Customers complain of AT&T U-verse outages
Follow us on Twitter @AJCBiz
(Updated 4:28 p.m.) AT&T U-verse customers in Atlanta and other parts of the network blasted the company on social media Tuesday with complaints of outages to their high-speed Internet, digital TV and home phone services.
The company said problem, blamed on a computer server, is believed to have affected fewer than 6,000 of its millions of customers in the Southeast and Southwest.
In addition to complaints in metro Atlanta, problems were reported as far west as Texas and Oklahoma, and south as Florida. Customers vented on Twitter and Facebook about being without U-verse service for hours. They were also angry about long waits on the phone with AT&T customer service.
Tweeted @GSUAmanda: “@Uverse We’ve been patient, we know your “techs/engineers” are working, we know you’re sorry. Give us something we DON’T know. #uverse”
Some customers reported that problems with U-verse began Monday, although AT&T said it was difficult to say exactly when the problems began.
Customer Tamara Robison of Duncanville, Texas, complained Monday on Facebook: “This was my day off and no TV or internet for 9 hours now. No explanation and no expected time for it to be fixed. This is unacceptable. No inauguration for me.”
Asked @EricRitchie on Twtter, “@ATT Will I be receiving a credit for the inconvenience? @uverse is far too expensive to be shorted service availability.”
AT&T spokesman Lance Skelly told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution no plan had been worked out so far about credits to accounts. He also said AT&T doesn’t know when the “complicated fix” to a server that supports the U-verse system will be completed.
“We have been working around the clock and are making progress on resolving the issue,” Skelly said. “We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers.”
The spokesman said only “a limited number of AT&T customers in some markets” were affected.
That was little consolation to customers who took to Twitter to complain. “It’s been over 24 hours without TV thanks to #Uverse #at&t so annoyed!!” tweeted @nancyozon
On Facebook, Courtney Crawford posted: “I live in NC and I’ve been without Internet for 24 hours possibly more, I was told it would be back up in 6 hours but obviously not, I have a fiancé overseas and I can’t even talk to him!!!!”
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
179 comments Add your comment
Don Coyote
January 22nd, 2013
4:54 pm
@Me- You are a sanctimonious ass. I work from my home and frequently deal with people in the orient, hence my need for phone and the internet at a time of day that your undeveloped brain can’t conceive of working a “job”.
Would like to work from home
January 22nd, 2013
4:59 pm
Uverse is an incredibly WONDERFUL experience… compared to Windstream Communications.
Over the new year, we had a similar outage to the ATT thing. I called Windstream. First, wanted me to jump through all kinds of hoops to troubleshoot my system. When I balked and demanded a service call, they THEN said that service will be impaired until at least Jan 31. Seriously. Only when I demanded a service call did they admit that: 1) there was not a problem with my house/modem/etc and 2) they were having widespread problems in North Georgia. In short, they lied to me.
We have a transportation problem in Atlanta. One option is working from home. But that option only works if you have 100% reliable internet. That means hundreds and thousands of employees in Atlanta metro commute every day because their internet is not reliable enough to work from home.
Our local (county) governments regulate internet service in our community. They have a habit of granting monopolies on local service, and are reluctant to allow competition. Oh, you should have heard the wails of Windstream at our county commission’s monthly meeting when a commissioner started considering an alternate web service provider for our county (but… but… we brought jobs to this county). You would have thought that Windstream Communications was sent from god to my house, and that the county had no business changing that arrangement. So now I still have crappy service, and no one anywhere is willing to do anything about it.
Trust me when I say uverse is a dream compared to Windstream. I would swap one 9 hour outage for months and years minimal crappy service.
aon
January 22nd, 2013
5:19 pm
Finally, someone in the media is talking about this. I’ve been complaining for months that my cable goes in and out – usually during a football game. The last time it happened I was so embarrassed because I had a house full of people watching college football. Needless to say my house is no longer the football watching destination,regardless of my cooking!
cable is useless
January 22nd, 2013
5:24 pm
SOAP BOX: Get rid of cable!!!! It’s up to you to decide about UVERSE internet. HD Antennas in the Metro ATL can get all networks plus CW, Peachtree and a few others for free. I went from paying over 90 per month to 58 for internet and NETFLIX.
