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Jeff B
@sbcglobal.net

Jeff B

Anon

how do i lose signal when I have cable tv?

Somebody wanna explain to me why I have Uverse package and I keep losing tv signal? Call me stupid but isnt cable tv a cable running the signal? I could understand if the cable was somehow severed during an accident or something, but nothing like that happend here. I ve lost my tv/internet signal more times since I've been with ATT (about a year) than happend to me in my entire length of service with Directv (about 8 years) as a matter of fact I never lost signal once when I had a dish.What are they splicing the signal too thin maybe? Running too many people off one signal? IDK but it sucks and is very irritating losing internet signal while in middle of something. Just not impressed so far with ATT.

ILpt4U
Premium Member
join:2006-11-12
Saint Louis, MO

ILpt4U

Premium Member

U-Verse is not cable TV

shortyd999
join:2008-10-21
Birmingham, AL

shortyd999 to Jeff B

Member

to Jeff B
You'll get that message when the STB can't display the video either from DVR or from watching live tv. That coud be from a cable(coaxial or Ethernet) being disconnected or an issue with the video feed from the channel you're watching. Usually changing the channel or power cycling the STB or RG will clear the issue. If it continues to happen you may need to call and report the problem or submit it here on the direct forum.
Moffetts
join:2005-05-09
San Mateo, CA

1 recommendation

Moffetts to Jeff B

Member

to Jeff B
Uverse is the 21st century evolution of tin cans with string in the middle. It was implemented on the cheap and it shows.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to ILpt4U

MVM

to ILpt4U
said by ILpt4U:

U-Verse is not cable TV

It seems that many ordinary, non-geeks think otherwise. I tried explaining U-verse to one person who liked her "cable TV". It would have been easier teaching a pig to sing. I guess if it is "on the wire", it is, "cable TV".
doubleohwhat
join:2008-10-25
Birmingham, AL

doubleohwhat

Member

Heh, most of the people with U-Verse still think their TV, phone and internet services all come into the house over separate wires/cables. There's no point in trying to explain that it's just a single data connection with the phone and TV being VOIP and IPTV.
WhyMe420
Premium Member
join:2009-04-06

2 recommendations

WhyMe420 to Jeff B

Premium Member

to Jeff B
The reason why AT&T "cable" is so unreliable for many is because the "cables" (read: telephone lines) are about as old as this video:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· Pwin92cI
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin to Jeff B

Member

to Jeff B
said by Jeff B :

Somebody wanna explain to me why I have Uverse package and I keep losing tv signal? Call me stupid but isnt cable tv a cable running the signal? I could understand if the cable was somehow severed during an accident or something, but nothing like that happend here. I ve lost my tv/internet signal more times since I've been with ATT (about a year) than happend to me in my entire length of service with Directv (about 8 years) as a matter of fact I never lost signal once when I had a dish.What are they splicing the signal too thin maybe? Running too many people off one signal? IDK but it sucks and is very irritating losing internet signal while in middle of something. Just not impressed so far with ATT.

I'm dying to know what AT&T told you to sell you uverse.

BTW uverse is not cableTV... if I told you what uverse is you wouldn't believe me

Rangersfan
@sbcglobal.net

Rangersfan to Jeff B

Anon

to Jeff B
said by Jeff B :

. . .as a matter of fact I never lost signal once when I had a dish.

Surely you jest!

Mr Anon
@sbcglobal.net

Mr Anon to Jeff B

Anon

to Jeff B
There are many reasons to loose signal as stated but one has been missed.

You can loose signal on a station because of bad weather. This is because somewhere in the video supply chain is a Satellite downlink, this is common, and if that area where the link is has bad weather to prevent it from working you will see a message on the channel telling you so.

I've seen this a few times on Cartoon Network and another station or two.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

1 edit

NormanS to WhyMe420

MVM

to WhyMe420
said by WhyMe420:

The reason why AT&T "cable" is so unreliable for many is because the "cables" (read: telephone lines) are about as old as this video:

Actually not. That type of switching equipment went into museums decades ago. Unless you live in Hooterville. In which case that type of switching equipment is probably still on order!

My former residence had not yet been built when that type of switching equipment was retired, so it is highly unlikely that the neighborhood wiring is half that old. (I know for a fact it is decades newer; having been hung on the poles in Spring, 2009.)

Can't you come up with better FUD?

P.S. To the best of my knowledge, that kind of switching equipment is a DSL killer.

P.P.S. The old, analog cable plant, such as Comcast had bought from TCI in my old neighborhood, was not able to carry the Internet without an infrastructure upgrade.

P.P.P.S. In my old neighborhood, the AT&T infrastructure upgrade needed for U-verse is about ten years newer than the Comcast infrastructure upgrade needed for cable Internet; which Comcast bought from ATTBI.

