What's going on with U-Verse in South Miami

Question

For the past two months, we have been getting dropped signals (bundled U-Verse and including landline, mobile phone, television and internet) sometimes three times a day. I have had phone calls drop while speaking to my boss, (I work from home) favourite shows will all of a sudden give us that no service screen, which means we lose portions of the dialogue, and the internet stops working. I have not dared to call ATT as frankly the only solution that Customer Service seems to know is "Oh it must be your RG that needs changing." Well that's a load of rubbish since if it's the RG then ATT have some serious problems as I have spoken to at least six people that I know that also have U-Verse and they are all having the same problem, but kept thinking it was just them. 
The internet signal has also got painfully slow and since we pay a juicy bill of $315 dollars a month and subscribe to the best package that U-Verse has to offer, I do not expect to have these constant problems. Nobody is perfect, and a little issue once in a while is acceptable, but not two to three times day! In addition... we receive an electronic bill and this has been a very hectic month for me, so realising that today was the 12th and I know that the bill is usually due sometime around this time of the month, and not having received a bill, I went online to investigate. Sure enough - on login to the payment page, it said "past due!" Well send me a bill and I will pay it. I just don't know what is going on with U-Verse but it is very distressing. I believe the saying is that they have, "Gone to ** in a handbasket." On a positive note - we can now apparently fast forward and rewind On-Demand TV shows, and which made no sense before that this feature was unavailable. However... this does not make up for the recent poor service and non-arrival of my electronic monthly bill, ( will have to go back to paper - not cool) and then having the nerve to tell me "past due."
[Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

Answer 1

Chris, As explained, and to be honest I am usually very long-winded and detailed in my explanations because readers miss things, as you might have done in this case. It is not my problem alone. Whenever we have a problem with any utility or especially in the case of ATT services, I always check with anyone that I know that uses the service and over a broad area, not just in my street but anyone I know in an approximate 8 - 10 mile area, to see if our issues are isolated just to us. If they are, then I know that it is most likely a piece of equipment we are using. In this situation, as there have been in others, every single person that I spoke to is experiencing the same situation. And again - this is why I said that I have thrown up my hands in exasperation and usually get another family member to call customer service if there is a problem, as I know exactly what they are going to tell me. "Let us check your line - (you then spend 45 minutes on the phone with them) No... everything seems fine, it must be your RG, you need to buy a new one." Mea culpa - I have no patience or time for scripted c.s. reps.  Two years ago, we had a lightening strike that literally struck the ATT box next door. The wires in all the boxes on the street (including the ones in our yard) were fused and black when the box was opened. And yet... when one of my neighbours (who apparently did not connect the lightening strike with the loss of service - sigh... what can I say...) called ATT, they got the same response. "No, we don't see any problems here, it must be your RG." Com'n! It was a lightening strike!  And on an aside - the new cable is now still hanging from my backyard fence as they were supposed to come back to bury it. Two years ago... So the dear space-cadet neighbours, paid for a new RG, hooked it up to find there was no reception (ya think?) and to then find out that theirs was just fine, and now there was the hassle of having to package the new one and take it to the UPS store to ship it back, and which is another frustration, because it is not possible to return it to a local store or office. Unlike yours truly, they apparently did not do their research with other users, even though we had no service for over a week.  So - by a process of survey and elimination, it cannot be the RG, unless everyone I spoke with is using the same RG. But there have been quite a few changes that we have noticed recently, ranging from new look menus, to those very beautiful images when first turning on the TV. So is it not entirely possible that in all the changes and tweaking, something else has been affected? Look it happens - but I can never understand why they can't just say,"Sorry, we are working on "upgrades" so we apologise but you might experience these little set-backs for a while until we are through." Why always blame it on the RG? Another way to make more money?