I had AT&T U-verse installed on April 29 for TV and Internet only. I was planning to wait a bit before moving both my POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines to the U-verse VOIP service.
About a week after U-verse was installed, I tried to schedule my two POTS to be converted to U-verse using the AT&T web site. The attempt failed with a strange error when trying to convert my second line (FAX), so I abandoned the attempt.
I thought about it for a while and concluded that the DSL service that was associated with my FAX line may be causing the problem. After a few days, I tried again, but I attempted to convert only my first POTS (Voice) line. Success! The installation was scheduled for the following week.
I chose the 250 minute/month (US and Puerto Rico long distance) phone service for $25/month (There was also a one-time $146 installation charge). Included was voice mail, Caller ID with Name, and other features that normally cost extra on POTS lines.
Installation went smoothly. The installer disconnected the POTS line and ran a cable from the Telco box in my utility room to the U-verse Residental Gateway (RG) few feet away. Then he used my telephone to call two AT&T numbers to cause the switching from POTS to VOIP.
Job completed.
I had to set up my voice mail announcement, password and program my phone with "*98" to access voice mail. There's also a ten-digit phone number to access my voice mail account from my cell phone.
Voice mails can be played via telephone or the web site.
Calls can also be reviewed via the TV.
Incoming and outgoing calls can be reviewed via the AT&T U-verse web site. The phone numbers can be added to Contacts and assigned to groups. You can screen or block calls based upon these groups (max 20 numbers). There is also a Do Not Disturb option.
Disappointments:
1. You cannot upload or download the Contacts with a computer. You can only type in your contacts or add numbers that called or were called by you.
2. There is no option to display Caller ID and Name on the TV when a call comes in. Dish Network has this feature when the receiver is plugged into the phone line.
3. My old Ameritech Caller ID unit would not work with U-verse. It is quite old, maybe 15 years or so.
Because of 2 and 3 above, I decided to add three handsets to my digital cordless phone system so that I'd have Caller ID with Name in multiple rooms. I still have two wired phones plugged in, I just turned off the ringers.
I haven't made any long distance calls lately but the voice quality of the local service is good.
So far I'm satisfied with AT&T U-verse.
I have scheduled my second POTS (FAX) line to be converted this week. The issue with the DSL service has gone away. The second line costs $15/month and shares the long distance minutes of the primary line. There is a one-time $25 installation charge for the second line.
