First off getting U-Verse will not make a difference in this situation. The sales reps will swear up and down that this is the solution. Either because they are ignorant or could give a s*** about your problem and just want a sale.
With two feet of concrete you want need to bypass with a wired connection. Once bypassed you can use an access point to then broadcast the network upstairs.
When it comes to bypassing you can do it the quick and easy way with a Powerline Ethernet Adapter. Alternatively you can run an Ethernet cable.
If you go with the Powerline Ethernet Adapter I would get a faster
500mb/s model. You could also get a cheaper
200mb/s model to save money. I would note that the 200mb model is actually only capable of 100mb due to the 10/100 Ethernet port. You can add more units throughout the house for more access points.
Personally I would run Cat 6 Ethernet cable throughout the house as this provides the best consumer connection. But is labor intensive and requires a bit of networking knowledge.
As for the Wireless aspect. I would get an
Airport Express for the access point you connect to the wired connection you run upstairs. If you want to save money this
EnGenius gets good reviews. I prefer the Airport for known reliability and ease of configuration especially if you already have an Airport Extreme.
If you are switching from cable be prepared to be very disappointed with u-verse. Especially if you are going to use them for television. The bit rate for Television feeds is very low compared to cable so the picture is heavily pixelated with u-verse. Also the internet connection is shared with the television. Each TV sucks several mb/s from your internet connection. So you never get close to the purported speed unless your turn off all your u-verse TV boxes. If you are upgrading from DSL than by all means U-Verse is better.
