This is my story on how to I am trying to get rid of the Uverse RG rental equipment fee.
I only have internet from AT&T so I should easily be able to buy my own VDSL modem/RG. I think anyone who has TV service is out of luck.
First you need to buy your own RG, which is surprisingly hard. I could not find any AT&T web site that sold a VDSL modem. Not that I wanted to pay AT&T prices for the rather unappealing hardware but I was surprised it was not even offered. Seams you can only buy VSDL modem when you signup for service or maybe over the phone (I did not try the phone). Luckily there are plenty of modems on eBay but I managed to find one on Amazon sold by 3rd party.
What choices of modem you have is also not easy to find luckily, the uverse, FAQ on this site is a good source.
I was worried that the used modem/RG that I bought might have issues, e.g. that is was a rental AT&T equipment that had not been returned. I could not find any AT&T site to check a RW mac address for being on a modem block/black list.
I went with the less expensive 2wire 3600 since it was replacing 3800 and I was not sure how successful I would be in this whole endeavor. Note check the specs on the RG, I knew I did not need anything better than the 3600 for my connection. Different RW support different distances to the VRAD cabinet.
Second task is to get your new RG up and running. I get my used 3600 and it did not come with a power supply :( Ok use my Belkin UPS that the 3800 used and start the 3600. Wait a few minutes and it is up and running. This was totally painless and worked 100% automatically, I did not have do to anything. I did not login before I connected the modem/RG so I do not know if it updated any firmware etc :)
Third task is to talk to contact AT&T and get instruction on how to send back the RG and get the equipment fee removed from my bill. Find some AT&T information on the web that says contact them and ask for instruction to be sent to you. I first try the phone and you want to talk to sales about a change in you service. I called on a Monday when there is a longer wait but after a while I got help. Note most equipment returns are TV receivers so the AT&T people by habit goes down that flow and it is wrong. You do not want any UPS instruction they do not handle modem returns you want a 'smart label' that works with the US Mail service and the instructions should have a link to http://returnscenter.smartlabel.com/modemreturns. My first try, using the phone, did not succeed. I did not get any instruction email, might have been an old email address in their system. My second try, was with the support web chat, and they can not handle modem/RG returns! My third try, back to using the phone again, succeeded and I got an email with the smart label and tracking URL that I needed. Now the detailed instruction was not very detailed at all. The email instruction I got talks about a return form that I never received. What do I need to send back? Just the modem/RW any cables or the Belkin UPS? I Googled and to the best of my understanding you only need to send back the modem/RW. Package up the modem/RW and put on the smart label and send it back. Since I was worried about problems with the return I wrote down the serial number and mac address of the modem/RG that I returned.
Fourth item is to track the package to see that AT&T got it and then check the bill for removal of equipment fee and no charges for unreturned equipment. Getting the equipment fee removed will probably take a while so I will keep you posted on my continued journey.
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