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This is a story that will take a long time to tell but needs to be told. It was a cold morning in December when I saw the AT&T guys installing this big ugly box in front of my neighbors house. I found out it was a V Rad for AT&T U-Verse and was happy as hell. I got a date of install of March 17th. On March 15 AT&T called and said they where having problems porting my phone and I would only get Internet and TV. I called back and told them that my phone runs through cable and they would have to wait till the port went through. They told me the next week would work so it was set again @ 8-10 am. On the 24th @12 noon when no one was there yet I called and was told someone screwed up and never made a appointment. They made the new date for the 31st @ 8-10 am. You guessed it, no show again. They made a new date for April 24th to make sure the port went threw and that everything would be cool. The next day I got a message that they needed to change the date. When I called back they wanted to change the install to April 24th, THE SAME DAY I SET THE DAY BEFORE. Well April 24th comes and holy crap I see a AT&T truck. The install starts fine and runs into a problem, the voice over IP is not working, NO PORT YET. The tech is on the phone for 5 hours to get the phone to work. Well the tech leaves after 10 hours and the phone isnt working. I sit down and no TV on my main TV. I call tech support and the Box is bad. SO I get another tech the next day to swap the box. He swaps it and we are up and running, so I though. Now all the tvs are displaying pixels like crazy- Hi-Def, Standard, all channels. So I call tech support and they send out another tech the next day. Now its Sat and we have a different tech in the house to fix the TVs and the phone. He is here for 6 hours and we have phone but TVs are still crap. He changed all cables, switched to HDMI, tried RJ-45 Cable, EVERYTHING. Still bad Picture, so he switches all boxes again and says its the lines outside. So the next the line tech comes and says he fixed the problem and No luck yet. So now its Monday we have had techs out here everyday since and still shit picture. So now I got a number to an escalation tech and she started helping. Techs everyday all day for the week. On Thursday the escalation tech sent me to an USPOC  (U-verse-Single-Point-of-Contact). He has been great help but still no luck. Now we are Saturady night and The NOC are doing something with the Vrad. They make the picture worst and screw with the phone. But now I have 25 Meg of internet speed, HELL YEAH. I still have pixelation and my Hi-Def looks like shit. The internet flies and Phone works ok. I am sure I left alot of holes in the story but I have told this story so many times I am sick of it. It boils down to a Tech Everyday since Thursday and TV still looks choppy and crappy !!!!!!!!!!!!  I hope this guy gets me going. I am the only one on the VRAD so I am the test dummy. I really like the features and hope they get there shit together.

I forgot to tell you this is in Fraser,Mi

And they've definitely ruled out that you aren't too far from your VRAD for service, right?

Sounds like they need to get some installers/techs in there with more experience; something isn't right.

I am 100 hundred feet away, at the most!  Its one house away from me. They even ran a temp line from my house to the Vrad.

Can you please post the numbers from these pages?
http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J03
http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J04

Broadband Link – Statistics  IP Statistics
DSL  Down  Up
Current Rate:  25216 kbs   2048 kbs 
Max Rate:  67340 kbs   Not Available
Current Connection:
 Current Noise Margin:  29.0 dB   Not Available
 Current Attenuation:  7.1 dB   Not Available
 Current Output Power:  11.3 dBm   -29.0 dBm 
 
IP  Bytes  Packets  Errors  %
Transmit:  110681142  375971  0  0
Receive:  21739560723  15986054  1  0


Broadband Link – Detailed DSL Statistics
Collected for 1 day 1:49:28




DSL  Since Reset  Current 24-Hour Interval  Current 15-Minute Interval  Time Since
Last Event
Link Retrains:  7  0  0  12:26:28
DSL Training Errors:  4  0  0  13:31:00
Training Timeouts:  18  0  0  13:32:34
Loss of Framing Failures:  0  0  0  0:00:00
Loss of Signal Failures:  40  0  0  12:26:28
Loss of Margin Failures:  0  0  0  0:00:00
Cumulative Seconds w/Errors:  40  0  0  12:26:28
Cumulative Sec. w/Severe Errors:  40  0  0  12:26:28
Corrected Blocks:  672934  0  0  8:44:14
Uncorrectable Blocks:  19928  0  0  12:26:28
DSL Unavailable Seconds:  806  0  0  12:25:53

Here is photo proof of the speed!

