Brand new unhappy subscriber

[jjv55]

I've had Uverse for a grand total of 3 days and I'm not pleased.  My service has been intermittent, though we have had lightning in the area (would that cause it?).  Sometimes the TV freezes, sometimes the internet freezes, most often, it's both.  I've reset the modem and the receiver a couple of times.  Tonight, the receiver just reset itself and I lost the guide and all interactive and dvr capability.  After yet another reset, it came back. 

I am also just becoming aware of the video on demand issue. Tried to play a show for my son and it just kept stopping.  How long has this been an issue?  Has there been any kind of official explanation or eta on a fix?

Is this what I have to look forward to as a subscriber?  I won't be here long if this persists....

[jjv55]

{Keep it Courteous}

Now, if anyone else has had a similar experience to my current one, I'd like to know if or how it was resolved.  Watching this service is currently impossible as the picture freezes and the signal is lost, on average, every 5-20 minutes.  And, does the weather affect this service?

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

When installed corectly the TV viewing is very stable. Yo need to have your wiring  and equipment looked at & fixed,

[happyharry]

My UVERSE service has frozen and suffers from picture break ups all the time since I got the service 9 months ago.   i guess i have just gotten used to watching intermittant tv.  problem seems to get better for a couple of weeks and then gets really bad for a couple of weeks.

[BCB]

I had intermittnet issues a few months after getting installed 2.5 years ago.  A tech came and replaced all of the coax ends and splitters and everyhting has been fine since.  Call tech support.  Remember, this is a customer forum, so you will likely not get a direct response from AT&T here. 

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

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jjv55 wrote:

I've had Uverse for a grand total of 3 days and I'm not pleased.  My service has been intermittent, though we have had lightning in the area (would that cause it?).  Sometimes the TV freezes, sometimes the internet freezes, most often, it's both.  I've reset the modem and the receiver a couple of times.  Tonight, the receiver just reset itself and I lost the guide and all interactive and dvr capability.  After yet another reset, it came back. 

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Please download U-Verse Realtime, install it, and post screenshots of the IP/Profile tab, Bitloading tab, Error Table tab, and Coax/HPNA tab.

To post screenshots here in the forum, you may need to upload them to a photo sharing site, like Picasa, Google, Photobucket, ImageShack, etc.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

We had lightning here in Detroit last night and every time there was a lightning flash our picture froze for about 1 second.  This is the first time I have seen that issue in over 2 years of UV service.  I attribute it to the work that is being done by the ATT personnel in this area.  I checked my stats and they looked good so I know there are no issues with my service.

[jjv55]

The installer was very nice and gave me his cell number and said to call any time within ten days if I had a problem.  I finally got a hold of him today and he was very short with me and said "it was working when I left so you have to call the 800 number now because it's obviously an outside problem."   Why tell me to call if you're only going to refer me to the 800 number?

Anyway, I now have a technician scheduled to come back this Friday.  We'll see what happens.....

[jjv55]

I am most curious to know what you can gleam from this.....

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/jjv55/Stats-2011-03-22-21-58-07.png

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/jjv55/ErrorTable-2011-03-22-21-58-57.png

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/jjv55/Bitloading-2011-03-22-21-58-40.png

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/jjv55/CoaxHPNA-2011-03-22-22-08-24.png

[jjv55]

And here's a couple that I took right after I posted the last few as my service went out....

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/jjv55/Stats-2011-03-22-22-12-04noserv.png

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/jjv55/ErrorTable-2011-03-22-22-14-08new.png

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

Definitely problems looking at the error table.

You could be experiencing intermittent line interference that is causing the connection to drop.

You should contact tier 2 and have them send a senior tech that can look for and eliminate these sources of interference. Possible sources include:

* Power line interference, such as:
* Fluorescent light ballasts
* High-intensity gas discharge lights like mercury vapor
* Grounding problems, such as improper ground at the NID, the pedestal, etc.
* Electrical system grounding problems, such as improper ground on the RG's outlet, the breaker panel, etc.
* HAM radio broadcasts in the HF band
* AM radio transmissions, such as a nearby radio station

Try to isolate any potential source of these problems and see if you can find one that eliminates the interference.

