U-Verse and Me

Some might remember that almost a year ago I wrote a post about receiving an email from AT&T informing me that they were reserving the right to at anytime drop my current DSL internet service and switch me over to their U-Verse service. I also complained about the vast amounts of U-Verse related junk mail I receive every week.
We'll I finally succumbed.
Thankfully this was on my own terms for my own reasons and not directly the result of mountains of unwanted solicitations. For the past few months I've been tempted to switch over to the U-Verse internet service for far faster download speeds. Currently, I'm at the top of the DSL that AT&T offers in my area. It tops out at 6Mb/s... if I'm lucky. For the most part I probably average around 4Mb/s. Which is fine for the most part.
Problem is that I've begun doing a lot more video and music streaming than I used to using Amazon's Instant Video and Cloud Player as well as a host of other streaming media like YouTube and Pandora. I also have a whole host of internet connected devices from desktops, TV's, Kindles, Chromebook, notebooks, desktops, blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets and more... all tapping into the same bandwidth. Granted I'm not using all these devices simultaneously but I am using a lot of them at the same time. Uploading videos on a desktop to YouTube, streaming Pandora, checking my Google+ stream on my phone, writing this blog post with the Chromebook.
So I started to think about the future and how much more of what I do will be cloud based. Then I got to looking at my current bill. Currently I pay over $100 for my DSL connection and phone line combined. I rarely have need or even use my phone which is at least half of the bill. I keep it for emergencies, billing/banks, and an alternative in the event my cell phone isn't functioning. Nobody but telemarketers, family and some official business bothers to call my land line. But that being said, I don't want to give it up, just wished it didn't cost so much for what use I get out of it. If I'm keeping a phone line then I also needed caller ID as I screen calls to root out the telemarketers.
I decided that it would be wise to combine both internet and phone using AT&T's U-Verse internet and voice. I'm tripling my internet download speed, still getting phone with caller ID and cutting my monthly bill nearly in half to boot.
After all these years I've finally succumbed to U-Verse and I was able to do it on my own terms for my own reasons.
The installation is scheduled for next month, so it remains to be seen if this was a good decision or not.