Tutor
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6 Messages
Why shouldn't I switch to Charter?
I have had U-Verse over two years and I am becoming increasingly unhappy with it. I am strongly contemplating a change now. I am away on business now, but when I get home for the summer, I am considering going to Charter. Charter seems to have everything, including quite a few things U-Verse doesn't, including Hallmark, ALL of FOX Sports 1's programming, NHL Network, and others that U-Verse just doesn't bother to make available. Then there's on demand selection. Charter blows U-Verse away here. Then there's Internet spees. Charter is much faster. I know A TV package equivalent to U-450 + the HD Tier, Internet, and voice from Charter might be a bit higher than from AT&T but to me it really seems to be worth it. So am I missing something here? Is there any reason why I should stick with U-Verse? Please let me know if there is because I am close to making up my mind at this point.
texasguy37
Expert
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1.3K Messages
10 years ago
If you feel that Charter is a better service for you than U-verse, why are you asking the members of this forum to make a decision for you?
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MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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605 Messages
10 years ago
Current Charter subscriber here.
What I miss most from Uverse:
1) Whole home DVR. I hate having to record a showing on the box in the room I think I'm going to want to watch it back in. What I wouldn't give to be able to pause in one room and pick up watching from that point in another room.
2) 4 streams. I hate having what I'm watching interrupted because two recording are about to start. I've actually stopped watching Survivor because it's on at the same time as two other shows I record and I had to make choices.
3) Common sense channel numbering. If ESPN is channel 30, then ESPN HD is 1030. If HBO is channel 202, HBO HD is channel 1202. You can browse the guide in the SD section knowing you can easily change to the HD channel if it exists. With Charter, I've resigned myself to watching the SD channel because it would take too much work to figure out where the HD version is located.
4) Of course, if I did that with Uverse, it wouldn't be as bad, because Uverse's SD picture blows any other SD I've seen out of the water.
That said, some of the other things you mentioned aren't important to me. I don't watch NASCAR, Big East sports, or the NHL, and could live without Hallmark. With a HULU subscription and Chromecast/Roku, I don't care about OnDemand.
Charter internet has improved. When I first moved, I would have given a kidney to go back to the consistent 12 mbps from Uverse rather than the 30 mpbs Charter that stopped working twice a day until I reset the modem. The upgrades Charter's made seem to have really improved the consistency of the service in addition to the faster speeds.
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kaseyi
Scholar
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7 Messages
10 years ago
It's your perragative to switch. You have to do whats best for you. For me however, I have been a Uverse subscriber since 2009. My internet speed is good enough for me. I never watched Hallmark, so thats not a consideration. I am able to see all the Hockey I want as all the Blackhawk games are televised and I am not interested in seeing any other games not involving them. I am able to see my Cubbies play on my local sports channel, WGN or whatever place they are broadcast, also so once again not a problem. I may be the exception, but I have never in my years of having Uverse used on demand. I either watch what I want as it is broadcast or I record it and watch it later. For me...Uverse is fine. FOr you however, you have to make the decision as to whats good for you.
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dwinth
ACE - Professor
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911 Messages
10 years ago
Thank you for your commercial for Charter. Has Charter sunk so low that they have employees posting fake posts on the U-verse forum? Your nickname was the first clue that you were here just to "stir the pot".
I do not believe that you are a U-verse customer in the first place. Since you think so highly of Charter, you would have switched a long time ago. The Hallmark channels and the NHL Network have been gone for years, and high speed Charter internet has been around for a while. On Demand has never been a strong point for U-verse.
Better luck next time.
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shoe
Professor
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89 Messages
10 years ago
I will say one thing for Charter their picture is far better than UVerse
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dwinth
ACE - Professor
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911 Messages
10 years ago
It all depends on your location. My picture is excellent on all of my HD televisions. I have relatives who have Charter, and I do not like it anywhere near as much as my HD reception.
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baseballisback
ACE - Professor
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8.2K Messages
10 years ago
It may also depend on your personal setup. Are you using HDMI or Component? Are they using HDMI or Component? Some people say that Component is better with U-Verse. I have noticed a difference between the two on my U-Verse setup. Likewise, what is the signal quality? How many old connections or wires are in your house or even in their house? What about the quality of connection at the pole and beyond?
