atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers AT&T U-verse Nightmare on H Street

A little background: I'm the leader of our small Midtown Sacramento Neighborhood Assoc. I've been the resident Agent/Mgr of this apartment bldg for 18 years under two different owners. The current owner is, umm... errr... "thrifty" :-)



Comcast cable has had a monopoly in our neighborhood (just blocks from the state capital) as long as I've been here. Why are we unhappy with their blazing 12 Mbps "Power Boost" service?



Enough said? (Not an isolated event either)

Going back a decade we tried SBC Global/Pacbell DSL with a dedicated IP. Seems we have a little issue with the 50 pair drop to our building. When it rains a few days in a row, we get noise and battery on our twisted pairs. When I lift the pair off the old style binding posts, it's present on the drop side ruling out premise wiring. Fair? I'm thinking static and battery hum do play nice with analog signals. I dumped the the DSL. With the AT&T takeover, nothing changed except customer service but I spare you that bait&switch nightmare. Up next:



Talk about Old School (60 years old) So AT&T techs have been putting up with the mess for years. Repair or installers come out to work on a line or check a new install and guess what. Another apartment dweller complains they lost their dial tone for no apparant reason. Right!

For the last two years I tried to get AT&T to deal with the drop issues with their 50 pair cable and this old terminal. They gave me neat drawings after I suggested we move the cable and terminal inside to a secure room. The new interior backboard is a foot from the the old exterior terminal.



In my dreams, I envision something like this:



I even went shopping:



Okay... AT&T Engineering comes back with a quote to move the 50 pair cable 12 inches and tie down to new punch blocks.

$ 922.09 - Engineering Labor
$ 275.59 - Material Cost
$ 762.45 - Construction Labor
$ 411.63 - CIAC (Code word in Californ for a California "fee" they can't call a tax)
____________
$2,371.76

Now, here's the rub. Some time ago, techs came out and tested pairs on the drop. (Not the premise side I was told) 60% failed to meet the U-verse threshold. I've test our side to find only two bad pairs (one open and one shorted). For the new U-verse order I have due for my office, I'm doing a dedicated home run from the new terminal to my Media Room. (Photo next post)

A) The price seems high and B)they're not touching the 50 pair cable that has magically repaired itself and now shows my building U-verse ready!

Who am I to believe?

Thank you for being patient enough to get this far. What follows suggests I need to humble myself and ask for professional help soon. I'm an old school analog guy whose pulled a few cables in my time, knows what a CO switch looks and acts like. I'm also on a tight budget to keep our overhead to a minimum. You'll see why in a minute if you'll bear with me.

:bang: Why do I need to get it right?



My humble little Media Center is where the "Magic on H Street" happens every day. With the the aid of technology our nonprofit serves military families and severely injured returning veterans who sometimes fall through the VA system cracks. We do the same for injured first responders and their families in crisis.

You've seen above how Comcast performs at times. We have constant connectivity issues with them. We do a lot of talk radio, Internet radio and streaming audio/video live feeds.

AT&T admits their web portal is broken and Customer Service (CS), has no clue about the plant side of their service.

AT&T customers couldn't log into their online accounts this past week due to Account Management web pages being redesigned. I went to ATT.com as a stranger to order new business U-Verse Internet. I put in my address and zip; IT'S AVAILABLE. Couldn't complete the order online becuase it wouldn't take the login I've used for years. Opened the online chat they offer:

I called Residential CU to ask about it. Nice lady says, go back to ATT.com and order Home/Office U-verse Internet. We go to the right page. I still can't login. She get a supervisor who calls someone else. We end up with a backdoor... I'm in. SWEET! There's a "Dump your ISP" button with a $100 gift card reward. I place the order, they take the $99 from my bank and I'm a happy camper!

Then the email arrives:
I call, they can't find my order. I call the next day:

It gets worse but I'll spare you the next "We need to talk" email that arrived today, the order number the website says doesn't exist, same for the UPS tracking number but the "Self Install" kit for AT&T U-verse HSI did get here today even though the tracking number could be found on the web yesterday.

I'll install the home run this weekend in prep for the activation next Wednesday (2-2-11). It will be on the old terminals until Engineering acts. I have no clue what I'm walking into but if nothing else, my tenants and neighbors should benefit from my experience.

Good Luck.

I'd like to say that you should do better dealing with a "real" phone company rather then with a cable company, but....

Let us know what happens.

We're all rooting for you.

Sam

Have you looked into having a couple of T-1's dropped. T-1 bonding is very possible, give the needed bandwidth and be more reliable than other broadband solutions.

Thank you Sam. I did get a call today from AT&T CS manager in Pasadena, CA that wanted to know what happened. She couldn't help but did confirm that AT&T's new customer account management web portal wouldn't let her log in either. Lights on, no one at home.

Guess we'll see whose right in the next few days when I'm due to activate the modem on U-verse.