Reg
January 22nd, 2013
5:25 pm
Meh. I’ve had comcast less than a year and have had 3 similar outages. I work from home, and all the outages were during the middle of business days, causing serious inconvenience. No matter who your provider is, you’re going to have outages. It’s a matter of when, not if. The good thing about U-Verse, since it’s all newly-dug fiber and copper, is that it’s less likely to go out due to weather when compared to cable or satellite.
Someone above mentioned a liberal work force. AT&T is split. The folks you talk to on the phone are union workers who threaten to strike every couple of years, costing the company they work for (AT&T) good amounts of money. They threaten strikes over the usual stuff-benefits and raises. They already receive better benefits than the regular employees, and have guaranteed raises (which the employees do not). And on top of that, they give the whole company a bad name due to incredibly poor customer service. They’re parasites, and I’m sure there are plenty of folks who’d love to have their jobs and would provide better service.
Johnny Nam
January 22nd, 2013
5:40 pm
All you numb nuts that say we can do w/o internet…..how about those of us who have home businesses that lost hours of work time!!!
AT&T Fan Boi
January 22nd, 2013
5:43 pm
AT&T is the best ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also have $100 Billion dollars to share with everyone reading this post
No really, AT&T should get shut down by the government due to the degree of suckage they sell the consumers on a daily basis. Use an AT&T cell phone on 85 and figure out who many dead spots there are, I gave up after losing count.
Kymmie
January 22nd, 2013
5:48 pm
I had cumcast .. internet and cable .. my bill skyrocketed to over 500.00 no one could explain why … soooo On Dec 13, 2012 I switched to At&T “high speed internet” … BOYYYYYY WHAT A HORRIBLE MISTAKE …. There hasn’t been ONE single Night … Not ONE SINGLE NIGHT that my internet service hasnt gone down … the modem simply stops connecting and I get a “red” light … I’ve called every single time it’s happened … and they PROMISE me the next wave of techs will make it right … I am sooooo beyond frustrated I no not what to do … trying to get in touch with upper tier management is like asking to speak with the Wizard of Oz …. in short … Stay away from AT&T … I wish I never left cumcast … and they suck too !
rob
January 22nd, 2013
5:54 pm
to dawg237 you don’t have a clue as to how many jobs are union,not many your fellow conservatives are continually blaming unions for lost jobs and ignorant workers when its actually low wages because the greedy executives think that they can hire anybody for customer service reps.
Scott
January 22nd, 2013
6:01 pm
For the ones that think people use uverse for only tv, wrong. Some people depend on uverse to work for home. Some people need to have phone service for medical reasons. I personally have never had an issue with Uverse in the 3 years I have had their service. So for reliability, I am very happy. But AT&T needs to be forthcoming about what is going one. I really doubt this only effected a small number of people. I know everyone one in my neighborhood that uses Uverse was down and well as most of the people in my office. Things happen, we get that, but let us know realistically what is going on and what to expect. And it would make since to use the automated phone system to tell callers about the outage up front and not to go through all the questions, then tell the caller oh there is an outage. After you put your number in, that is when you can say there is a reported outage in your area, or in today’s situation, in multiple states.
Elizabeth
January 22nd, 2013
6:05 pm
My TV and Internet has been out for 24 hours. Still no resolution. I work from home as well. Guess I will be switching to ANYTHING BUT AT&T-uverse! This happens to me about every 6 months. It’s either the main unit has gone bad, wires messed up somehow outside the house…the list of excuses and problems is very long and has been repeated many times!
