4 edits | Can RGs handle 32/5 profile? 900 feet away and problems? I have a question about RGs not handling a 32/5 profile.
Background:
- I have had Uverse a year.
- I am 900-1000 feet from the VRAD. The VRAD is less than a 1/5 a mile straight down a street running on the utility easement. When crews were checking lines before the VRAD went live, they dug up the lines and it was a straight shot to the VRAD. And an engineer got an actual distance reading of 9XX and told it to me (I think it was 976 feet but I cannot recall the exact number but it was in the 900s.)
Problem:
-Starting last June I started having random loss of service (sometimes 3 or 4 times a evening.) It would just be for 20 seconds or so for the RG to re-sync.
- Had about 6 services calls over a 6 week period (all kinds of things tried, even though nothing tested bad - VRAD port change, new line between my phone pedestal and NID, etc..)
-Finally had my RG replaced, and problem went away for about 6 months.
- Problem came back December 2011 but not as a bad as it was in June - loss of service maybe every other day at most this time.
-Had RG replaced again, and problem was gone for about 2 weeks and then came back.
- Had AT&T do a homerun wiring with Cat 5.
- Still have loss of service once or twice a week
Current situation:
-UverseCare agent, who has done a lot of testing and monitoring of my line is extremely sure the problem is occuring at my RG.
- He lowered my profile from 32/5 to 25/2 this Saturday (4 days ago) to see if it fixed it, and he said if not, next step would be another RG.
- So far no loss of service (but too early to tell if a fix since the problem is random occurring once or twice a week) but my corrected blocks have improved a lot: from 20-50K a day on average to 4k and my noise margin improved from 17.2dB to 20.9dB.
Questions:
If less than 1000 feet why would a 35/5 not work? Could it be that the RG is near its own constraint at the 35/5. For example, I found this article written in 2009 when Uverse first tested/subscribed the 35/5 profile: »adslm.dohrenburg.net/uverse/inde···Itemid=6
In the article, testers showed a 30% increase to corrected and uncorrected blocks after switching up to a 35/5 profile from a lower profile and Noise Margin fell 9 to 10dB (consistent situation to me seeing a drop in corrected blocks and rise in Noise Margin when switched down.) The writer opined that that situation showed that the RGs were severally stressed with a 35/5 profile. So can some RGs not reliably handle a 35/5 consistently?
3 HDs feeds are watched in my house routinely, so I do not want to have to be on a 25/2 profile if I do not have to be and being so close to the VRAD, it makes no sense that I do if I am less than half the maximum a 35/5 can handle? Does it indicate any other problem (the 900 feet line has a problem on it, the RG needs to be replaced again, etc.)?
Anyone have any suggestions what to next next? Should I ask for another RG. Or try a different department: Someone here gave me the phone number for the Office of the President for landline services for my area. I guess I could try that next. Or is there a better avenue to take?
Sorry for all the questions, but I am hoping someone has answers, so I wanted to include everything.
Thanks. |
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| Re: Can RGs handle 35/5 profile? 900 feet away and problems? Using the UV Realtime program have you seen the Bitloading screen?
Perhaps you can post a screenshot of that tab. |
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1 edit | said by nephipower:Using the UV Realtime program have you seen the Bitloading screen?
Perhaps you can post a screenshot of that tab.
I do not have UV Real Time now but I can download and install it if it is helpful. Though when I had it previously and during the problem in June, the bitloading screen looked fine (I posted it here then and others said it was fine.) Also, a field tech showed me the bitloading screen a few weeks ago and he said it was great (He showed me others things - everthing tested perfect and clean - that is what is so puzzling.) But I will if it would be helpful. Let me know. |
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| Yeah, go ahead and post it and also the Error Table tab too |
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Bitloading 02-22-12 | 
Error table 02-22-12 | 
Stats 02-22-12 |
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| reply to nine9s2
It is a shame to put you on a 25M profile with those line stats. You should be able to have rock solid service on the 32M profile if the real source of the line errors can be found and removed. You might have dirty power or erratic source of EMI in the home or on the line somewhere that just doesn't pay nice with the notoriously finicky RG. |
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| said by Forosnai:You might have dirty power or erratic source of EMI in the home or on the line somewhere that just doesn't pay nice with the notoriously finicky RG.
Anyway something like that could be checked?
Also, an eariler UverseCare tech said there was a fault on the field line (he called it another circuit that only showed randomly.) He asked field people to do some things to address it but they refused, saying their testing showed whatever he requested was not warranted and after he requested it a second time, he got taken off my problem and someone else got involved (not sure if he gotten taken off it because of disagreement with field or for another reason.)
Based on one UverseCare tech seeing a stray circuit, but field people refusing to do anything about it (one came to my house and said he had a list of things to do, but he was not going to do any of them), would getting the executive landline office involved help any? |
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 NuckfutsPremium
join:2003-10-18
Joliet, IL
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·DIRECTV
| IMO, if they cannot resolve your issue it is time to move on. At that distance you should be on 32/5. I am in the same distance range and have never had a problem except an RG swap last year and my service has been very consistent. I find it hard to believe they would want to keep switching RG's all the time. The only time I see corrected blocks from my RG is from my wireless devices. Even when I had TV in the past I did not get many corrected blocks. I do not know if maybe somewhere something in the line is getting wet occasionally causing random drops or improper grounding somewhere is causing EMI or AM interference? |
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1 edit | reply to Forosnai
Thanks |
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| reply to nine9s2
Well based on the screenshots it looks like you power level is low. Perhaps that is the source of your problems. According the the UV Realtime docs you should be aroudn 13.5-14 db for your powerlevel |
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2 edits | said by nephipower:Well based on the screenshots it looks like you power level is low. Perhaps that is the source of your problems. According the the UV Realtime docs you should be aroudn 13.5-14 db for your powerlevel
What would cause that? Wouldn't the Belkin supply it with consistent power? Edit: This does not seem to be a problem. As per this thread: »Downstream Power Level an Issue? it seems a lower power level just means less power is needed because the line is so clear (so a good thing.) Also, I assume this is the power level generated by the VRAD and not the RG since it is downstream.
