Will this work with AT&T UVerse
Posted on: Tue, 09/16/2008 - 14:22
csbelli
Joined: 2008-09-16
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Will this work with AT&T UVerse
I just learned about the ZV in Popular Science this morning am very excited about. I have been looking for something like this for a long time. I am planning on moving from Comcast cable to AT&T Uverse which I believe is a form of IPTV. Each TV is required to have a set top box, no splitting off and just hooking up to the back of the TV.
So, my question is, will ZV work with UVerse and has anyone implemented this successfully? Would the setup be any different?
In the very unlikely event that I would be the first to try ZV and Uverse I would be happy to be the one to try and get this to work and to do a write up on the process if it differs from a standard cable setup.
Thanks.
Chris
Our understanding of AT&T UVerse is limited since it is not offered anwhere where we have been focusing our testing and not really widely deployed in the wild yet.
From my limited understanding - AT&T UVerse replaces the cable service by delivering television signals over their copper phone lines to the house. Once in the house they can distribute the signals in one of two ways; either by disconnecting the cable feed and modulating over the existing cable infrastructure in the house, or via ethernet (wifi or hard-wired) to their set top boxes in the house. How we (ZvBox) play in that environment depends on the type of UVerse installation in your house.
If the UVerse installation in your house is using the existing coax lines, then we would have trouble coexisting with the UVerse service. They use a form of baseband signalling that squashes any signaling we inject into the plant (this actually caused a lawsuit by Comcast against AT&T because they weren't sufficiently disconnecting the cable feeds in some installations and were corrupting the cable company's signal).
If the Uverse service is distributed over ethernet (wifi or hard-wired), then you have a good chance of using ZvBox. The coax lines in your house will be idle and usable to us. Simply disconnect the coax feed (what used to be hooked up the cable company's feed) from the root of your distribution splitter, then hook the output of the ZvBox to that point (no channel filter needed since the ZvBox will be the only station on that whole network). You can pick any channel in the range of 2-125 since we are basically the only broadcaster on that network and it will work really well. You also could install the ZvBox as described in the Getting Going Guide at an endpoint with the supplied filter at the root (on channel 125).
Thanks for the detailed reply. If I decide to go with UVerse, would I be able to try the Zv and return it if it does not work well with UVerse? I expect they will be using the existing cable lines but I will have to check.
I realize you said it might not work but if it has not been tested then I would be willing to test it.
Chris
Chris:
You can indeed return the unit within 30 days.
-Brian