So ... I did it. I got talked into Uverse ( AT&T) from Comcast. The saving for the monthly rate for the first year is about $40. Then it flips to a $10 cost. So we shall see.
Install;
Holy crap it could not have gone any worse. I took off last Friday as that was the date scheduled. With no one there by 11am . no calls. no confirmations .. I call them. Snafu.. the schedule was in the system, but never sent to the techs. They re-schedule for Monday. I hesitate, and they make it tentative.
Sat.. I get about 3 confirmation calls for Monday @ 9am
Sunday.. I get about 5 confirmation calls.. including a phone interview from India about who will be here..yadda yadda..
Monday.. off again to I can be here
9am no one
10 am no one
11:07.. that's the close of the window.. So I call.. well its my fault for not telling sales that I agree to Monday. UMM NO! Tech called me over 10 times to confirm Monday.
11:45 guy shows up. He is not happy. He says, due to the distance I am from the CO, he has to make adjustments at the CO. He returns at 3:15. I show him the 2 TV, and where I need the router. I say he cannot use my house phone wiring .. as I am using that. I thought I made clear he could not use my Comcast line. I need that to transition to the ATT. He cuts the end off the modem BNC and proceeds to use the Comcast line. I tell him again.. I need my Comcast in-tact. he now has to make two runs. With the main TV being wireless. The DVR is in the bedroom. This install is a cluster duck. He finishes at 9:29 that night.
Now understand the ATT TV part is pretty sweet. Lots of channels, most of which I have to dig through.. but I don't get ( of course I can add them at extra cost).. but the DVR is cool, the guide is nice, favorites (channels). And the ATT picture beats the craptastic digital blocks I got from Comcast each evening.
ATT internet. I am pretty dern tech savy on networking. I have about 200 feet of cat5/cat6 run in my house. I have 2 access points, 2 routers, a server, VOIP box, and two desktop hardwired in. One of the big things I did years ago was implement OPENDNS. If you can get it.. I HIGHLY recommend it. It replaces the DNS entries on the router with thiers, you can then pick and choose from many categories of things to block, and you can create white lists ( exceptions to blocks) and black lists (always block) sites of your own. Since this is "in the cloud" it always works, and the kids and wife cant by-pass it ( at least not easily).
GUESS WHAT???? the ATT router will not let you re-direct their pre-set DNS entries!!! That means OPENDNS is out! Now the work around is to set up your old private router.. behind the ATT router... and "cascade" them. and have all the devices pull off the private router. I have spent about 10 hours trying to do just this. No luck. The private router is easy to set up and get working.. but no matter what the ATT "cascade router" set up will not accept any combination of settings. Without that setting, a router behind the ATT simply allows any attached equipment to use the ATT DNS settings.
IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE IT WORK PLEASE HOLLER!!!!
I have a 15yo son.. full of the normal raging hormones. I really liked the idea of making it hard for him .. or even me.. to get out and see the crap that outs there. I feel wide open and not happy. And yes there are locally installed programs that can pretty much do the same thing, but they are usually very easy to get around or they break other things (games).
PS: the greatest lamentations under OPENDNS were from my daughter who could access any torrent or file sharing sites... poor thing!
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