I'm going to write this guide for those people that are going to get uverse installed or considering it. Just to get them a head up on how the service is installed.

(cough cough HACK)

This guide will cover mainly houses not apartments.

When ordering your uverse service get a MORNING Install time because you will be less likely to have your appointment missed verses having you install late in the afternoon. Does not always happen but it does.

When the technician arrives at your house he will do a walk around to see what all has to be done for the install. The he will leave and go to the SAI or XBox to change the wires around so the uverse vdsl signal get directed toward your house.

After the tech returns he will go to the NID or demark, the phone box on your house, and test for looplength and signal strenght to the house. Or better yet post it on uvere-univere forums!!!

    Just some basic ideas of what the tech is looking for when he tests just so you know.

       Downstream from xbox to house>  Capacity, Line rate, SNR. Upstream House to xbox> Rate.

       Also looking for line errors. FEC ( Forward Error Corrections) CRC ( Cyclic Redundancy Codes) Server Error Frames IE.

If all is well there he will continue with the install Inside the house.

Types of installs Full coax, Cat5/coax, All Cat5

Full Coax, is when the tech will install a coax balum that converts the vdsl signal from twisted pair copper cable to coax cable. He will then connect it to a diplexer.  (If you wanna know what a diplexer is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplexer) that that has three ports on it,  vdsl from balum, combined to rg (Residental Gateway), and HPNA to tv splitter.The diplexer used is different form a satellite diplexer this one is made for uverse and uverse alone. The tech will then take all of the iw (inside wire) and connect the to a loss less splitter made for HPNA to distribute the signal to the set top boxes.

Cat5/coax install is when the tech will run the vdsl signal over the twisted pair cat5, cat3 wire to the rg and back feed out to the splitter with a coax to the splitter then to the stb's. This is the most common type of install.

All cat5 is probably the best of the three. The tech will use a cat5 home run to all the stb's and from the nid for the vdsl signal. This is the most reliable type of install.

A few pointers on the install, Make sure the tech changes out all coax ends, barrels and he MAKES sure the cable is GOOD by good i me not rg 59, rg 6 at least. RG59 will work but will will cause problems more that likely.

If you had dish or direct tv it is a good idea not always necessary to do this but pull a new coax to the rg if doing a full coax install. Because dish and direct puts power back there the coax core and braid to power the LNB on top of your house. This might cause problems later on may bee.

Don'T let the tech use crappy coax cables from your wall plate to the stb, I've been on numerous repairs that tech used some crappy store bought cable and it was causing all kinds of problems.

If you order voip MAKE SURE the Tech pulls a cat5 to the rg. this will prevent lots of problem, if you have an alarm make sure you call your alarm company and run a test BEFORE THE TECH LEAVES this is very important!!! If you alarm is not wired up right YOUR ALARM WILL NOT WORK!! Also some common voip problems, If you have really old phones get the updated becose old phones will not respond to the low level dmtf tones. you will beable to recive calls on them but not dial out.

After all your tv's are up and running the tech should move on to the computers or laptops. Hope fully he put the modem by to computer so it will be hard wire easily. But just so you know the 2wire wireless adapter that att supplies they are JUNK. And don't hold a good wireless connection and will drop connection. The plug links are OK if the house is grounded good. Plug links are power line Ethernet adapters. The best is of course Cat5 for this unless its a laptop then 98% of them are wireless.

Registration is next if you order Internet service. Its real easy just have your 4 digit pin number ready that you set up when you order your service. Att will mail it to you in a letter. If you don't have it no problem the tech can get it real easily.

After that you will need to setup your voice mail if you order uverse voip. No problem just enter *98 on your phone the last six digits of your Billing account number ie 102675893 your pin would be 675893 then press the # button and follow the prompts. Remember to change your PIN number after to prevent unauthorized access.

Then the walkthrew on how to uses the system.

And then he or she will give you a some booklets and channel guides and all will be finished

Remember if your having problems operating the uverse service check our channel 411, and http://att.yahoo.com/helpme

for common problems and questions or call 1-800-ATT-2020 if you cannot figure it out or call the tech that installed your house.

I hope this eased some tensions for some people getting the service installed or just curious about what its about. But this is in a nutshell and some installs will take 2 house and some will take 8 hours so be patient and make your the tech is not have a%% stuff you will be have a good experience with att uverse. Any questions just post them.

I just got uverse installed last week and it went great…good thing I was off work because the tech showed up at about 8:30 and it didnt get done until around 6 or 6:30 but they had to run a new wire from my house to the 'green box' anyway I highly recommend the service…it has been great!

nctech, good advice and welcome to the forums!