Your numbers really don't look too bad.  I do remember someone else that had their entire pipe open to the internet with the exact same pixelation problems you are having now.  Have you told them about your speed?

Koolkid, what about a possible bridge tap that we've seen others have?  Could that be the problem?

Have they tried swapping you to a different port in the VRAD, I wonder?

I don't really suspect a bridge tap since the attenuation suggests a relatively short loop (<~700ft or so).  It certainly could be though, there have been stranger things.

The tried a different port on the Vrad and replaced the card, but when that made no difference they switched it back because they said the cards where very expensive. Now my TV in the living dont work at all.

OK.  Have they changed out the line coming from your NID?

And sounds like too much is going to your HSI...still got the high speed?

WOW!  Another Fraser resident!  Is this the VRAD on Admiral?

Yes it is, I had a different tech out today. Still Crap, Now they are telling me to wait till Friday, someone is being installed tomorrow and they want to see if they are going to have problems.

I saw a truck and tent being setup over the VRAD on Sunday.  Was that for your issues?  :)

Yes, I have had techs out at the Vrad every day, except for today. I am still having the pixel :-\ issue and the internet is now running very bad. I only live two house away from the Vrad and still issues. They are installing someone else on it today so we will see if that person has issues too. The tech yesterday told me it was my lite-bulb under the stairs doing it, one of those earth friendly ones. What kind of crap is that!!!!!!!!! I dont think they are going to fix it and I am going to have to switch to Comcast. I hate that Idea but I hate being worried of when my TV is going to trip out on me.

Well, it sounds hard to believe, but I've heard of weird things like that before. I worked at an IT helpdesk for a few years. While I was there, a coworker got a call that a remote sales associate was trying to dial in, but was getting disconnected every 10 seconds. We troubleshooted it for hours, then got our third-level support involved. After working for another 30 minutes, the third level support guy asked "Do you have an electric cow fence?" Sure enough he did. When he shut it off, he was able to connect fine. 

Now while it seems pretty hard to believe the problem is related to a lightbulb, stranger things have happened.

We have CFL lights in every light socket here except for 1 or 2.  That doesn't mean that someone else won't have problems with one CFL light though.  Like mp said, stranger things have happened.

One easy test to do is leave the light off for 2 hours then turn it on for 2 hours to see if you notice a difference.

I think I drive by wayyy too much, because I saw the tech out today.  It's weird though because the VRAD on Kendall has been there much longer (by about a year) and is still not active.  The VRAD on Admiral went up in no time and was active right away.  It's not a mini, but it's not a big one.  Its a weird one.

I am waiting for the one on Masonic and Fruehauf to become active. Still no power to it, though they've totally reconfigured the site.

I have been watching for the Vrad, as soon as I saw it up I made the call. I am sorry I did, but I hope things get figured out.

I am fishing Cat 6 Cable to all Tv's, even though the cat 5 and co-ax I have is new. If this dont make any difference nothing will. I have a Manager and tech coming out today. They are suppose to work with the USPOC today and hopefully get my stuff working. Been over two weeks with no TV and now the internet is SUPER SLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Lost my 20+Meg speeds.

CFL do have a ballast in them and they throw out a lot of EMF you might want to try replacing the light bulb (if you haven’t already) if you can because if the lines run near it that could be the issue.

I have noticed different brands of CFL can have more or less effect.

I live in Warren and I am around 1,000ft from my node and everything is fine.

Well the techs where here all day, and still TV is crap. They are sure its a outside problem now, someone on the street by me Kingston got the internet package and is having problems. All the cat 6 drops work great. Since I have the DVR on cat 6 I noticed that it does not lock up when powered off anymore, So one thing is fixed. I will keep everyone updated but I hope they can find the problem on monday.

We had great improvement as well once our DVR got swapped to Cat5.  And the Cat5 TVs always come right back up after a short power outage, while the coaxed ones take a while (even with a UPS).

Good luck on Monday!

I am all good now. They replaced my Nid or something like that and redid some bonding at the tap and NO PIXELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we will see how good things are.

Cool! ;D

I spoke to soon!!!!!!!!!!!!  Still pixelation and the techs have no Idea why. The USPOC can see the errors on the tool he has but the I&R guys cannot. They might have to replace my line but the manager does not want to because of the cost. I hope they fix this soon or I will have to switch back to Comcast.

