AT&T executives have said repeatedly they believe AT&T TV represents the future while DIRECTV represents the past. AT&T TV, an Internet-based service that comes with an AT&T-supplied set-top, offers fewer channels than DIRECTV but at a slightly lower price. But more importantly, according to AT&T, AT&T TV doesn’t require a dish or satellite receiver. That means that you can watch AT&T TV anywhere you have a decent Internet connection. In contrast, DIRECTV has been unavailable to millions of Americans over the years because the dish requires an unobstructed view of the Southern sky to capture the signals.
I published an article last week detailing some of the pros and cons of replacing DIRECTV with AT&T TV, and not surprisingly, it generated a large number of comments from DIRECTV and AT&T subscribers here and in e-mails to yours truly. The responses were mixed with many noting that the Internet isn’t available to millions of rural Americans, making AT&T TV worthless to them. But some echoed AT&T’s view that streaming will soon replace satellite so why not begin the transition.
I thought it would be interesting to post some of the more interesting comments here. As we watch the industry (and the two services), evolve, the customer comments might offer some guidance to how it will play out.
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Doesn’t See Much Improvement
“Seems like the only advantage ATT has is if you’re restricted from having a dish or obscured line of site. Price? Barely negligible, price per channel actually higher with ATT. Portability? Only if you want to Chromecast…at least when it was DTVNOW, not sure if ATT app has cast personally. DTV is more portable for RV folks especially if fast Internet isn’t available where they stop. An inexpensive android box loaded with DTV app eliminates the Chromecast issue and connects to any HDMI tv…even hotels. Can’t Chromecast ATT in a hotel unless you bring a personal Hotspot or have a laptop to create a virtual router.
Have had various ATT products over the years and either been disappointed and/or abandoned by ATT when they lost interest just like they have and are doing now since acquiring DTV…hello DTVNOW, now ATT TV, and splitting from DTV. Anyone remember ATT Broadband TV ATTBI back in the 90’s/early 00’s?” — ‘db2ning.’
Streaming Is the Future
“We are definitely moving towards streaming but you don’t lose any channels on AT&T vs directv except for the music choice channels and infomercial channels which is a plus. Btw AT&T is primarily a wireless company. So no matter what happens with TV AT&T is not going anywhere. N definitely not going anywhere with internet. In fact internet cus are growing faster than any company out there. Do your research! N customer service isn’t what it use to be bc of outsourcing jobs to foreign countries! Blame your previous government!! (Coming from a long time ATT EMPLOYEE) — ‘Daniel.’
AT&T TV Has Limitations
“Also you can only have 3 stream on AT&T tv playing at one time until like dtv you can have up to 8 on a genie 2.” — ‘Adam.’
Switched to Different AT&T Service
“Canceled my DirecTv which I had for 5 months less than the 2 year contract, paid the penalty no prob then I switched to the monthly AT&T TV Now service, $80/mo including my sports package and that is all we needed…local news and sports. We have the top tier COX internet service so hardly any dropped streaming even if we have 10 people using the internet at the same time….AT&T TV Now, Netflix….Amazon Prime….all we need.” — ‘Edzel.’
Not Happy With AT&T
“Cancelled DirecTV. Then they tell me Internet will go from $80 to $116 a month since I was no longer a bundle. Went to YouTube TV and very happy. Called AT&T Internet and told them I was going to Xfinity on the first day they raise my price. My 1GB AT&Tfiber is now $70/month.” — ‘Kelvin.’
Loyal to DIRECTV
“I love DTV and not switching!” — ‘Joanne Konders.’
Doesn’t Like AT&T
“I’ve had experience with AT&T ‘s previous effort here “DirecTV Now”. It was awful. The interface, the controls, the cloud “DVR” – all just utter garbage. Compare it to YouTube TV or Hulu and you’ll see how streaming is supposed to be done. Trust AT&T to make an absolute hash of anything it touches. Also, those that choose streaming over cable/satellite – be careful about bandwidth consumption and any limits your Internet provider has. Some of these streaming services are buggy and sometimes you are streaming even if you think you’re not. 1 TB from Comcast sounds like a lot – until you hit that in less than a month because something was streaming away all day, all night, every day. Generally, I despise AT&T pricing and customer service. We’ll have a little discussion in late October. I will tell them I’m getting ready to leave and they will either offer me (again) a fantastic discount on DirecTV for the next year or I’ll kick them to the curb. Either answer is fine and I think they can tell it in my voice.” — ‘Severian.’