Rangersfan
@sbcglobal.net

Rangersfan to WhyMe420

Anon

to WhyMe420
said by WhyMe420:

The reason why AT&T "cable" is so unreliable for many is because the "cables" (read: telephone lines) are about as old as this video:

If that is true about the "cables" (read: telephone lines), then U-verse internet, which is delivered on those same lines, should also be unreliable.
WhyMe420
Premium Member
join:2009-04-06

WhyMe420 to NormanS

Premium Member

to NormanS
lol @ you taking me literally. Point was most of the lines are old and barely kept up.

@anon: OP said they were having Internet issues as well.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to Rangersfan

Premium Member

to Rangersfan
said by Rangersfan :

said by WhyMe420:

The reason why AT&T "cable" is so unreliable for many is because the "cables" (read: telephone lines) are about as old as this video:

If that is true about the "cables" (read: telephone lines), then U-verse internet, which is delivered on those same lines, should also be unreliable.

That is where interleaving comes in. Interleaving is REQUIRED for U-verse, as the line by default has too many errors for a normal, non-interleaved (V)DSL connection to work reliably on speeds higher than say 3 Mbps or so.

This site (DSL Reports) has a good discription of it:

"ADSL modems are capable of data interleaving, which is a technique used to increase resistance to noise bursts on a line. Interleaving decreases the chance that noise on a line will cause data transmission errors. Interleaving may be necessary in situations where the quality of the phone line is sub-standard or you are approaching the distance limits of DSL service.

The down-side of interleaving is that it increases latency (ping). This is because a single packet is spread out over several packets before it can be fully sent or fully received. Interleaving may be necessary to ensure a stable and reliable connection in cases where the line quality is poor."


Basically, with some clever techniques you don't really notice that the line is poor.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to WhyMe420

MVM

to WhyMe420
said by WhyMe420:

lol @ you taking me literally. Point was most of the lines are old and barely kept up.

I still dispute that. If U-verse is available, AT&T has spent capital on infrastructure upgrades. They might skimp on F1 spans where U-verse isn't offered, and F2 spans which aren't tied to VRADS. But if there is U-verse, the copper has been worked over. As I said, AT&T upgraded the F2 span in my old neighborhood. Replaced a 50-pair span with a 100-pair span to allow enough pairs for pair-bonded IPDSLAM service.

shortyd999
join:2008-10-21
Birmingham, AL

shortyd999 to WhyMe420

Member

to WhyMe420
Interesting video!
WhyMe420
Premium Member
join:2009-04-06

WhyMe420 to NormanS

Premium Member

to NormanS
Just because they replaced the F2 plant at your neighborhood doesn't mean they did it everywhere. Why do you think that we see so many tons of posts on here about messed up lines? Yeah I'm sure all these issues are on brand new pairs.
WhyMe420

WhyMe420 to shortyd999

Premium Member

to shortyd999
I think so lol. There's other videos that show the evolution of the phone line. While all that was amazing in it's day, the day has come that the telephone line is a dead media. AT&T is just doing things on the cheap. DSL is at dead end. Landline is at a dead end. Wonder how long they'll milk the copper? Well I'm happy (for now) with the 24/3 and particularly the lack of caps but the day will come when I will ultimately switch to cable. How fast that will happen depends on how fast AT&T gets their caps up and running.

ATT_TECH
@rr.com

ATT_TECH to WhyMe420

Anon

to WhyMe420
said by WhyMe420:

Just because they replaced the F2 plant at your neighborhood doesn't mean they did it everywhere. Why do you think that we see so many tons of posts on here about messed up lines? Yeah I'm sure all these issues are on brand new pairs.

Agreed.

But I would like to point out it really doesn't matter. Pushing 12 Mhz over 24 awg cat 3 takes a perfect implementation.

Just from my own anecdotal evidence well over 90% of the work is downright janky rush job, hope it lasts 7 days ( 30 now ). No twisting, no grounding, nasty termination/ naked wires in X-boxes, running wires over noise sources, ect...

Thats what happens when you give a tech 112 minutes to do a 4.5 hour job.

Why anybody would ever use that janky service is beyond me.
DRNewcomb
join:2012-07-25
Long Beach, MS

DRNewcomb to NormanS

Member

to NormanS
I had someone ask me how she could get "cable TV" in their motor home. I started explaining how it would be kind of restrictive to have their motor home tethered to a cable. She just got exasperated with me because I didn't understand that "cable TV" meant any TV where she could watch "cable" channels. In this particular case, "cable" meant "satellite". (Stupid me.) Sort of like talking to people about their computers and saying, "open your web browser", and they give you a blank stare. Then when you demonstrate it, they say, "Why didn't you just say, 'Go to Google'?"
Expand your moderator at work
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
Westell 6100
Cisco PIX 501

cramer to NormanS

Premium Member

to NormanS

Re: how do i lose signal when I have cable tv?