 :'(

All the Hi Def TV's are feed with Cat 6. They siginal coming out of the Vrad is 70, I am getting 68. The USPOC told me he sees noise on the lower level. He has some tools that most techs dont have, but want.
           
             When it rains, My Picture really gets bad and I have no internet and phone. They have swapped everything several times and now with the rain issue, it has to be outside. They took the baylin out of my Nid, New Drop, 4 different Gateways, New card in the Vrad, New slot in the Vrad, New Cat 6 to TVS, 4 Diferent DVR's, Moved the location of the gateway, New Ground, AND TESTS GALORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     

              I have had 15 different techs out and 5 different I&R guys. They all tell me they know the problem and when they leave, they dont. The USPOC is going to get some AT&T Directors in to the mix, maybe shake up these Managers that dont give a shit about there customer. I have called several and dont even get a call back. I really hope things get better.

Grizzly - just out of curiosity, how long are you willing to put with this?  Why are you willing to put up with this?  Is there something that U-Verse offers you can't get anywhere else?  I keep thinking about getting U-Verse for my parents, but then I think better of it.  I'd rather wait until they get the bugs worked out better than they are now.

Just trying to get someone's take and what pro's weigh out the service issues.

Thanks!

It has to be something, Check neighbors and see if there's the same issue.  I've had uverse since oct/nov 07 and other than the inital install pains i've had pretty much zero issues.  Weather has played no role good nor bad.

I'm not an A/V junkie by any means but seems like the HD seems more than adequate for me.  I do notice some macroblocking or rather noticed that while back but it has seemed to gotten better.

OTA is for sure better, but i wouldn't say world apart.

I like to have the newest things, so thats why I am willing to put up with the crap. I am also the only one in my Vrad as of now, so no one to compare with.

         The service seems sweet, and the price has saved us tons over cable, thats the main reason for me to put up with this crap. I am guess my problem is remote, not everybody has this issue. My friends have had it for months and no problem at all. If you can save money I say give it a shot.

         The HD is not as good as cable, but Microsoft has a patch coming that should fix the blocking in the dark and solid colors of the HD. If you have not watched HD much you wont notice it, my wife dont see the difference.

Well they will be here in the morning to see if they can finally fix this crap. I guess if they dont I will have to go back to Comcast. I miss FSN HD anyways.

I bet the dumb ass tech is going to tell he knows whats wrong and blame it on the I & R guys, and the I & R guys will say is a premise problem. Same shit different service call.

Hurry up and get it resolved so they can go back to turning up my VRAD.   ;D

         Well 3 managers, 2 I & R guys and 1 Premise Tech and still nothing. They now say it is the Vrad and not the wire. I told them the weather has a serious effect on my service and the manger told me that weather could not effect service. So I guess I am full of it. The Manager then pulled everybody off the job because I started a altercation, thats funny. I told him very loud that the weather does afect and maybe sweared lil bit. He is a manager and should not cry if someone yells at him. None of the managers had the balls to give me there card or even tell me what was next.

          I guess now Loop Electronics is suppose to come and do something, I dont know what because the managers are affraid of me. I cant help I am 6'5" and 400lbs, and he was 130lbs soaking wet. I am going to find out how to get in touch with Upper Management and tell them there managers need to be trained correctly. I would have not yelled if they didnt spend 4 hours here and tell me anything. And then tell me I am wrong about the weather effect.

I think I might need to be COMCASTIC!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry about the mis-spellings, was typing way to fasst.

Weather can and does affect service.  Think about it, hot copper expands, cold copper contracts, wet copper is even worse ::)

It's puzzling to me though, that of all the VRAD's in the area, even those installed right before and after, are a different model.  I'm trying to think of a single other one in the area. 

It isn't an old crossbox... They put a new one in... So that's probably not the issue... The xbox is across the street from the VRAD though.  (Very small street...)

In other news, on Thursday morning they started digging a new VRAD at Masonic and Grove.  At noon the hole was done.  By 5:30, there was a VRAD there, concrete pad and all.  Crazy fast.  Still no electrical box, but compared to how long it took to do the one at Masonic and Fruehauff..

I just sent a email to the USPOC who is sending it to his directing manager to get this handled. It is a almost complete account of everything that has happened, to much to remember.  I hope  this helps with something, at least how poorly trained the managers are in customer relations. I hope everybody else doesnt have half the problem I have.

