and then connected to the Uverse box to get TV. I now have over 105 HD channels, 390 digital channels, 48 music channels, 57 movie channels and a 12 MB faster internet connection. Of course, all of this is $20 more than my already sky high cable bill. But so far it is proving to be worth it and I work in the television industry, so I need to keep up with advancements in television delivery technology.

The menuing is simple, fast loading, and consistent. The remote is easier to use and the response time is much better than the cable menuing with Time Warner cable. The search function is easier to use, with the remote serving as your basic cell phone texting device for programs, movie or actors names.

The picture is clearer and the sound better on Uverse than cable. The Uverse box is smaller than your standard cable box, but the Uverse modem is larger than your average cable modem. The Uverse modem does not require a separate wireless device to hook into the modem. The UVerse modem doubles as a secure wireless line that you need a long key code to access.

The VOD works much better than cable VOD where the menuing is terrible and there is no way to back out of menus without starting back at the beginning of the VOD. The VOD and Premium VOD product offerings are equivalent to cable.

Another unique function is UVerse's Multiview. Multiview is genre specific (news, sports, kids). For example, choose the News Multiview and on the left side of the TV is CNN, while on the right side, there is film strip with 3 other news channels. You can slide down any of the other news channels, press a button and be watching them. This is an especially useful function if you are a sports fan and you want to follow 5 or 6 games at a time.

Uverse also allows me to program my DVR from either my computer or my IPhone. I can set programs to record or delete programming right from my computer or IPhone. Although DirecTV offers this service, cable does not. The Uverse DVR can hold over 65 hours of HD programming, which is much more than a cable DVR can hold. Although I do not have another TV in my LA apartment, if I did, I could hook up another UVerse and watch the same programming on any TV in my apartment. With cable, you can only watch what is on the specific box that is hooked up to a specific television.

The only glitch that I have found so far with UVerse is that it is only allowing me to record 2 programs simultaneously. Supposedly I should be able to record 4 simulataneously. I will call customer service and see how that process is, all while getting the other $250 AT&T owes me in Visa Reward cards (I already ordered $100).

Interestingly enough, and real synergy issue for AT&T, is that I still have to pay 2 bills to AT&T - my TV bill and my cell phone bill. Unless I get a cell phone through UVerse, AT&T has no way to link the accounts so I can pay off both bills at the same time. This has to be fixed in order to streamline and avoid cost duplication at AT&T.

AT&T UVerse is making me pay more than cable for my TV, but so far I feel like I'm getting good value for my money. If AT&T can solve their distribution issue and make UVerse as widely available as cable is nationwide, cable will have a significant competitor on their hands that will force cable companies to innovate. Which is good for television. Only Verizon & AT&T can take on Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

UPDATE - February 2010 - UVerse is still 100 time better than cable, but there are a few minor drawbacks: 1. There's no light to light up the buttons on the remote. 2. The DVR doesn't tell you how much space you have left on it. 3. There is no clock on the box, so now I don't know what time it is when I watch TV. All minor stuff, but AT&T can do better. They screw up my IPhone coverage in LA enough.