U-verse TV vs. DirecTV Stream

DirecTV and DirecTV Stream are currently the only TV services being sold.   UverseTV is no longer being offered.  Because of this, their On Demand choices are becoming a bit scarce BUT most programming can be streamed using the network's app.

DirecTV Stream is a STREAMING service like Netflix or Prime or Hulu which requires an internet connection and streaming device like a SmartTV, Roku, Firestick or gaming console.  A DirecTV Stream Device is available if the customer requires or prefers one.

ETA:  If you have more questions, try posting in the DIRECTV FORUM

If you like your U-verse TV, you can keep it.  For now.

Exactly what they said. For now, someone can keep U-Verse. I'd imagine there'll be a day when AT&T pulls the plug on U-Verse. However, nobody knows when, or if, that day will happen.

As far as DirecTV Stream, you don't *need* a special box, but you do need something to connect to the internet like a Chromecast, Roku or a game system. You can buy the DirecTV Stream boxes off eBay, although other devices might cost less money. If you get it through AT&T, I believe you need a contract. If you use your own device, no contract necessary.

As far as On Demand goes, it's my understanding that these options are becoming more and more limited across all providers. People would rather just use the channel apps which are available everywhere.

If you get it through AT&T, I believe you need a contract. If you use your own device, no contract necessary.

The option exists to buy the device $5/month or $120 up front.  The option exists to have a contract or not.  I think if you go for the contract, you don't explicitly pay a $120 fee for the device, it's included in the rate.  Be warned if you go the $5/month route and decide to terminate services before you've paid off the balance of the $120, the device is still yours and the balance becomes due immediately.

Not all options are available to all mechanisms of purchase (e.g. website vs AT&T Store), and I can't keep track of which ones can be done where.  I think (and therefore I am probably wrong) that the contract with box included option is only available at the stores at this time.

@Travis_Lloyd 

The way I read your OP, the question is about U-verse TV service still being around, and it is because we are still here talking about it. However what it is and what it does and how it works is irrelevant unless you are already an active subscriber.  If you don't already have it, you can no longer get it as was mentioned in prior replies. 

That was really the point of the question, whether or not "genuine" AT&T-branded Streaming On Demand was still available. It appears that the DirecTV Stream offering is now the only one available if you're a U-verse customer and want TV with your package. Thanks for definitively clearing that up (although it was not the answer I was hoping for).

I just fired up my U-verse app, went to On Demand and am watching an episode of a Starz series.   Is the breadth of content what it once was?  Probably not.  Is there still content?  Yes, pages and pages and pages of it.

@Travis_Lloyd 

The reason you can’t find a genuine Att branded streaming service is because Att sold all of its TV products to Directv, including U-verse by the way.  Att separated the original U-verse triple play bundle years ago into separate products.  You can’t have U-verse TV without Att Internet, but you can have Directv Stream with any ISP.  

I still feel I’m missing the point of your OP though.  If you’re really after on demand content, your Uverse TV subscription is very powerful as it can be used with source network apps to unlock content there using any steaming device or smart tv.  So I don’t really see a problem here other than the actual live TV package you want to subscribe to.  

"You can’t have U-verse TV without Att Internet,"

I thought you could. I've seen some posts from people who can get faster internet from elsewhere. Also, you can't get Stingray without AT&T internet, which seems to imply separation is possible.

And yeah, a lot of the on demand options (U-Verse channel 1 or the "on demand" button) aren't there anymore...but this is the case with a lot of providers. Use the apps. There's more there than was ever "on demand." Plus, you get full rewind/FF capabilities...which were never available with some shows.

@baseballisback The UVerse IPTV service can only be delivered over the ATT internet connection but that doesn’t mean a customer must also get ATT internet service, they can get any internet service available to them. When a customer gets both UVerse TV and ATT internet service, I believe a portion of that bandwidth gets dedicated to the IPTV service.

Thank you both for helping clarify those finer points.  For sure there are locations such as mine where internet service from another company is far superior to what Att offers, and as such the option to only pay for U-verse TV is a good thing.  

I’ll offer one additional point that is relevant to the streaming discussion and is a let’s say value added feature we have compared to other companies like Comcast, and that is unlimited data when you have both internet and TV service.  So streaming is not a concern in this case, not even UHD programs.  

note: I do realize not all U-verse customers have internet service capable of what I stated, especially those stuck on old DSL, and apologize in advance.  

Ahh yeah. So you'd need to essentially have two wires to the house. One for U-Verse TV and one for your internet connection...I guess that's how it'd work. Obviously so, since U-Verse TV uses a VRAD.

Comcast UHD shouldn't matter if you have the cable box. Unlimited data would come into play for things like Netflix, computer use, etc. The major part of the "unlimited data with cable package" is to prevent people from dropping their cable packages for a streaming competitor.

If you have Comcast internet with, say, Hulu, all your TV watching is going to count against the cap since it's internet traffic.

To make sure we're very clear:

DIRECTV stream uses the Internet bandwidth to send content.  It could be any Internet connection.

U-verse TV uses an AT&T wired/fiber connection to send content.  If the customer also has AT&T Internet over that connection, then the link capacity is shared between Internet and U-verse IPTV, and the U-verse IPTV has priority (there is no fixed reservation for IPTV, but the Internet only gets what's left after IPTV takes what it wants).  U-verse TV customer may opt not to have AT&T Internet, which means some features of the U-verse IPTV experience won't work (e.g. the music service), but the IPTV doesn't have to share the connection.  U-verse IPTV subscribers have access to on demand content both on the TV, and through the Internet via the U-verse app and/or the apps and web pages of the various and sundry channels.

@baseballisback 

Ya, each service needs its own physical connection, but most homes probably already have both connections by now unless it’s brand new or nearly new like att fiber internet which needs a new connection.  But even my current VDSL2 service was fully rewired from the NID to the gateway a few years ago to not use the original phone wiring we had.   

FWIW, if you saturate your VDSL2 connection downloading something on say Steam, it will break U-verse TV.  

FWIW, if you saturate your VDSL2 connection downloading something on say Steam, it will break U-verse TV.  

While gr8sho has mentioned this on multiple occasions, I've never seen it happen, and it's not supposed to happen.  I will acknowledge that on a marginal DSL line where stretching the line to capacity causes CRC errors, the CRC errors will cause U-verse TV to break, but on a line that's not encountering errors, the traffic priority rules should prevent any issue with this.

So until I see it myself, I will acknowledge that gr8sho avers it's happening, but I cannot confirm that it's a general problem outside his experiences.