Susan Fisher
January 22nd, 2013
6:07 pm
I am definitely not being paid by Comcast but Comcast service technicians were always courteous and prompt about handling the rare problems I had. All I can say is since I switched to U-Verse several months ago, I’ve had nothing but problems and interruptions in service. Several of my co-workers switched to U-Verse when I did and they’re all very sorry they made the move. My service has been very unreliable and customer service terrible. My service has been out all day (phone, internet and TV) and I have not been able to talk to anyone yet. When you depend on your connections for your job, as my husband does, this is a real issue. ATT needs to step up to the plate regarding customer care….in the meantime, I’ve advised everyone I know to forget about U-Verse as an option. Who needs the nightmare!!!
Stormtrooper
January 22nd, 2013
6:08 pm
Dawg237, You Sir are an IDIOT and obviously no clue how a union works. We don’t work 15 minutes and then take 30 minute breaks. We work very hard and diligently at our jobs. The union is just to make sure we are paid what our services are worth and that we are are not taken advantage of by BIG BROTHER. don’t talk about things that you don’t have a clue about. It just makes you look even more ignorant.
jj
January 22nd, 2013
6:23 pm
I used to have Bell South then Cingular and then AT&T – can’t say that I was impressed when Cingular was acquired. In no time at all I started understanding why Clark Howard says they don’t deserve your business. Comcast aint perfect but sure is a lot more reliable than AT&T and no Drama!
Internet Blues
January 22nd, 2013
6:30 pm
I had Comcast for years and finally got sick of paying the exhorbitant prices they charge customers not in the promotional period honeymoon. I live in Dunwoody and U-Verse was not available but fast access DSL was and at a much better price than Comcast so I switched. Right after Christmas, the Internet and phone service in our area went down. A week later it was still down and the AT&T recorded message kept extending the fix date by a day or two. I couldn’t get a customer service person on the phone so went to billing to cancel my service. They checked into the situation and couldn’t argue with me and cancelled my service and refunded my $150 setup fee. I had Comcast back up and running within an hour at half the price I had been paying a month and a half prior. Bottom line is one company grossly overcharges while the other puts no value on reliability of service. Pick your poison!
barryW
January 22nd, 2013
6:31 pm
At&t has the most incompetent employees of any company I have ever dealt with. That’s why I left.
Native Georgian
January 22nd, 2013
6:57 pm
Have had U-Verse for about 4 years. Had one issue with the DVR. AT&T sent a replacement….I plugged it in…poof…fixed. What a whiny bunch we Americans have become. You want 100% up time…sign up for that and see how much your bill is.
M. Austin
January 22nd, 2013
7:05 pm
Louisville Ky outage for over 24 hours now. I pay an insane amount of money to ATT every month, and they can’t even tell us what the problem is?!?!?!?! I will be leaving
Bobby Z
January 22nd, 2013
7:16 pm
Mitt
PLEASE! The stench is overwhelming! Change you pants and stop that nasty habit of yours!
Arlo
January 22nd, 2013
7:32 pm
I missed the inauguration, but it wasn’t U-vers’s fault. Comcast isn’t even in my neighborhood!
I wish...
January 22nd, 2013
8:05 pm
….that U Verse had the local on the 8’s weather (seeing your county’s weather), antenna tv, and the Hallmark Channel. Their weather on demand channel is a waste. When I switched over to u verse, it took almost 3 months to straighten out the billing. The fact that I have two phone lines was too hard for them to comprehend, lol
Uverse
January 22nd, 2013
8:06 pm
I’ve had Uverse for 3 years no problem except for last night nothing works all the time it’s a machine just like your car it’s breaks down from time to time and FYI Uverse techs just became union after 3 years shows how some people are ignorant talking out of they’re arse instead of knowing something about a situation
oldfart
January 22nd, 2013
8:23 pm
I know outages like other stuff happens. Just don’t attempt to apply shinola to the issue and downplay the severity and duration of the problem. I’m old enough to know stuff from shinola.
