A couple of months ago when I was first interested in U-verse, I called and spoke with an AT&T rep who explained to me how U-verse works. He basically told me that if there are no fibre optic cables coming into my house (there aren't) that it will use the existing copper wires from my phone line for TV, phone, and Internet. He also said that U-verse TV is basically TV coming in through the internet connection that U-verse provides for both the Internet on my computer and for the phone as well (thus meaning that the phone is basically a VOIP system). I asked if he thought that since it was using the existing copper wires that my AT&T DSL uses would there be any speed increase over what I am getting from the DSL connection that I currently have. He said he could not guarantee that there would be any speed increase. So essentially I decided to stick with what I have (DSL, Directv, and traditional home phone).
Fast forward about 6 months to today. I just got back from an AT&T store in which I got totally conflicting information. I was told there that the phone is not VOIP but essentially no different than the copper wire phone I already have (not sure why I would change then other to get it into a bundled pricing structure with the TV and internet) and more importantly that the U-verse TV does NOT use the copper wiring that's already in the house. When I asked "well then what wires does it use" the store manager who is supposedly a well trained wiz at this stuff responded by saying that it used the current coax that is already in my house. I then asked well what about the cabling outside my house...the one that comes from the AT&T box down the street? He said that that too uses coax. I said to him that this is just not true, there has never been any coax added in my neighborhood since it was first built and Time Warner cable along with AT&T copper wiring and electric company wiring were first installed. AT&T has NOT done any upgrades in the area...if they had I would surely have known about this! He kept insisting though that yes indeed they use the same coax cabling that has always been there. I then stated "so they are using Time Warner's cables?" He said no they are not but that they are using coax to get from their box down the street to my house. I came slightly short of telling him that he didn't know what he was talking about, but I am not a professional installer and realize that I could be wrong too.
So, I DO know that no cabling has been put into my neighborhood at any time since the community was first built 18 years ago. All I know of is the AT&T copper lines to provide traditional phone service, the Time Warner cable which is still most definitely still in use in the neighborhood, and teh electric cables. I can only assume that what the AT&T tech support rep told me a few months ago (that U-verse is indeed using the copper cables to get from their box to my house) and that the manager of the AT&T store either was mistaken or lying to me.
Can anyone set me straight on this for sure? If there are no fibre optics coming from the AT&T box down the street to my house, doesn't U-verse use plain ol copper cabling? Or is there something magical going on that I am unaware of?
Also, IS the phone portion of U-verse VOIP or is it still a traditional landline?
Also IF it IS copper cabling, am I right in assuming that my download speeds probably won't be much different than what I am getting with my AT&T DSL (about 6MBPS or so)?
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