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PIcking up the phone causes a retrain
I have U-verse TV and internet, plus POTS. For the last few months I've been having intermittent problems with internet dropping out and TV freezing, both associated with gateway retrains. Until recently there was itnermittenly a lot of static on the POTS line, which I assumed was also the cause of the retrains. The static was finally fixed about a week ago, but the retrains are continuing. The balun, lightning protector, gateway, and power supply have all been replaced.
For the last few days I've noticed that the gateway sometimes retrains when I pick up the phone. At first I thought it was just chance, but it's happened way too often for that -- 4 times in the last two days. The prem tech who's been working on my problems hadn't heard of this, so I thought I'd ask here and see if anybody's had this problem or knows of a solution.
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oobleck
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oobleck
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389 Messages
12 years ago
They finally fixed it, and it only took two months and 10 tech visits, along with some help from Alex's group. They eventually decided to split the POTS and U-verse onto separate pairs -- fortunately there was an extra pair available. After the split the U-verse service still showed huge numbers of errors, but picking up the phone didn't cause any problems. The POTS line was now dead quiet, without the intermittent static I'd been having. So I called the local manager and suggested they put U-verse on the new POTS pair. They ended up recombining the services on the new pair. That seems to have fixed it -- no problems in over two weeks, except for a few uncorrected blocks due to lightning.
On the old line it had reached the point where it was continously, but unsuccessfully, trying to connect. The only way to get it to connect was to power cycle the gateway; then it would work for a few hours before disonnecting again. Changing the pair (which I had suggested weeks ago) made a world of difference.
Thanks to Alex's group for finally getting somebody to fix this.
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oobleck
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aviewer
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10.1K Messages
12 years ago
oobleck - What was the cause of the static? Was it repaired or did it just go away?
Sounds like the POTS and U-verse are getting together in a bad way.
Crossed wire in the NID? Do you have pair bonding?
Are the POTS and U-verse on the same drop or different drops? If the same is it the balun that seperates the service? Maybe a second bad balun.
Any chance the POTS wiring and the U_verse wiring in your house are crossed? The wiring itself or an RG connection to a POTS wall jack?
One way to troubleshoot is to eliminate as much as possible - like all the house phone wiring - try it with just one connection.
Do you know all your wiring ? I have NID to RG COAX also feeding other TVs via diolexer and splitter. DVr is cat5 to RG. POTS has one connection to NID to connecting block terminating all wall jacks.
I could open up the one POTS wire to the NID & see if the problem still occurs - to eliminate a cross in the house wiring.
What about the possibility of a problem back at the VRAD/cross-connect box?
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Anonymous
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25.7K Messages
12 years ago
I have the same services as you. Uverse, HSI, and POTS line. The first and only time I had this issue with the RG dropping, to include the static on the POTS, I called repair and a I&R tech showed up. He found no static at the X-Box but when he got to the house he had static. He ended up digging around where the buried cable came up out of the ground and found a shoddy splice (scotch locks and some tape) someone did who knows how long ago. I have been in my house 27 years and don't ever remember anyone splicing anything so it could have been there from day one.
Anyway, he used an actual splice kit to terminate everything and static gone. He also found the ONI/NID was not properly grounded. There was a ground rod preset in the ground, clamp and all, but the ground wire from the ONI was just pushed into the dirt about a foot. He just pulled on the ground wire and up it came. He then properly grounded the ONI to the ground rod and I haven't had an issue since. My sync rate went up on the RG and I now have almost no errors. I'm about 1300 feet from the VRAD according to UVRT.
Not saying this is your solution but thought I would share what fixed mine. This was maybe 2 years ago this happened.
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oobleck
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389 Messages
12 years ago
The last thing the prem tech did was replace the RG yesterday. It worked perfectly for at least 14 hours -- long enough to get my hopes up -- but overnight the retrains started again, including another when I picked up the phone in the morning. Two more since then, but none caused by the phone.
Thanks for the good ideas.
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oobleck
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oobleck
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389 Messages
12 years ago
Thanks. I&M has gone over all my connections several times, and I think they finally fixed the static; at least I don't hear it any more. Unfortunately I don't know what they did to fix it -- maybe voodoo, for all I know. All my wiring is above ground, and the static was audible at the demarc, so I know the problem wasn't in the house. They put in a new ground when they first installed U-verse, and it seems to be in good shape as far as I can tell.
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oobleck
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unrtechie
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12 years ago
The one thing that comes to mind, based on what you are saying, have they replaced the splitter filter at the NID. I can't give you the specific part number they should have used depending on what region you are in. The biggest thing I can think of is that if you open your NID and the splitter filter is the size of two modules, then it probably needs to be swapped as some of them had issues with causing loss of signal when POTS goes off hook. Just a thought based on what you said.
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oobleck
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389 Messages
12 years ago
Thanks, I'll show this to the tech next time he comes out. Is that the same as the balun? That was replaced several weeks ago, quite a while before I noticed that POTS was causing dropouts.
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oobleck
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Peteconrad
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12 years ago
Your splitter filter either at the SNI or in the huose may have failed. The Balun attaches to the Data side ( yellow and black holes or screws ) of the splittler filter. The home run could also be bad. Have the Tech check the COAX abilty to carry data with his JDSU and also check for corrision. Corrision can present as a powder underneath the outer jacket of the COAX; the fitting may have to be removed to inspect. If you had Comcast previously, sometimes the signal boosters they use get plugged back in; it looks like a transformer brick with coax coming out the bottom. If you have a sgnal booster, ask the Tech to remove it.
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oobleck
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389 Messages
12 years ago
Is the balun different from the splitter filter? When the tech was here the other day I asked him, and he said they're the same thing. The balun has been replaced several times -- that's usually the first thing they try. There isn't any coax; it's all CAT5.
Two days ago the tech replaced the balun and everything else in the NID, it looked like. He also replaced the 3800 gateway with a 3801, which he said is supposed to work better on longer loops -- mine is about 2600 feet, as I recall. There were two retrains within the first 8 hours or so (one when I picked up a phone), then no more for almost two days. I was thinking it was working much better, but just now I picked up a phone and it caused another retrain.
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oobleck
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aviewer
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10.1K Messages
12 years ago
oobleck _ do you have wireless turned on & a wireless phone?? Can you try the phone with the wireless turned off or a wired phone instead of the wireless?
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