Q. I’m thinking of getting AT&T TV, but I have a few questions. Do I need to use the AT&T box that they send you? Could I just use the AT&T TV app instead and watch the channels in the package I get? I really don’t want another set-top in my TV table. I already have a Blu-ray player, a PS4 box, a cable TV box and other boxes. I know the AT&T box is free, but I just don’t want it. — Pete, Laramie, Wyoming.
Pete, I understand your concern. Set-top clutter is a problem in many households, and is an often overlooked reason why streaming has become so popular. Rather than connect three or four set-tops to your TV, one streaming device, such as a Roku or Fire TV box, can deliver a multitude of programming services.
I also understand why you might think AT&T would require you to use its company-supplied set-top to subscribe to AT&T TV. The company has heavily promoted the box as a revolutionary device, which comes with your subscription.
“The AT&T TV service comes with a proprietary entertainment device that has the power to become the new entertainment hub of your home,” AT&T TV says at its web site. “You’ll be able to combine your favorite apps with live TV, sports programming, and Cloud DVR. No more constant switching between devices and inputs—with AT&T TV, it’s all in one place.”
And if you watch this AT&T video ad for AT&T TV, you would never know that you didn’t need the set-top:
However, you do not need to use the AT&T set-top to subscribe to AT&T TV. You can download the AT&T TV app on devices such as Roku and Fire TV and start watching immediately after subscribing online.
Let me repeat that: You do not need the AT&T TV set-top to subscribe to AT&T TV.
In fact, when AT&T sends you the box in the mail, you don’t even have to open the package if you don’t want to. It’s not necessary to continue watching.
Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesman, tells the TV Answer Man that “you can use the subscription without the box, but the box is included.”
Meaning AT&T will send you the box even if you don’t plan to use it.
Greer adds that you might want to use the box because it has a voice remote “and other features, like being able to switch between live TV and the app tray/screen.”
However, note that Roku and Fire TV have voice remotes as well.
As I said earlier, the AT&T TV set-top is free to what AT&T describes as “well-qualified customers.” So there’s no harm in getting it. You don’t even have to send it back after you cancel your subscription, as long as your cancellation doesn’t come in the first 14 days after your order.
“If you cancel in the first 14 days of order, you must return the included AT&T TV device within 14 days of order to avoid $120 non-return fee,” AT&T states at the web site.
So, Pete, if you don’t want to use the AT&T set-top, you don’t have to.
Last point: AT&T TV’s programming packages start at $59.99 a month for the first year, but they require a two-year agreement with year two prices nearly doubling. There’s also a $15-a-month cancellation fee for every month left in the two-year agreement if you cancel early.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
I just started using at&t tv after switching from uverse. I have the box on 1 tv and apple tv on another. A third tv has Amazon fire stick. The at&t box has the easiest interface. It also has a feature that you can mirror your phone and play apps that are not available on the box like Amazon prime tv.
Tell me more about the experience on the fire stick
I don’t know about other people but our experience has not been great with the app. So much so, that we ordered two more boxes and use the boxes exclusively bc the app did not work consistently at all. Plus, there are no channel numbers with the app, which we thought was weird. So many channels but no numbers in which to change them to. We are hoping that AT&T will improve over time as we aren’t very satisfied and we wish we had stayed with reg cable. We were very happy with uverse but it was so expensive we quit it and hoped this would be as good.
Same boat here.
As an employee of AT&T there’s also another service call AT&T TV now which is the same app as the AT&T TV however the difference is 1. you do not receive the Box 2 Rates are slightly higher however you’re not locked into a 2-year contract and can cancel at any time.
….but that second year price boost makes it a much less attractive offering than Hulu or YouTubeTV.
I use a TV box on living room, then a chromecast in the rooms, you control the content from the app. So u gotta cast it just like u would do on any cast app. It worked fine but then its just always an “error” sometimes u can just refresh and it will work, sometimes u just give up and just try netflix or whatever to get by. It does the same thing with hbomax… so its obviously and ATT issue.. because nothing else fails as much as their service.
Also u can NOT watch recorded shows while casting. You can however watch a show that is available on demand. But then if it has sponsorship u are stuck with unskipable commercials.. so not FULL dvr capable. You can however watch ur dvr content on the app on ur devices, something I really love and they were never able to get it done on the uverve thing.
I been wanting to get a roku, apple tv or Kindle stick/cube to give it a try.. but I feel iwill run into issues too. So considering a second att tv box is not a risky move at the moment.
I’ve got AT&T and it sucks I had boxes break routers break and remote break and every time I had to wait over a week to get it fixed My wife got a AT&T phone nothing but problems canceled the phone went back to old phone service. If I knew it would be like that never would have signed up
The audio was out of sync when I used the AT&T TV App on my Samsung TV, so I ordered the set top box and the audio was fine. So yes theoretically you don’t need a set top box, but watching people’s mouth move out of sync is awful. That was 4 months ago, hopefully it’s fixed.
Living room tv has been buffering for over a DAY BEDroom worked after 4 hrs buffering