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dwinth
ACE - Professor
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911 Messages
10 years ago
I am using HDMI. I have never looked to see what they are using. Our wires and connections are from 1991 when the house was built. Their house is older. Since they are not the original owners, they would not know when the house was wired. I never inspected the quality of connection at either pole or beyond. 🙂
The bottom line is that I do not care about the details. All I know is that the quality of picture on my televisions with U-verse is better than theirs with Charter.
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JefferMC
ACE - Expert
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36.9K Messages
10 years ago
My experience with Charter was that most analog channels had some issue, and stome outright stunk, quality-wise.. Digital Channels were okay, for the most part. But the worst problem I had with Charter was reliability, both TV signal and Internet speed and connectivity.
Maybe things have improved in the 5 years since I left Charter for U-verse, but the price would be a little higher from Charter for what I have from U-verse, and I'm quite happy with U-verse; no reason for me to change. But, I'm not everyone.
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MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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605 Messages
10 years ago
Charter only offer digital now, so the analog channel issue has gone away.
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That Don Guy
Guru
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325 Messages
10 years ago
Another advantage, assuming Charter works the same way as most other cable companies: TiVo works with it. In effect, you're not stuck with any "4 programs in the house maximum" limit. (If Charter uses SDV in your area, then ignore this - it works pretty much the way U-Verse works.)
Then again, in a way, that's an advantage for AT&T; in order for TiVo to work with a system, usually it has to have all of the channels sent to your home at all times, so you might end up with two or three channels being sent over the same internal frequency, and that has been known to cause problems. One of the reasons I switched to AT&T was because my Comcast signal was repeatedly seriously pixellating certain channels, including CNN.
There's probably somebody on some Charter forum posting about why he/she shouldn't switch to U-Verse. Remember - there was a reason you switched to AT&T in the first place; there's no problem with having a reason to switch from it.
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jhy1978
Scholar
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71 Messages
10 years ago
Current Charter customer here:
My bill:
TV Gold (all channels)
60 meg Internet
Unlimiited home phone
2 HD DVR's
2 cable cards
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$190.00 a month
What I DONT miss about U-verse:
Horrible picture quality
4 streams for the entire house (with charter I have 2 DVR's (2 streams each) and 2 Tivo Roamio's (4 streams each) = 12 streams.
What I DO miss about U-Verse:
NBA TV HD
Long horn Network HD
Pac 10 HD
(bascially a few sports channels)
That's it.
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baseballisback
ACE - Professor
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8.2K Messages
10 years ago
Horrible PQ... I wonder if that was something on your end. My PQ is fantastic...can't complain. Now, about 6-7 years ago? Yeah...that was a different story during fast-moving action (think basketball games)...whatever was in the background would "blur" together.
Maybe it was something on your end like a bad install, faulty wires, questionable hardware, TV settings, or something farther up the line...who knows. (I have the wireless STBs and it's fantastic. Yes, the gray/silver boxes became horribly obsolete once the new UI rolled out a few years ago. It has since come to my attention that these Motorola 12xx series boxes are being junked when returned.)
One thing that I don't understand is that if I have two DVRs and I record a show on one TV, I assume that I can watch it on the other TV. When I press that "recorded TV" button, it takes me to one unified list. When I delete a show, it deletes from whichever DVR it is saved on. Is this correct?
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MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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605 Messages
10 years ago
No. The DVRs with Charter work only on one TV. The DVR in my living room is completly independent from the DVR in my bedroom. Why I press the "recorded TV" button on my remote, it takes my to the shows saved on that machine only.
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oufanindallas
ACE - Master
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480 Messages
10 years ago
Former UVerse subscriber and I have to disagree with you. My mom had charter at the same time I had UVerse and my picure was 100% better.
I have Grande in Texas and while a good picture, isn't nearly as good as UVerse. TV wasn't the issue I no longer have Uverse, price and internet speeds (as I was the last house on the VRAD) and losing my job were the reasons I switched.
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