Lo Lo Lowe
January 22nd, 2013
8:33 pm
This has been going on for years with AT&T- it happened before U-verse and with U-verse. I can’t believe AT&T is still in business- why do people still buy their services. Boycott AT&T- they are horrible. They can’t even bill correctly and good luck getting them to actually fix it.
Baby
January 22nd, 2013
8:42 pm
Decatur area here- Cable/internet was on and off for several days. Grrr…
Harvey
January 22nd, 2013
9:05 pm
Wow – I get a letter from ATT saying that in the next 45 days I have no choice but to go from my pretty reliable 6MB DSL service to U-verse. Somehow their desire to recoup their investment in fiber in my subdivision is not selling me as I see their inability to brief customers and better yet respond in a timely fashion to a huge outage. This is embarassing
Me
January 22nd, 2013
9:15 pm
If you think Uverse is bad, try Comcast! They are the worst that I ever had anywhere.
DawgNole
January 22nd, 2013
9:23 pm
12 yard bucket
January 22nd, 2013
2:32 pm
if you ain’t with Directv, you are wasting your time and money…easily the best option for television…
___________________
Co-sign.
DawgNole
January 22nd, 2013
9:28 pm
renee
January 22nd, 2013
3:45 pm
I wonder how many of these ‘happy customer’ posts are real?
______________
Few–if any!
DawgNole
January 22nd, 2013
9:34 pm
Madmax
January 22nd, 2013
4:50 pm
You want a real problem ISP try Charter, they are the bottom of the barrel! I wish I could get u-verse or comcast.
__________________
You DON’T want Comcast! Trust me.
DawgNole
January 22nd, 2013
9:39 pm
Susan Fisher
January 22nd, 2013
6:07 pm
I am definitely not being paid by Comcast but Comcast service technicians were always courteous and prompt about handling the rare problems I had. All I can say is since I switched to U-Verse several months ago, I’ve had nothing but problems and interruptions in service.
_____________________
So if you were so happy with Comcast, why did you leave?
Sounds like you’re definitely being paid by Comcast.
DawgNole
January 22nd, 2013
9:42 pm
Bobby Z
January 22nd, 2013
7:16 pm
Mitt
PLEASE! The stench is overwhelming! Change you pants and stop that nasty habit of yours!
_____________________
But don’t you understand? Mitt doesn’t smell anything.
mad in Sugar Hill
January 22nd, 2013
9:52 pm
Service went out Monday night around midnite, came home from work this afternoon, still not working. Received a call from AT&T stating service had been restored around 7:45pm tonight and to remind me to reboot my gateway and receivers. I did several times and still no service. Almost 24 hours and still nothing. Guess I will go to bed and see what surprise is waiting for me Wednesday morning!!!! Probably more of the same.
CoffeeBean
January 22nd, 2013
10:17 pm
Go with direct tv–not cheap, but easily the best, especially for new customers–you get a ton of free stuff. later on, they try to make you pay for repairs, but you can talk them down.
Likewise in SC
January 22nd, 2013
10:19 pm
Same here! Service went out Monday night around midnight. Received a call from AT&T stating service had been restored. Rebooted my gateway and receivers several times as well and still no service. Lets see what happens when the sun rises.
Calvin
January 22nd, 2013
10:34 pm
My internet started to stutter late last night. The cable works ok, and I can use the internet on my laptop for most things, but I still can not connect my Xbox live for Netflix movies. It’s been almost 24 hours. However, as far as outages go, this one has been pretty mild for me. Hope they get it fixed soon.
Beth Mahadocon
January 22nd, 2013
11:06 pm
We are in Raleigh NC, our service went down about 2:30am Tuesday. It is now 11:00pm, still no Internet. We have been told repeatedly they are working on it. My husband works from home, his company is in CA. So there is no commute. So far a whole day of work missed. Our bill better be adjusted!!
