We switched to AT&T U-verse Internet about 6 weeks ago. I ordered online, selecting the (no additional charge) self-install option, and I received my $100 AT&T modem/router/WiFi hardware in just a couple of days. I was told my service would be "installed" and could be activated about a week later. On the morning of the scheduled date, a technician phoned me and assured me that my U-verse Internet service already was "installed" and working, and that it could be activated/registered immediately. It didn't work. I finally went outside my house to the telephone interface box with my laptop and the U-verse modem, and I cut, stripped back, and directly wired in a known-good commercial telephone cord I had and plugged it into the modem, totally bypassing my house telephone wiring. It still didn't work. Two service calls later, I learned from the two different AT&T technicians that my service was "installed", but only as far as my neighborhood AT&T node. [As I understand it, U-verse Internet service typically is delivered via fiber optic cable to the neighborhood node (big silver box on a nearby major street), then distributed via a telephone copper wire pair to the residence. There's NO WAY my service could have been functional; not only did AT&T install a new "drop" from the pole to my house, a second technician had to come out to find and hook up a good copper wire pair in the distribution cable from the neighborhood node to the pole outside my house (we did not have an existing land line, thus no allocated copper wire pair). Well, the second technician left, and it still didn't work. I again called AT&T customer service, and after a brief automated test, an automated response said a technician would be dispatched again (3rd time) the next day to correct the problem. Early the next day the original technician stopped by, climbed to pole to close the door on the junction box left open overnight by the second technician, and then did whatever to finally get my U-verse Internet working. [She wasn't even dispatched, she was just being personally conscientious.]
Punchline: A few weeks later, I received my second bill. I was billed $130, plus taxes for two "repair calls". I waited until the next day to calm down before I called A&T, but I still feel bad for the customer service rep who took my call. The charges for the "repair calls" were removed.
Punchline 2: A few days after my bill, I related this story to a neighbor. Her response was essentially "that's nothing... have you noticed all the Comcast trucks at my house every few days?.....".
Good luck , Roy.