Well Loop Electric never came and now I will have tech #21 this morning. I think when I reach 30 techs in my house I am leaving AT&T. The only other customer in the Vrad with me is having the same problems, but they still keep sending premise techs. I bet this install has cost AT&T a bundle.

It will be worth every penny if they can figure y'all out...will save tons of $$ for future installs if it ever comes up again, and IF they remember to learn from it.

Hope they can figure it out soon before #30. :'(

I just found out from the USPOC that the other customer has cancelled due to the problems. Well I guess I am alone in the Vrad again.

it's a lonely world. lol

You can come join me on my VRAD which has well over 70 subscribers on it ;)

lol yea, with some magical REALLY long fiber cable that has no problems sending signal that far. lol

KK or spd2 was there not a case like this that turned out to be loose fiber connections feeding the VRAD. What is the USPOC? I may know just by another title. Sorry to hear your pain hope the techs learn something when/if they find the solution.

There is a very real possibility of that, but you would have thought that would have been one of the first things they checked if the only 2 people on the same DSLAM are having the exact same problems.

You would think but he is the only subscriber in that VRAD. They have replaced everything on his end an at one point changed his port and the card in the VRAD. He had one or two days of good service at one point. If there were several subscriber all having the same problem then they would look up the line to the control cards in VRAD or fiber or even in the CO.

USPOC, (Uverse-Single-Point-of-Contact) He has been AWESOME. He is the only reason I have stuck with AT&T so long.

      I guess Loop Electric is going to change my card today, for the second time. They are thinking the fiber between the Vrad and Crossbox might be the problem. I guess we will see. I did get the number to the switch board in St Louis, Maybe I might drop the prez a ring. If anybody else needs that number let me know.LOL

Well they changed all three cards and still no better. Now they are going to spool 2000 feet of cable at the vrad and try to trick my gateway to thinking I am futher then I am. I guess we will see.

Why would they add 2,000ft of cable to your loop?  That seems like one of the worst things to do to a loop.

they are trying to eliminate noise. I have no clue.

Sounds like they need to get a competent transmission engineer on site. They do exist I have dealt with them on troubles.
koolKid can you stop by Michigan on your way to Powell and fix this guy's problem.

It would be a bit out of our way ;)

I guess we will see what kind of tech we get tomoorow. The tech that came on friday was a real asshole to my wifey. He sayed he has been here three times and there is no problem. She has no idea whats going on and he was a complete shit to her. Whats nice is he left a shitty message with the USPOC and he forwarded the message to a director. I hope he loses he job!!!! Almost everyone who has come to my house except a very few, think I am pulling some kind of scam. If I was pulling a scam why does the USPOC in Tempe,Az see the issues. Maybe he is pulling a scam too. I guess everyone else posting Pixelation problem on this forum is full of it too.

I hear you, I remeber you, and you are one of the good guys. I hope we get a good guy today.

No tech that I am aware of showed up, I guess I am doomed to having AT&T. I will have to see what the USPOC says tomorrow. Now my VOIP has severe static, I guess when it rains it pours.

They told me that weather could not effect my service, will bullcrap!!!!!!!!!! My TV has been tripping out for days, sound is skipping ,internet is crawling, major static on the VOIP, and Pixels are a common thing now.

Why cant anybody fix this shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They need to be spending money on research not on commercials.

If weather is affecting UV, something isn't wired right.

What kind of weather are you having?

From when we had the storm, just rain.

    I got a survey yesterday and filled it out with my problems I am having. I got a call back with-in the hour of subbmitting the survey and told that guy the story, well I hope that manager that was a ass to me has a wife that works because I am sure his job is in jeopardy. I hope he loses his job!!!!! The guy I talked to was a director at the St.Louis headquaters. I gave him his name and AT&T number. I hope the I&R guy that was a rude ass to me also loses his job. Thats what they get for treating customers like shit.

I guess now they are going to check the gound at the Vrad, I guess they are supose to ground to 3 ground rods and he thinks they only used 1, we will see. I guess this is happening tuesday.

Someone had posted that they'd lose service a lot when they were with Cable, and it was something with heat or water underground, I forget...

