AT&T UVerse vs. cable

I throw myself on your mercy.

I'm moving in a month, and the area where I'm moving to is able to get UVerse. But I'm looking online and their download speeds are 1.5, 3, 6 or 18 Mbps.

I talked to a friend, and he said cable, or basically what average is, is 54Mbps. So why would it be $175 a month for UVerse when I'm paying $129 a month for Comcast?

Are the numbers all off? What's the best deal? $105 for 3Mbps, $135 for 6 Mbps or 175 for 18 Mbps? Or just stick with Comcast and pay the re-installation costs?

 

Just threaten to go to another company. I'm betting Comcast will relent on the re-installation costs.

 

But is that the better option? Are the UVerse speeds so much worse? I figured with the way AT&T rolled it out with ads it would be a good switch.

I just really have no idea what the numbers actually mean.

 

F**k Comcast with a rusy nail and let them get a disease. Theirr customer service is horrible. If they offered U-Verse in my town, I would be on it in a heartbeat. I'm unable to get a satellite because I live in an apartment building.

And IJAG, that price seems high for U-Verse. You're better off talking them down before you install. I think if you tell the rep you're going with Comcast they will drop down. Only problem is, you have to do it again in six months.

 

Well that's the bundle. That's phone, 220 channels and internet.

But no one's answering the other points. What do those Mbps numbers mean in practicality?

 

It's all over my head. All I can tell is we switched to U-Verse a few months ago, and my wife has a home business that is heavily dependent on high-speed internet.

If there were problems with slowness, believe me, I'd hear about them. At length.

I would hate to say "U-Verse is fine," though, and then have it suck for you. All I can tell you, not knowing anything about bit rates or anything else, is that it works for her better than Comcast, or at least as well.

 

Thank you, fth. I appreciate that. It just seemed odd to me the number I was hearing for cable and then hearing it was so much less for UVerse.

I wonder if their available rates change depending on where you live.

 

1.5 or 3 Mbps = fine for ordinary browsing, as long as the sites aren't too fancy with the flash and video

6 = fine for streaming video

18 = not needed unless you plan on sharing the connection among several computers or doing lots of file-sharing/downloading

 

Then what's with the 54 for cable? Because I lose connection with Comcast all the time.

Also, will 6 work fine with an older computer (my desktop's about 8 years old)?

 

Oh, I should add my kid watches just about all his movies/shows on the computer, and he has no problems either.

We have wireless in the house. If I'm working at home on my laptop, I don't notice any big difference from working at my office.

 

I'm not sure about 54 mbps for cable. I'm a little out of my depth as a part-time computer nerd here, but that doesn't even seem possible, let alone average. I think the physical capabilities of cable wire max out at about 30 mbps.

Are you sure he didn't mean 5.4?

 

I was wrong. The 54 Mbps was at work.

I looked at the Comcast site and their "faster internet" is 12 Mbps.