Jack
January 22nd, 2013
11:44 pm
No service in Raleigh for approx. 24 hrs. Support calls are redirected with no suggestion as to when service can be expected.
Ron
January 22nd, 2013
11:53 pm
First serious outage in 3 years. Stuff happens. Can’t live without it? Reconsider your life…..
Sam
January 23rd, 2013
12:25 am
ATT will not admit it but the finger is pointing at a CYBER ATRTACK from China or Iran.
Bertha pierce
January 23rd, 2013
12:40 am
My service went out Monday evening around 9:30pm and it is still out Wednesday at 12:35 am. Help!!!
what is really going on.
David Hoffman
January 23rd, 2013
2:40 am
This is where having alternate communication systems help might have helped some of the affected Uverse customers. For television, have an old fashioned rabbit ear or outside mounted antenna. If you are in a decent signal area you may be able to pick up the Over The Air(OTA) television signals from the local stations broadcasting ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS. In some areas there are independent OTA broadcasters running unique programming.
The loss of internet is more difficult to have an alternate for. If you have one of the advanced 3G or 4G smartphones that act as hotspots you can use that for limited critical searches. Remember that, if the outage is widespread, thousands of other subscribers will be attempting to access the same 3G or 4G system. Mobile cellular wireless based internet service is a limited capacity shared resource, so you need to keep your on line activities limited to searches for critical information. That means no video. This allows others to get the critical information they need in a reasonably timely manner.
It wasn't THAT bad!
January 23rd, 2013
3:01 am
I’m sure 99.99% of the “complainers” were under age 25 and are addicted to their mobile devices. My outage in Roswell was less than 2 hours, during which time I did my laundry and cleaned the bathrooms. Outages happen, CHILDREN. Get over it!
mary kelly
January 23rd, 2013
3:34 am
Remember back in the 70’s that the big fear (joke) was that the phone company would eventually own and control every aspect of our lives…and the response was to break up the phone company monol;oly into dozens of subsidieries? Well look who’s back!
Laura
January 23rd, 2013
3:56 am
My service went down Monday. No inaugural for me. I work overnight. Got home at 8:30 am… still no phone, net, web. Here I am, at work again on Wednesday morning, and just called my home number. Still the recording of “Techical Difficulties”, so I’m still down for the 2nd day. ATT will be getting a disconnect notice as soon as I get a modem from a new vendor in my hot little hands.
If one server can cause this much of an interrupt, ATT needs to have backup plans in place.
David Hoffman
January 23rd, 2013
3:57 am
Uverse seems to be a very mixed bag of service quality. A coworker who moved from Texas to central Georgia strongly states that he had reliable, but expensive, service when he used Uverse in Texas. Maybe that is due to AT&T’s headquarters being there? He has stated his desire for it to come to central Georgia to compete with Cox. Others have horrible stories of never being able to get reliable service from Uverse. One of the problems with Uverse is that the actual hardware and software configurations of the outside equipment vary depending on when and where it was installed. The technology was misused to save money on capital costs. If AT&T had dealt with the limitations of VDSL upfront, I think they would have avoided some of the issues they face today. The first would have been to run the fiber optic cables much closer to each residence or business. This would have shortened the distance the signal had to travel over the outside copper portion of the network. That would have given multiple advantages. They could have offered Uverse with one significant speed profile to all subscribers, maybe 24Mbps downstream, with plenty of capacity leftover for perhaps 6 simultaneous HD video channels and 6 simultaneous high quality audio VOIP operations.
Thomas Brown
January 23rd, 2013
4:23 am
at&t is not well-known for service, and has not been.
Patrick.
January 23rd, 2013
5:16 am
6000 customers. I call bull. More like a million or so. I have been down for 2 days now. Tulsa ok.
Steve
January 23rd, 2013
5:42 am
Raleigh, NC – Both phone and internet still down.
Chas
January 23rd, 2013
5:49 am
Can’t wait until Google roll into town, competition should bring better service and lower prices.