Hope they get you fixed up!  And glad you called. ;) 

I wish the guys that came to my house saw the errors, they all give me the same excuse. I even told them what you said. I am giving them till July 4th. And if not better, I will celebrate my independence from AT&T.
LOL

I dont wanna leave but my phone sounds so bad I cant take it. And my Tigers game are almost unwatchable. I am dying here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

U-Verse Friends,

I have had u-verse for three weeks now, a few hic-ups along the way but at present no problems to report. U-Verse is way better than comcast, direct tv and delivers quality for internet / tvos.

The problems everyone is experiencing leaves questions open to end-user tech knowledge and trouble-shooting. I live on the west side of the state (Grand Rapids area) and it should not make any difference where the service is at.

I would have the techs come out, run new cables, new box, trouble-shoot basic tv connections w/o having third party gizmo's attached to the tv. Too many people want to jump ship just because of a small glitch, or the screen locked. It's called patience and trouble-shooting people!

Tvos

I agree. I love the service, When it works. I have such slow internet speeds now its not funny. And my home phone has so much static. So I agree that its new and problems are abound. But if we are going to beta test there service we should get a break on the bill.

Off the subject, The New Samsung Instinct for Sprint is BADASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, compared to the current iPhone, the Instinct is amazingly close.  I've had the iPhone since the first day it was available, and the Instinct that my wife got (she works for Sprint) is pretty damn impressive.  The media player for MP3 and Video is pretty impressive.  I loaded a couple MPeg4 movies onto it, and didn't have to go through the conversion to AAC like on the iPhone.  The media services on Sprint's network is on par with Apple's iTunes Store -- and has streaming content for sports and entertainment that the iPhone/iTunes Music Store doesn't have.  The GPS navigation capability is better than iPhone's network triangulation method, but that will go away when the 3G iPhone shows up.  The Exchange/Lotus Notes integration blows the current iPhone away from a business use perspective -- but that will soon be rectified with the iPhone 2.0 SDK and software applications through the iTunes app store.  Of all the so-called iPhone killers, the Instinct is a pretty good attempt, but it's still no iPhone.  I congratulate Sprint for being the first to create a close #2 to the iPhone.  This will be good for the whole smartphone market.

Next up, iPhone 3G on July 11.  It's going to very interesting!!!  I can't wait!  :)

What ever you say, I think its better then the I-Phone. I have had both, and this is far better in my eyes then the I-phone.

Also, My service is still sucking pretty bad. I guess I am going to have to make some calls tomorrow and get the tech coming out again.

Everybody's opinion is different about phones. You may like the Instinct better than the iPhone, but other people might feel the opposite. It happens.

I got a tech coming out tuesday to try and fix my phones. I dont think they will, but its worth a try.

I would have switched way long ago, but for the price I am getting, its worth it.

Well now the crap I am getting it that my drop is bad. I guess the 2 times I had it replaced in the last two months its gone bad aready. Some of these techs they send out are Wing Nuts.


I have the 1700 FSN HD channels on my STB but there is no programing yet on them, we are close. They keep appearing and disappearing on my STB's. I cant wait for Tigers in HD, since the season is half over.

i had uverse installed now for 48 hours before canceling.  the quality of their network is complete crap!  this is still a beta project, and i'm pissed off at ATT for wasting 3 hours on the phone, and 10 hours of my own time troubleshooting.

here's a recap of my experience:

i signed up for the 6 mb internet and U200

11am:installer showed up and tested my line (which has never been hooked up since the building was built).  said that the distance was too long, and there must be a bridge tap on my line.  Since I know my building, I patch the coax drops that I was using for comcast so he won't have to pull any wire.

2pm: installer and I wait for another ATT tech to come out and remove the bridge tap

3pm: bridge tap is removed, line is measured at 800' and installer tells me I'm getting 67mbps from the refrigerator sized box across the street.  67 meg sounds nice!

4pm: installer finishes up, hands me a remote control and spends 5 minutes showing me how the dvr (moto 1216) works.  He has no manuals for the 1216 or for the RG.  I ask how I can setup the RG, and he says to look at the sticker on the bottom, and that he doesn't know much about it.

5pm-11pm: I try to get the 2wire piece of crap software configured for my network.  It sorta works. Sometimes I can connect to the internet, sometimes not.  The biggest issue is that the 2wire RG does not have any settings for QoS or allow me to completely bypass its stupid firewall and forcing me to use dhcp. 