The rotary ("step") switches, yes. (I've not seen one in over 20 years.) However, the wire behind them is, in *many* places, still there today. No one ever goes in and rips out all the wire in a CO -- that would be very expensive and disruptive to customers; 'tho they do build new COs and then switch over. Nor do they ever pull up the cable they trenched decades ago. (they leave that to the DOT to "accidentally" drag up. )

There's telco cabling here in Raleigh, NC that's as old as that video. (24AWG to boot. DSL on those lines is FANTASTIC.) The cable to my parent's house (rural NC) was replaced in the late 70's after the DOT dug up several hundred feet of it; and a section was replaced in the 90's when the water company cut it (cable location was incorrectly marked.) The rest of the cable is as old as that video; the CO was rebuilt around 1985 and the old rotary CO leveled. (it's an empty lot today.)

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey to ATT_TECH

Premium Member

to ATT_TECH
said by ATT_TECH :

Why anybody would ever use that janky service is beyond me.

Because it's $cheap$. No matter how bad or slow it is, people will still buy it if the price's right.

/M

Ender3rd
join:2001-07-15
Connecticut
·Frontier FiberOp..

Ender3rd

Member

Also, ATT has done an excellent marketing job that convinces people that the Uverse product is AMAZING! Big on promises but short on delivery, at least in my neighborhood. A friend down the street was soooooo happy to finally get Uverse installed. The first evening he was greeted with tiling, audio dropouts, picture freezing, and other wonderful effects. When a picture was actually delivered it had all the quality of VHS tape. He also enjoyed how the picture would freeze for an instant whenever his phone rang. He lasted about a week with several unsatisfactory attempts by techs to correct all the issues, then he initiated the service removal project with ATT. Ah well, you live and learn.
retired17
Premium Member
join:2007-01-24
Anaheim, CA

retired17 to Jeff B

Premium Member

to Jeff B
Your Uverse TV signals are sent over the same two wires that your telephone is connected to. If there is a huge distance between where the Uverse signals are placed on the two wires and your location then there will be attenuation or weakening of the signal. A weak signal is evidently the cause of your problems. Other posters have complained the salesperson said their distance would not cause problems but that wasn't the case. They would promise you anything to get you to sign-up.
myersw
join:2008-07-12
Huntington Woods, MI

myersw to NormanS

Member

to NormanS
said by NormanS:

said by WhyMe420:

lol @ you taking me literally. Point was most of the lines are old and barely kept up.

I still dispute that. If U-verse is available, AT&T has spent capital on infrastructure upgrades. They might skimp on F1 spans where U-verse isn't offered, and F2 spans which aren't tied to VRADS. But if there is U-verse, the copper has been worked over. As I said, AT&T upgraded the F2 span in my old neighborhood. Replaced a 50-pair span with a 100-pair span to allow enough pairs for pair-bonded IPDSLAM service.

etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin to Ender3rd

Member

to Ender3rd
said by Ender3rd:

Also, ATT has done an excellent marketing job that convinces people that the Uverse product is AMAZING! Big on promises but short on delivery, at least in my neighborhood. A friend down the street was soooooo happy to finally get Uverse installed. The first evening he was greeted with tiling, audio dropouts, picture freezing, and other wonderful effects. When a picture was actually delivered it had all the quality of VHS tape. He also enjoyed how the picture would freeze for an instant whenever his phone rang. He lasted about a week with several unsatisfactory attempts by techs to correct all the issues, then he initiated the service removal project with ATT. Ah well, you live and learn.

Yes all that is true, in my neighborhood at&t also used peer-pressure. We had a very popular and pushy neighbor selling uverse to the rest of us.

Probably he made a small fortune in referral money as many of us used his code to sign up with uverse. Needles to say when the problems that you mentioned started to pop up everybody went back to cable and/or satTV.

Basically he betrayed us for 30 pieces of silver and he no longer is popular, it is amazing how fast you can change your perception of someone.
etaadmin

etaadmin to myersw

Member

to myersw
said by myersw:

said by NormanS:

said by WhyMe420:

lol @ you taking me literally. Point was most of the lines are old and barely kept up.

I still dispute that. If U-verse is available, AT&T has spent capital on infrastructure upgrades. They might skimp on F1 spans where U-verse isn't offered, and F2 spans which aren't tied to VRADS. But if there is U-verse, the copper has been worked over. As I said, AT&T upgraded the F2 span in my old neighborhood. Replaced a 50-pair span with a 100-pair span to allow enough pairs for pair-bonded IPDSLAM service.

I know many parts of Texas that have uverse (internet only) that never received any 'infrastructure' upgrades. One day at&t decided to switch all of their ADSL users to uverse internet without doing anything to their lines.

Some of those places are Corpus Christi and the rio grande valley area.

Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

Metatron2008

Premium Member

Cable tv is transmitted using a combination fiber coax system.

So yes, Uverse IS cable tv, only it used ancient twisted pair coax instead of the newer stuff cable uses, and they cheap out on their installs.

And uverse uses iptv
UverseTech2
join:2012-08-04

UverseTech2 to myersw

Member

to myersw
in most areas they never connected to any of the new cable that a contractor installed it is like this all over. you are right they did run the backbone cable but without connecting most of it what the use