Our company has started doing Smart Home Systems in SOSA and other areas. My own home has turned into something of a sponsored guinea pig for technology so that we can beta test equipment before installing it in client's homes. Obviously audio/visual is a big part of what people want in a Smart Home and Internet is a major backbone in remotely controlling devices if not streaming the actual content.
We have beta tested dish, DirecTV, Cox, and AT&T Uverse for cable and/or Internet.
After all of these tests in OKC, I can confidently say that if you live in a neighborhood that has Uverse with fiber optic "wire", that is the route to go. AT&T is desperate to reclaim market share and offset their losses of home telephone. Many new neighborhoods have fiber run down every street as a result. In our case, the salespeople were clueless about our neighborhood. I learned about the presence of fiber by talking to a AT&T guy working on the local junction up the street. It took four months of visiting the AT&T store before our neighborhood was "green lighted". Once it was, they came out and literally trenched and buried fiber optic cabling up to the house and installed an exterior demarc panel. CAT 5 carries the signal into the house to a modem and router. The DVR is tethered by CAT5. It then wirelessly communicates to the aux units in other rooms. I can manipulate all of the TV's, DVR, and transfer programs between rooms all of my iPhone. I actually use the phone more as the remote to this system than the actual remotes that came with the system.
BEWARE! "Uverse" is a catch all term used by AT&T. There is a distinct difference in copper based DSL service and the speeds and television capability that a fiber optic glass cable all the way to the house can provide.
The other benefit to this system is that much of AT&T's infrastructure is buried. You won't have the blackouts and other problems that many other providers have during inclement weather. It is important to put a Uninterrupted Power Supply on your modem and router though. The demarc panel actually has one to keep connectivity up to the house.
Also, since this service is new, HBO, Showtime, and other channels are free in HD with the mid level package.
I would rate DirecTV second best. They were purchased by AT&T and much of the technology is the same between the fiber based Uverse system and the DirecTv dish based system. They are both very sophisticated and discrete. Our DirecTV system was notorious for cutting out during storms. Be sure to ask for the DVR with "mini genies" for each room that are "Apple compatible" to receive the latest technology from them. Particularly if you want to remotely manipulate their system with an iPhone or iPad.
Dish is OK.
Cox sucks but still has the highest speed internet available. They still require a big cable box at every television. I refuse to use them for television service in a smart home but am glad they are around for Internet service in most neighborhoods.
BEWARE! Do not use Cox's Internet modem. Go buy one for yourself such as a Motorolla surfboard or CISCO router. Put it on an Uninterrupted Power Supply. Their modems suck! They use the cheapest modems that cannot handle the bandwidth that you are often actually usually paying for. Spend an extra $80.00 to $120.00 and get a cable modem that isn't theirs. I have often wondered if the modems they provide are intentionally manipulated.
Hope this helps some folks- Jeff with Vox Public Audio
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