12am: Go upstairs and watch a few minutes of uverse tv.  It looks fine.  I don't have HD, but it looks way better than my comcast SD.

Sunday:
12pm -1pm: read forums on 2wire and try to put it in bridge mode so that I can finally run my network (vonage, ftp servers, remote desktop clients and servers, IP printers, IP cameras)

2pm: give up on the 2wire and just hook up one PC to the RG.  Go upstairs and watch some TV

3pm: TV pixelates about once an hour.  no biggie, just figure it's breaking in or something

4pm: Start setting up the dvr to record all my shows.  notice that when i search by name, it searches all programming, including VOD.  Since I don't want VOD, I call customer support.   they tell me there is no way to disable VOD on the box, and to just turn on parental controls.  Ok fine, so I do that and still the VOD crap shows up when i search.  It is NOT COOL to type in A - S and then have listings like "asian hotties on the beach..." and other stuff show up when i'm searching for aladdin for cyring out loud!  Call customer support again, and they said they weren't aware of the problem.  I begin to read off all the adult VOD titles for them, laughing to myself as I hear them trying to stop me.  after much wait on hold, they come back and say there is no way to limit the search to only the channels I want. THIS IS A DEAL BREAKER FOR ME!

6pm - midnight: research setting up my tivo series 2 DT so i can use that channel guide for recording/searching.  I actually get it working, and get the Tivo to control the moto 1216! 

Monday:

first day of business on uverse internet. 

10am: secretary calls me and says the VOIP calls sound terrible.  i run a trace route and ATT servers are running at 500+ms after the 3rd hop.  this goes in and out about every half hour.  50% of the time the network is fine, 50% it's crap.  call tech support.  they have no idea what i'm talking about.  I wonder if the 2wire RG is screwing with my voip packets.  tech support doesn't know what QoS is, or jitter or latency.  after running voip speed tests, i can see there is  a huge problem caused by the delay of their network. 

2pm-10pm spend the rest of the day on the phone as uverse tech support tries to tell me it's my computer or maybe it's my wireless or whatever.  luckily, i still have comcast hooked up so i switch my LAN over to the cable modem.  run speed test: 14 mb \ 2 mb upload!  nice.  voip runs great on comast, even when i only get 4mb \ 1mb at times! 

So i ended up canceling my uverse.  I had been on the phone for a solid 2 hours with tier 2 tech support which didn't really offer any troubleshooting at all, other than saying "well i can see the RG is up..."  the quality of their network is so spotty, that there is no way i can rely on it.  for web browsing, it was ok.  the speed tests always showed just under 6 mb dl and 1 mb up, but always with dropped packets and delayed packets.  this was fine for web browsing , but terrible for anything that relied on streaming (video, audio, voip).  when i called to cancel, the sales guy i spoke to first knew more about ping and trace route than the tech support!  cancellation took forever since the lady kept trying to sell me other crap.  i told her look lady, the service doesn't work.  i don't want to pay for something that doesn't work, in fact i don't even want something broken for free! 

my major issues with uverse are this:

1.  doesn't integrate with tivo.  this is a downgrade in my opinion.  i had to rig up IR blasters to make it work
2.  moto vip1216 DVR is awful.  i had replaytv and tivo, and the interface on those kick this vip1216's butt.
3.  search on the moto vip1216 needs work.  i should be able to set a global preference for my searches that do not include VOD or whatever else i don't want.  the 1216 feels like a beta device.  the Live tv and recorded tv and settings are about the only menus that work well.  the other crap (yellowpages, ubar, games) takes forever to load and kicked out windows sounding error messages.
4.  ATT uverse internet was horrible for vonage and other streaming applications.
5.  anytime i had to troubleshoot my internet or reboot the RG, it interrupted the tv recordings.  would love to have the dsl modem separate from the IPTV
6.  installer didn't know how to configure the RG (other than plug it in and point to the sticker). 
7.  overall, the install and techs aren't up to speed on basic internet technology.

Sounds like my problems. I feel good that I am not alone. I have not switched yet because I have not paid a bill yet. I am giving them 1 more month then I am going back to comcast. I know I have said that before but the VOIP Phone is the worst I have ever heard. SO MUCH STATIC!!!!!!!!!!!