You could also potentially have a bridge tap.  A bridge tap is an extra length of wire attached to your pair that doesn't terminate anywhere. It is usually left over from a previous customer that used your pair. Bridge taps cause problems with xDSL services.

You should call technical support, have them send a premises tech to your house to check the line. He should open a helper ticket with the Installation and Maintenance group (I&M), which are the linesmen, to come find and remove the bridge tap.

[jjv55]

"You could also potentially have a bridge tap. "

Would that be something on the vrad box?

Is it worth showing the program's information to the tech who'll be coming out?

Thanks for the help!

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

You might show the tech, but U-Verse Realtime is an unofficial tool, and the AT&T techs may not know about it and are definitely not trained on it.

Concentrate more on telling him about the line drops and interruptions in service rather than the program's statistics.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

If you have called ts and are still having issues like that, contact David or Matt by clicking the hyperlink in my sig.  They are tier 2 techs who have helped lots of people.  Send them your info and they or a member of their staff will be in touch with you.

[jjv55]

Strangely enough, I've now gone 24 hours error-free.  Tech is still coming today though.

[jjv55]

2 new techs and a lineman later, it looks like it was a bad port at the vrad.  The lineman said he saw "millions" of logged errors on my line. 

Fingers crossed, but all is looking good right now. 

Thanks for all of your help!

Now if they could just get the vod probelm fixed....

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Thanks for the update, and hopefully you are fixed up...except for the VoD problem.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

I hope ATT gets the vod/netflix problems worked out.  I watched vod programs last night with no problems, and two Netflix movies today with no problems.  Unless this issue is regional it could be something that is moving across the country.

[ram1220]

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RCSMG wrote:

I hope ATT gets the vod/netflix problems worked out.  I watched vod programs last night with no problems, and two Netflix movies today with no problems.  Unless this issue is regional it could be something that is moving across the country.

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I didn't think you have HD service. Most of the problems being reported here are problems with VOD in HD. People have reported they can play the same movie back without a problem if they try the SD version instead of the HD version. Maybe that's why you don't have a problem. I'm just sayin.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

Why do you think that?  And since you didn't ask I'm not sayin.

[jlwinsc]

I've been having the same exact issues over the past months. I'd made up my mind I was cancelling the service.  I'm going to also follow the recommendations. This post has been so helpful. Thank you!

[phfabian65]

We've had similar issues and have a service call in for this morning. It took four tech visits to get the install done right. Initial insatll had exposed cable splices, no noise filters, resulting in slow or no internet access, but TV worked fine. Tech basically reinstalled the whole system and everything was running for about a week. then the TV's started to get funky. I have one box that needs a reboot everytime in order to get it to send signal out on HDMI. Couple of days ago TV began to freeze intermittently, audio would go out. Next certain channels disappeared. Tech on phone told me that one fo the channels was blacked out in my area. this was not trus as confirmed by next level tech. They said the problem was somewhere in their system. That seemed to be fixed after about 4 hours. TV worked for another two days, then started acting up again. I talked to tech again, and they went through the whole power down, reboot everything drill and the TV came back for about 45 minutes, then went off completely. All three boxes now give a client initialization error which can't be corrected. I am now awaiting at least my 10th service call in just over a month.

I am demanding a credit for the service outages. I do not understand how AT&T can make any money on this service if it is so touchy and difficult that they have to send a tech out every few days top make the system work.

Anybody got an idea what the business model is? Looks to me like this system is not ready for roll out in this area. Maybe we've got too much copper between here and the termination of fiber optic and AT&T oversold its ability to make the technology work.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

You definitely ask for a credit.  Also click on the hyperlink in my sig and you will be taken to David's contact info.  He is a tier 2 tech who has helped a lot of people with seemingly unsolvable problems.  Send him your info and he or a member of his staff will be in touch with you.