AT&T U-verse Install Saga

Important Note: After reading this, be sure to check out this entry with current updates and reviews of the U-Verse service.

7/16: Place order to have AT&T U-verse TV, Internet, and Voice installed and activated in our new home. Instruct them to transfer our old telephone number to the new home. Appointment is made for the 25th.

7/17: Inform Time Warner Cable that we will no longer be in their merciless evil thrall. After several minutes of wheedling and making offer after offer to get us to stay put, they surrender. When we wrap up the call, though, they mention that they have not yet received a number transfer request from AT&T. We thank them and bid them good day.

7/18: Call AT&T to let them know that Time Warner has not yet gotten the number transfer request. They assure us everything will work its way through the system by the 25th.

7/25, 8:30AM: AT&T technician arrives to complete the 4-6 hour installation process, which we all agree will probably take substantially less, since we have a full structured wiring package and he won't need to run a bunch of CAT-5 cable as a result.

7/25, 11:30AM: We realize this will not matter, since AT&T apparently has forgotten to connect our house to the fiber network, and the technician has to stand around and wait for several hours until another AT&T tech. can come out and run fiber to the house. Regardless, the installation is completed Friday, although it takes nearly 10 hours to get it done. Everything appears to be working fine.

7/26, 9:00AM: Realize that although we have a dial tone, the phone line is not working correctly -- we are unable to receive call, or to make long distance calls. Spend 2+ hours playing phone tag and sitting on hold, to discover that the number transfer request was never submitted. It will take approximately 7-10 days to transfer tour old number to U-verse voice. However, the support person suggests we have a service technician come over and switch us to an analog line, which will enable us to get our old number again immediately, and then we would switch it over to a digital line in 7-10 days, once the transfer went into effect. We groan, as this will require yet another technican to visit, and at 8:00AM on a Sunday no less, and agree.

7/26, 11:15AM: Head upstairs to check email, and find that in addition to turning off our VoIP service, AT&T has somehow broken our connection to the internet as well. Spend 2+ hours playing phone tag and sitting on hold, escalating this problem to a level 2 technician who knows what he's talking about before getting him to acknowledge that yes, AT&T screwed up yet again. He sets up an appointment for another AT&T tech to come to my house on Sunday morning at 8:00AM, this one to be responsible for making sure the internet access problem is resolved. Meanwhile, I have no phone or internet service. I am told I will be credited for my first month of service on both of these, so that's nice. But still.

7/27, 8:30AM: Two AT&T service techs arrive within minutes of each other and get to work. Within an hour they have the wiring straightened out, and assure me that once AT&T Voice releases the number to them everything should begin working again.

7/27, 11:00AM: Turns out AT&T Voice doesn't operate on Sunday. Both techs spend hours trying to escalate this issue to get SOEMONE to release the number to them, to no avail. Much apologizing ensues, they depart and keep me informed of any status changes throughout the day. Regardless, I have no phone or internet access for yet another day. I also ge the number of a level 2 customer support center that will be able to more adequately compensate me for my time and trouble.

7/28, 10:00AM: AT&T service tech from yesterday arrives to hopefully resolve the situation.

7/28, 10:30AM: Following a lengthy chat with customer support, we are promised rather sizable discounts on our TV service costs for the next 6 months, as well as an ongoing discount on our internet service for as long as we maintain service with AT&T. And a $50 coupon for our next month's service. If nothing else, this ongoing inconvenience will save me a bit of cash.

7/28, 11:30AM: AT&T is able to restore internet access, but is unable to fix things with the phone. Apparently we will not be getting an analog line, but will instead have to wait until 8/1 to get a TEMPORARY digital number, after which we will get our old telephone number on 8/4. Needless to say, both of these events will apparently require the presence of an AT&T technician in our home. So, two more days where my wife will need to sit around waiting for a service visit. But AT&T also agrees to kick us $150 toward all the cell phone bills we will be racking up in the meantime. So that's nice.

Sigh. Updates as they occur.

Mood: Vaguely exasperated
Now Playing: The Hold Steady, "Stay Positive"