Odd note though: When I got a new RG about 6 weeks ago, it came with a new Belkin unit. Twice with that new Belkin on it, the RG got into some weird state were it was throwing off about 1000 corrected blocks a minute. For example look at the attached picture.
Both times, powering it off made it stop. Finally I quit using the new Belkin and started using the old one, and so far (3 weeks now), none of those weird corrected blocks episode. Also, I certainly doubt those were really corrected blocks, because it did it for days, and there is little reason to think the RG could really handle that many errors without crashing.
So maybe that indicates the RG is faulty instead of the Belkin and it just has not done it again yet. |
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1 edit | 
~5 hours of errors | 
25 minutes later and 5.5 million later |
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| reply to nine9s2
It definitely seems like you could be getting too strong of a signal from the VRAD. However the exact source of the problem and how to fix it. That would be a great question for Uversecare.
Please report back when you have a status update. I am curious to hear what the solution is. |
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 dbeatsonPremium
join:2001-02-22
Clover, SC | reply to nine9s2
I believe they can install an antenuator for people close to the VRAD this cuts the signal down a bit to stop the RG from being overloaded with too strong of a signal.
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»www.w4lny.com |
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| said by dbeatson:I believe they can install an antenuator for people close to the VRAD this cuts the signal down a bit to stop the RG from being overloaded with too strong of a signal.
So there is a good chance that is what is causing my RG to randomly reset (the VRAD is around an 1/8 of mile from me)? |
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| reply to nine9s2
distance is not the issue he is perfect distance from the VRAD...
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Andy - U-Verse Social Media Support Team T2 uversecare@att.com |
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Reviews:
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| reply to nine9s2
said by nine9s2:said by dbeatson:I believe they can install an antenuator for people close to the VRAD this cuts the signal down a bit to stop the RG from being overloaded with too strong of a signal.
So there is a good chance that is what is causing my RG to randomly reset (the VRAD is around an 1/8 of mile from me)? This was a major issue when I had Uverse installed (the first time) a few years ago. I'm 850' away from the VRAD, and the signal was still smokin when it got to my house. It was very common for the techs to leave a partial box of CAT5 cabling in your attic to extend your loop length! After canceling Uverse I decided to "repurpose" that cable, and added a few more drops around my house.
I had Uverse installed for a second time about 8 months ago. This time no extra cable was needed, and I recall the tech saying the issue was cleared elsewhere. It COULD be done at the VRAD (as they attenuate signals on the mux on a SoNET ring), but -- in this case -- it makes mroe sense to attenuate the signal at or after the DEMARC. I'd have to pop it open to see if one was added there. It could also be one of the perks of the 3801 vs the 3800. This is speculation tho.. |
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tel601
join:2005-08-11
Picayune, MS | reply to nine9s2
There was a customer in my area that had a issue where his RG would reboot several times a day. The line was perfectly clear but the signal level too high. The customer was only two houses down from the VRAD. A roll of cat 5 was added to the home run that fed the RG. This lowered the signal and stopped the rebooting. It is hard to tell if the signal is too high without running the BAN in Broad Band Test system(BBT). There was a line isolator attenuation plug made by westell that was in use for a short time, but I have not seen one for a long time. It looked like an ADSL filter. It provided a small amount of attenuation on the line. |
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4 edits | reply to nine9s2
said by tel601:There was a customer in my area that had a issue where his RG would reboot several times a day. The line was perfectly clear but the signal level too high. The customer was only two houses down from the VRAD. A roll of cat 5 was added to the home run that fed the RG. This lowered the signal and stopped the rebooting. It is hard to tell if the signal is too high without running the BAN in Broad Band Test system(BBT). That is how close I am (2 homes between me and the VRAD) but there is a good size drainage ditch/creek between 2 of the houses.
And this is making sense now. I got a homerun cat 5 install a few weeks ago. After that install (the very first night) is when the crazy 3000 corrected blocks a second first started (see screenshots above.)
This over-amplified signal seems to be a good shot at the problem because I assume that straight cat-5 homerun made the signal even stronger than when it was on my almost 25 year old telephone wiring from the NID. Maybe all those crazy corrected blocks (68 million in less than 6 hours) were a symptom of that. I called 800-288-2020 as they were happening, hoping if someone caught it in the act, it would help pinpoint the problem and the tech said my line showed "failure" when he checked and he could not really believe it was up and I was talking to him on it.
(ALso, I remember when I posted my DSL statistics on this site - and it was using the same field pair as my Uverse now.) An AT&T tech said that with my numbers, he wondered if I lived in my "hut" in reference to the remote terminal that served me.) |
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NuckfutsPremium
join:2003-10-18
Joliet, IL Reviews:
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| reply to nephipower
said by nephipower:Well based on the screenshots it looks like you power level is low. Perhaps that is the source of your problems. According the the UV Realtime docs you should be aroudn 13.5-14 db for your powerlevel
Mine is a 10 and works perfectly with a cat5 homerun. Was 13-14 when I had a coax homerun. |
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