My TVs dont pixelate like they use to but the phone and internet are bad. I guess we will see what the future brings.

1. Tivo doesn't natively support Microsoft's MediaRoom IPTV platform or for that matter IPTV at all.  When/if they do, maybe this could happen.  Until that point, it won't happen natively.

4.  Whenever I ran VoIP tests (never actually used it myself) it said my line was capable of serving 16 VoIP lines with minimal jitter.  500ms to the third hop is way, way out of spec for the system.  I, and several others here, would have been more than happy to work with you and look at your logs to see what was up and possibly find a solution, but you have already cancelled.  Some of the problems you were having were not normal, such as the extremely high latency and high packet loss.  I would have been interested to see your line stats as well as the number of uncorrectable blocks.

5.  The thing is, all services run over the VDSL link over the same VDSL modem.  To do what you are asking, you would need to have something like ADSL on one line for internet and VDSL/ADSL2 on another for TV or some combination to that effect.

koolkid, the main reason that i cancelled was their tech support.  i spoke to several level 1 techs.  they would ask "can you browse the internet" and i would say "yes, but...." and their response was "then it's working".

after several hours on the phone with them, i finally got a level 2 guy, but through all of this i was trying to tell them that everything on my end is plugged in and powered up...it's servers on YOUR network! 

so i cancelled, b/c there is no point in keeping a service that doesn't work, when their techs don't have a clue about how to trouble shoot it.  they didn't ask for trace logs or ping plots.  comcast does, in fact they gave me an email to send my trace logs to whenever i get packet loss or errors.

if there was a way to keep my comcast cable modem up and the uverse, then i would be willing to wait around for them to troubleshoot it.  but since they used the coax in the building, i can't have the cable modem plugged in while uverse is on the coax lines.  i mean i guess i could go plug it in at the drop and setup a wireless bridge to my network.  but seriously, that's more effort on my part to make THEIR crap work. 

What most people don't know is that you can ask to be passed up to tier 2 and they should do it for you.  If you know your problem is beyond the scope of tier 1 (as this was), just ask to be passed up to tier 2.

T2 the only ones who can look at your RG stats, I've been told?  T1 cannot?

Hey, I ran a VOIP test for poo's and giggles to see what mine showed. Here is what I got:

http://mvsord.visualware.com/myspeed/db/report?id=880799

Download speed  9590 Kbps (socket test)
Upload speed  1485 Kbps (socket test)
Quality of service  99 %
Maximum delay  8 ms
Round trip time  35 ms
Upstream jitter  0.0 ms
Upstream packet loss  0 %
Upstream packet order  100 %
Upstream discards  0 %
Downstream jitter  1172.2 ms (had a red dot, instead of green)
Downstream packet loss  37 % another red dot, all the rest were green)
Downstream packet order  99 %
Downstream discards  0 %


So, to me question here....What does those red dots mean? LOL! My downstream jitter and packet loss? Is it my signal going back out from the premises here?

Another web site said I could run 13 concurrent lines with no problems. For all my trouble, I think that's pretty good, but does not answer why I still have static in my phone. oh, bother.

I didn't begin this discussion from the begining. I assume you want to keep Uverse for cable and Comcast for internet. They is possible by running cat5 to the TVs. Since there are already lines run it shouldn't be too hard. You could probobly even find some techs that would do it for you.

~
David

spd - I'm T1, I can look at stats. Anyone cane, T2 has just about the same tools as T1, but they train T2 on the tools a little more than T1 to look at the specifics. I on the otherhand tend to be adventurous and look at all the stuff that I COULD use, but normally dont

That's good to know...I had to call recently and see things have changed...a lot!  Like the phone number for one, LOL!

In the past when I would call, T1 always escalated me to T2 as they said T1 couldn't do the RG, where I got my info from. ;D

Could have been your inclusion on the frequent caller list?

Yeah, you're probably right...they didn't want to deal with me, though I was a nice customer. :D

If you call 3 or more times in one month, you get put on the frequent caller list, and T1 gets the flash when your account pops up, and if so, then we gotta transfer to T2, no questions asked, unless the customer refuses to be transferred or a couple other reasons... Two main reasons would be checking a dispatch status or an out of scope issue.

I'm glad I don't have any of those problems. Mine works fully to what they promised.

