Posted on 05/21/2011 3:16:55 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Washington, D.C. (May 20, 2011) -- HDTV owners this week got the best news they've had in months, perhaps years. The American Customer Satisfaction Index's annual ratings showed that AT&T's U-Verse's 'satisfaction score' had fallen from 72 in 2010 to 68 in 2011.
Now that's not a major drop and normally might not even be worth more than a sentence or two in a round-up story on the study. However, the reason the American Customer Satisfaction Index gave for the decline is big news -- and should serve as a stern warning to all TV providers in the future.
That reason? The Index said AT&T's score may have slipped due to a rise in customer complaints about the picture quality on their HD channels.
Ah-ha!
For years, HD owners have charged that TV providers purposely dilute the picture quality of some high-def channels to create more system space for other channels and services. But it's been a tough allegation to prove and, until now, it has not seemed to hurt a cable or satellite provider's sub growth.
So what if we dilute the picture quality, the TV providers seem to say, you keep paying us every month.
But now a major study has actually said one TV provider's customer satisfaction rating has fallen because it may have 'messed' with the HD picture.
That's good news for every HD owner.
Why is it good news that a TV provider has "messed" with your picture?
Because lower customer satisfaction ratings usually result in lower subscription totals.
And the lower ACSI rating will hurt AT&T's credibility and standing in the TV community, making it more difficult to market their service.
And this should mean that AT&T's rivals will be less likely to "mess" with their HD picture in the future. Because if they do, it could lead to more customer complaints -- and lower ACSI ratings.
So, you see, sometimes bad news (AT&T possibly diluting the HD picture) can be good news (TV providers might be less tempted to dilute their HD pictures in the future.)
That is, if their customers complain when they see their pictures being "messed with."
women and minorities hardest hit.
Crafty,
do you wish to be added to the 375+ member HDTV ping list??
Do you suppose if and when I get a telemarketing call from AT&T trying to sell me U-Verse that I will be able to say to the person reading the script on the other end; ‘Well, what about these declining ACSI scores?’
Honestly, I actually have been contemplating getting U-Verse due to the DVR functionality. My WOW service’s DVR is pathetic. But at least I don’t lose signals in weather like I did with my Dish Network.
If I could do without ESPN and other live sporting coverage (golf, SpeedTV Formula1), I’d ditch all of cable and buy a Home Entertainment PC and just stream my shows in addition to local over-the-air HD signals. I’d save about $100 per month.
LVD, I am curious about what an A.T.&T. field technician told me a year or so ago when he was out here stringing new telephone line from the pole to the house.
He said he personally was using Verizon (whatever that package is they have) because they run their fibreoptics directly to the customer’s house versus his own company A.T.&T. that runs the fibreoptics only to the nearest distribution module (I call it that, ‘cause I don’t know what they call it) leaving the customer with the older line from the box to the residence, which reduces the quality of the reception.
In our case it’s precisely 1/2 mile to the distribution module, so we have about fifty year old whatever it is line from that point to the house to service their HD package should we choose to buy it. We don’t, because of what the man told us, and we don’t really like television anymore.
The fibreoptic was just installed within the last year, or so to that distribution module per the tech., and a neighbor up the way about a quarter mile from us opted for the high speed computer, but the performance is disappointing even though he’s closer to the distribution box, thus the fibreoptics.
Wondering if you have heard of this yourself as a reason the A.T.&T. HD package isn’t up to par?
We had HD and I really couldn’t tell the difference. So we canceled it.
No, I haven't. But if it's fast speed you desire, Satellite ISP service may be more to your liking?
FYI: we have DISH and basic TW cable for locals (also with local free HD), and SBC DSL service.
Bush’s fault.
If you can’t tell the difference between SD and HD...you either have bad eyes, a small TV, or a bad service provider. Or it wasn’t hooked up right.
I install DirecTV and the HD quality is superior to any other service out there. 720 is what comes off the birds. There are very few transponders which can handle 1080
do not hesitate...get it..I have uverse and LOVE it....they are quick to handle complaints, if you need service they are there when they say they will be there...little hint, plan carefully where they will put your gateway, and have them run ethernet cable to you dvr, where ever it may be...other than that, i am very happy with the internet and tv services...and I rolled my cell phone in, so now I only get one bill
In frustration, I went back to cable. Much better. More stable. However, sound/video still not as good as it was with satellite. DIRECT advertises they maintain signal 99% of the time, or some such boast.
Around here, satellite ISP translates into rather lengthy periods of latency. Have they solved this vexing problem? Also, weather is very disruptive to satellite TV/ISP around here. See my above post...
We have U-Verse and like it.
We DVR a lot, then skim through the commercials.
There are disadvantages though.
No local weather radar. For instance when the Weather Channel has ‘local on the 8’s’, no county radar.
There is a weather channel but the radar is semi-regional.
Another point. With cable you can simply install a splitter to run another TV for the basic channels.
Not U-Verse. You have to have a converter box for every TV.
But being able to record 4 programs at once (2 of which can be HD) solved a big problem in this house. :)
Does that give a superior signal?
I have coax. The gateway is next to the computers at the other end of the house.
put me on the hdtv ping list lvd!! thanks!
Cable TV Internet (over copper) is distance speed independent, but will clog up when usage is high. One of my friends who home offices has the entire cable TV Internet segment to himself, until the kids all get home from school. He did notice a slow down in the last year, which he blames on Moms downloading Netflix movies during the day.
Fiber optics to the house is faster than fiber to a DC. Once the signal leaves the DC it travels at the speed of copper.
Some copper lines are quite fast depending on the equipment at the DC, but the bandwidth of fiber is simply higher than copper.
Always go for fiber to the home, but if the equipment that Verizon puts in is not state of the art then your fiber speeds won't seem much different.
More important, most ISP now use bandwidth limiters to slow down line speeds and preserve bandwidth. There have been several articles posted recently that Netflix is now using more Internet bandwidth than Youtube or porn.
Done!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.