Loves AT&T TV, But…
“I love AT&T TV but for no NFL or NFL RedZone. I’m forced to go back to SlingTV that does have these in the plan plus Sports package for $10 extra.” — ‘Carroll E, Gant, Jr.’
Afraid of AT&T
“If you are currently enrolled in a tangled AT&T wireless/directv plan and want to royally F your billing up — go ahead and swap from DTV to AttTv.” — ‘Carl.’
AT&T TV Isn’t User Friendly
“We’ve been on AT&T TV since spring. Compared to Uverse and TIVO, it’s like going back in time. It isn’t user friendly and lacks sophistication. Free HBO for a year and lower cost make it appealing for one year. We’ll probably buy out and cut the cord in 2021.” — ‘Don.’
Has Problems With AT&T & Internet
“The problem still is that millions of full time RVers and people in rural areas of the country have been totally screwed by AT&T. Talking with a customer service agent is like talking to a brick wall. I would not have anything that was attached to AT&T due to their business practices. They have totally screwed a huge part of the American public. DirecTV was the best TV service on earth and AT&T single handedly destroyed that. I had their internet service at our winter home and the internet was so bad you could not watch TV…” — ‘Jimmie E. Elkins.’
AT&T Is Terrible
“The answer is no. AT&T is terrible. We have Directv for thr NFL Sunday ticket. My daughter had U-verse, they forced her to AT&T tv. She has had nothing but trouble. Currently, Vizio tv are not able to broadcast AT&T TV. We have had Directv for 25 years and love it. The customer service went down hill when AT&T bought them out, but still have a satisfactory experience. But AT&T TV is nothing but ovepriced, poorly serviced experience. She is locked into for 2 years. She is using You Tube TV and finds the channel selection and quality much better.” — ‘Alison.’
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
If I currently have high speed internet, capable of high quality streaming, provided by a cable company or Verizon, why would I order ATT TV when I can just get TV service from them? I currently have Directv ( which I still like for a number of reasons ) and Verizon FIOS. If DTV ceases to be an option for me it would be simpler and less expensive to just order FIOS TV. Why deal with two companies instead of one? ( Verizon for internet and ATT for TV ) No matter what anyone says about Verizon customer service, it can’t be anywhere near as poor as ATT customer service. Additionally if you have two companies needed to provide the TV service to your house, how often do you think each company will blame the ohjer if there is a problem??
We have no internet where we live Direct TV is horrible since AT@ no choiceT took over
At&t took DirecTV now and changed it to at&t tv on streaming platform and up the price more than$30 above that is stealing DirecTV now platform and my brother that is wrong I don’t care what at&t says it wasn’t their streaming service to do that to DirecTV now bring back DirecTV now I wouldn’t use at&t now because of it.