Now there is the HD PQ problems in the background of scenes I'm not real fond of (macro blocking and shifting) I knew this going in before I ordered though. Once thats fixed I'll be REAL happy with the service. I cant express properly how much I prefer it over comcast and its clunky menus,graphics and DVR controls. It is SO much easier finding and recording what I want with U-verse. It has a much cleaner and responsive interface. My internet also worked right away and is pretty snappy.

I might have got lucky though as my VRAD is really close and they ran all new Cat5. dunno

Yeah, I remember that!  I was a member of that club.  But things have gone really well since back then.

Oh it's a club? Man, I wish I was in that club. Wait... No I don't, cuz then I would have tons of problems with my TV and internet. I'll make my own club. I'll name it, "Everything works perfect" Club.

Yeah, I'm happy that I am no longer a member of the FCC (Frequent Caller Club). :D

I was a FCC, too~I finally gave up and put up with the pixeling, freezing during a rain storm and the static in the voice service.....I figure some time or another they will figure out there is something wrong. Hopefully I have a neighbor with the same issues (i do not know who else had it around me).

I had a manager tell me I was lying when I said the TV Froze when it rained. He told me I was full of shit. Thats awesome someone else has had the same problem.

Really? You are willing to put up with all of that? I'd be on the phone with tech support every day like grizzly if I had all of those problems.  Uverse isn't that inexpensive. ;)

I'm happy with the service and pricing is ok......just when it rains we get the issues (pixeling/pausing), although the voice is better with a slight static when you are dialing. I may drop the voice and just use my cell phone anyway. Trust me~My service is way better than when I first got U-Verse! :)

If you're getting problems in the rain, call Tech Support cause that's not supposed to happen.  There is a loose connection somewhere being affected by the water, or water is entering somewhere and causing an intermittent short.  Tell them to come out and check when it's raining or you may get "nothing's wrong".  Finding water problems when it is dry is extremely hard, unless you get a good tech that brings some water with him (or gets it from your hose) and wets things down.  It will be somewhere between the RG and the VRAD, or even in the VRAD (enclosed space getting water inside-they do have vent slots).

Chris

I have power flushed everything outside my home and the problem does not happen....only when it rains~so, I think it's  a issue outside of my home and property, maybe a line coming from he vrad. By the time techs have come, it's not raining, so...they see nothing.

DGB, I feel your pain. Same thing here. I have the exact same issue! Email me and I can give you the number to the USPOC I am dealing with. He is your best bet at getting something done.

grizzly302@att.net

Thanks, Grizzly302!

Grizzly302, I have been thinking alot about your issue and watching (physically) your VRAD during times of rain.  I'm betting that it is getting water up in it.  Your VRAD is very close to the street.  If you watch cars drive by while it is wet, the water splashes up to the VRAD, and looks like it is actually going into the airvent holes at the bottom.  I noticed that a few times it looked like it was doing just that.

I wonder if this is the case?  An easy test would be to stop the water from going in next time it rains and see if this helps your issue.  :)

come on and fix it then, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELL HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!! I am fixed. I think!!!!

It has been almost 12 hours no issues and the TV looks awesome.

They ran a loop of cable to make the Vrad think I was futher fromit then I was, was at 300 feet, now I am at 1700 feet.

Weird how if you are too close it will make the service go crazy.

I am keeping my fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A long time ago I think there were problems with the signal being too hot and the RG just didn't know how to handle it.  Could have been your problem...

Now if they could just find a way to make 4900' down to 1700'.....

Well I am back again!

Same crap is still happening and now they are going to replace my RG thinking that it is bad now. I have the most problems when it is raining. I got a tech coming out today to replace the gateway and we will see how that is.
I still say its something outside.

Anybody try the new 18 meg internet yet.

I have enjoyed all the new HD channels added!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Grizzly:

    I don't know if you have tried this route but we always had issues with our Uverse when it rained.  After a number of attempts we were able to get a lineman to go pole climbing, jumping.  At the 3rd pole down from our house they found where our phone line was in a area on the pole where when it rainned part of the line was underwater.  We are in an old subdivision.  Since the line was moved out of that low spot things have been  8) .  This was after the line from pole to the house was swapped out etc.

Good luck on getting someone to check the poles.

Update~my problem mysteriously resolved itself a couple of months back. I forgot to update in this thread. It's been raining almost all day and I'm good here. They'll get it fixed.