Thank you for that suggestion. Where would you suggest I start looking if AT&T doesn't cut it? I'd love to have a dedicated IP and steady connectivity for a change.

Given AT&T's quote, just to move their drop, might I be up against even greater cost, say build out and installation to reach my building from such a provider's facility? Any feel for monthly costs?

We have a pretty good idea of what's available in our alley.

SureWest has fiber just five feet from Comcast's cable drop to my building (overhead in our alley where telco is too) Last year they quoted $30,000 to connect to my building, install equipment to use our telco twisted pairs to bring their bundle deals to my tenants.

When I asked for a price just to bring their fiber straight to my office, they came in at $5k. A few days later I get a call from some "Corporate Relations" person saying they can't service us at any price because of deals with AT&T and Comcast.

so is the entire complex sharing the comcast internet connection? I would look at getting that fixed first. They should have a minimum bandwidth that they are guarenteeing for you. I just switch to residential comcast. 20 MBPS download, 3 MBPS upload. I can't complain.

Back to your 50 pair wiring mess. Find a local contractor who will do it for half the price and twice as nice. Although I personally HAVE NEVER EVER touched any cable that belonged to the phone company (I am sure this applies to all on the board!!!!!), I am confident that you can find someone to clean up that mess for you.

Z-Man... Thanks for the feedback. Each of my tenants has their own Comcast account and each apartment has its own cable feed from one of two drops to our building. Our two story building is "U" shaped with the top of it being an East and West wind facing the alley where all utilities are.

As for telco... I have the skill set to move it myself. I do not know if I can legally move it. Heck, I have to label and move each pair on the premise side myself, including the sub-feed to the other wing of the building. Our phone service has been so bad most of my tenants are using their cell phones as their primary number. That gets to be a problem with our security gate's access controller. It's old school and can only be programmed for a seven digit local number.

Looks like the other shoe may have dropped!

When my "Susie Homemaker" self-install kit arrived, red flags went up. In the box is a bunch of those DSL filters and a 3600HGV 2Wire Gateway. This morning I get an automated call saying I can activate my U-verse after 8:00PM tomorrow night.



Keep this sequence in mind:

1. Via their website AT&T said small business service was available at my location. When I tried to order it, I couldn't login to my account because of admitted errors with the web portal.
2. I called their toll free business order line only to be told, business service was NOT available to my location. I spoke to a supervisor who thanked me for my honesty about wanting business service and she then pointed me to RESIDENTIAL HOME/OFFICE webpage. I bookmarked it.
3. I spent the next three hours dialing a dozen phone numbers trying to find anyone at AT&T that can solve their web portal issues. Each time someone transfers me to another extension and the new person is clueless. I'm finally transferred to someone in Southern CA who has nothing to do with U-verse. He's patient enough to listen to my complaint. He laughs and says he could not log into his account either but found a work-around. It worked! His name is Sok and made sure to get his supervisor's number to call, passing on my appreciation for service above and beyond!
4. I click the bookmark from hours before and login. I get to that page and see the image above. I click on the $100 to switch, order the U-verse Internet at $24.95/month, enter my credit card, they take the $99 and send me an order confirmation via email.
5. The next day I receive an email saying they can't go forward with the order unless I call them with additional information. (Side note, I still get that same email every day now)
6. I call. "Sorry, that package is not available to you, you will have to pay $39.95/month because we can't bundle your exiting AT&T phone service. You don't get the $100 either!" I tell them: "PLACE THE ORDER! I'll deal with that later. I want to confirm this service will be on its own pair and not on my existing phone pair." After leaving me on hold for a while, she came back and said "Yes... it will be on its own pair."
7. Next day, a new "we gotta talk" email with old order number (Not the new one). I call to tell them I have a new order, with a ship date and install date. I plug in the order number online... can't be found. I plug in the UPS Tracking number... can't be found. Gal looks up the order on her end. "No problem, your order is confirmed and all you have to do is install the kit on your phone line and have it activated," she says. "HOLD ON!" I say. "That is not what I ordered. In fact, your people told me I could not bring in U-verse on my existing line!" She says, "I'm sorry sir, you'll have to call U-verse support's 800 number."
8. While AT&T continues to insist my service is on its own pair, NO ONE can tell me when or if an installer will come out to label the pair I'll have to bind down to my homerun into my office.

:bang: STICK A FORK IN - I'M DONE! I guess we'll see tomorrow if the only way to deal with AT&T is through the California Public Utilities Commission. The amount of time I have spent over the last two years with Repair, Installers, Engineering and now U-verse, would pay for six months of T-1 service.

I pray someone from AT&T management runs into this thread and is in a position to address the many customer service and web portal issues I've addressed here.

I want to thank all of you who have been so kind as to comment and offer counsel. I've found two brokers who like what we do at Patriotwatch.com They have committed to find us an affordable T-1 solution if AT&T fails to deliver.