I have had Direct TV and currently have AT&TV. When I had Direct TV I had problems from the beginning. Apparently when the Dish was installed on my roof the scenes were not put in secure and keep either coming loose or I would find one on the ground. Then I would lose service, do the diagnostic and after several calls it was determined that the satellite or the satellite signal was having problems. So I was switched to another. Then a couple weeks later I had started losing service. Come to find out that they had switch me back to the problem signal/satellite. Then they started adding on maintenance type fees, then you had to add a $75 yearly repair plan or get charged $75 fee for each call. Finally got to expensive for me in the low income range. Back in May after adding Cox internet only after getting out of the hospital I saw a great ad for AT&T TV. Talked to Sales person told him all the channels I wanted. I was given a great monthly deal with free modem for two years, great right? When the modem came there were no directions, I had to call tech service who walked me through. It was not until a week later that I realized that at least 10 of the channels promised me was not there. I had just gotten out of the hospital, hooking up the modem wore me out. So I called sales person who sold me the plan and asked what happened to my channels. He investigated and realized that I was put in the wrong package. So he called AT&TV and told them had been put in the wrong package and needed to be upgraded for the one I wanted for the Sale price. We were both told that the package I should have been put in was only for new clients. I told them I was a new client, only had the service for 1 week. We were told that I one week made me a old customer. By new customer they meant someone that did not have AT&TV. I fought for days trying to get this reversed because I did not cause the problem. The sales person who signed me up put me in the wrong plan. Now here is the kicker I could get the channels I wanted if I bought additional mini packages that include the channels I wanted. Which would be $20 more or I could unhook everything, cancel my current service by paying a hefty cancellation fee and paying for the modem to be shipped. I could also be upgraded to the package I wanted but not for the sale price. But to get the sale price they had to send me a new modem. Do you see the scam? If I paid for the extra mini packages or bought the package I should have been put in at the regular price the modem I had could stay installed. But if I wanted the sale price I had to send back. If I paid all that modem I did not have to send the modem back. I was to I’ll to do that or afford the cancellation fee and shipping fee. So I paid the money for the extra packages. Where I really had it with them is that in July I went into the hospital and I am in rehab until 1 Nov. Called Cox about what was going on and they put me on vacation, which meant even though they charged me I could call them the next day they would reimburse me everything but $19 a month which is fine with me. I called AT&T TV they had no such thing. Eve though my internet service is not on and they cannot send me a signal and there is no one there to watch I have to pay full price. I asked to speak to someone higher tried for several days all gave me the same answer. But get this if I had one of their other service like AT&T Now I could be put on vacation with just a small fee. Tech support is hard to get to because their is no direct phone number to AT&T TV and God help you if you ever had Direct TV. You actually have to tell the automatedservice you do not have you do not have AT&T because it will not recognize your account number. Even then you will not wind up with AT&T TV, you will be sent to no less than 4 different people before they will actually be connected to an AT&T TV person. One day I went through 7, and you are put on hold for a long time between each person so those like me who has pre-paid service is a talk data killer. If this is not bad enough I had a payment problem through no fault of my own. I initially sent up my service the day before I got out the hospital so I had to use my bank card and I used it for the second payment because I was to sick to drive. I normally pay my bills by loading my money on a pre-paid card to prevent hackers being able to access my bank account. So the third month I went to the app to pay my bill it would not process it because they a pre-paid card. No no where anywhere does it state they would not access a pre-paid card until you try to use one. I called and after 4 different people I finally got to the right person and she tried to process the payment, it would not process. Then I was told that the people who were working from home had a different data base but the could not switch me to them. I was told they would contact one of those individuals and they would contact me the next day. Waited 3 days no one contacted me. I then received an email from AT&T TV was being cancelled the next day for not paying my 1 month bill. I called them explained the situation that all my money was on the pre-paid card and I had no other funds. I am still in rehab and there is no other way to pay them and could I just pay a 2 month bill in October, they said no because I am a “new customer”. So they have cancelled my service. There is no way I am going back to them, will pay the cancellation fee and shipping fee for equipment. I had streamed Acorn Media and tried to get Britbox but was told that they could not stream them because of the way their service was made. Everyone else I talked to with different Services is being able to stream Britbox. I am signing up with Amazon Service when I get out of the hospital.
If you travel in an RV, sat tv is still the most economical option until mobile data is equivalently priced. It will take about 200gb a month to support streaming full time.
I ABSOLUTELY ABHORE AT&T!!!!! They’re the worst, ever! Worst prices. Worst customer service. Just all around awful.
I have called DirecTV/ ATT. 4 times in past few days. I was lied to about give channels for free to keep me from canceling my account. ATT are liars! Stay away!
The same thing is happening to me right now. They run an outstanding bate & switch operation. Every time I call them about charging me for services I’m not receiving, they transfer to someone else in another “tier.
I’ve even written their corporate office about this. It took them a month just to send back the mailing Return Receipt. To date they are still overcharging while not providing the service they’re overcharging me. The irony is, I left COX Cable for this same sort of double dealing. Direct TV is the highest monthly bill I have, second only to my Mortgage payment. This is what happens when we allow 2 or 3 corps to manipulate an entire industry. They all appear to operate from the same play book of pricing & screwing consumers. I’m currently working through our state Attorneys General.
I absolutely love DIRECTV. I have had it since the beginning. The only trouble is heavy storms. A little pricey, but still love it.
Did you Ever Call DirecTV on the phone ?
They need to lower there price for there sorry service