AT&T U-verse → plasma TV makes my internet (U-verse) go down

can you guys help me with an issue that I have with my Plasma TV and my U-verse internet? I have read that these plasma TV's tend to have some kind of interference with other devices, in my case it's my modem. At first I thought that my internet was just going away at the same time everyday but then I noticed that as soon as I was turning the tv off the internet would come back again, so the problem is that as soon as I turn the tv on the broadband light on my modem starts blinking red and then I lose all the internet. I've read forums of people with the same problems and some of them said it was solved with an NID filter being installed but I checked this morning and apparently I do have one of those installed. So I don't know how else I can fix this problem and I was hoping that you could help me with this. I have a modem from U-verse which is Model 5031NV-030 and it comes with a grey backup battery, the modem is connected to the phone wall socket through a green data cable and the modem has 4 Ethernet ports and I'm using the first one to connect the desktop computer and the wi-fi for the rest of my devices. Apparently the phone wall socket already has a DSL filter that the U-verse technicians installed. I hope you guys can help me with this. Thanks in advance. Have a great day!

is the tv plugged into the same surge strip as the modem?

Nope, actually the TV causing the problem is in my room and the modem is in the living room. But I don't think it's a power problem cause I read in some other forums and people with the same problem are saying it's an RFI/EMI problem.

For kicks and giggles, if you run the modem off of the Battery Power provided by the Belkin BBU/unplug that from the wall, and test your theory, does turning the TV on/off cause the modem to drop then?

Yes I actually tried that yesterday and it still happened that's how I figured that it probably wasn't a power issue.

Plasma TVs generate a lot of HF (3-30 MHz) noise. DSL filters only mitigate interference between analog phones and DSL modems. What kind of wiring is behind the wall socket? Try plugging the modem directly into the test jack and turning on the TV.

I have Uverse TV and 12M internet and a Panasonic plasma all on the same circuit and have had no problems because of it for more than 6 years. Look elsewhere for the source of your problems.

Chris

I'm not really sure what kind of wiring there is behind the wall socket. On the other side, I also couldn't find a test jack to plug in the modem. The only thing I see is an NID filter hanging out and I already tried plugging it in there and the broadband light in my modem just keeps blinking red. I'll post a video of it.

By the way, It's a house divided into 2 apartments, I live downstairs.

Can you help me with this?

get a new tv?

in really extreme situations one could use a 589 or 3801 rg instead of a 5031.. Both are capable for internet but they also have TV capability which is why you get a 5031 .. its an internet only modem. If you can get a cool tech to roll out and show him no matter how many 5031 he plugs in they instantly go red with the tv on... for shits and giggles to try a 3801 and see if it does the same thing. I was on a job not to long ago where I went thru 5 5031's not a single one would sync even tho my meter synced in 20 seconds.. Put a 3801 in and it synced in 30 seconds. Had to notify manager and all that happy stuff so cx wouldn't get billed extra for the fancier RG.

If I were you I will make AT&T send out the correct modem for free because it's a internet and phone modem. If they don't ask to speak to a supervisor.

No POTS nor u-verse voice (VOIP) I presume?

We'd like to see a post of your 5031's Broadband Stats page (sync rates, attenuations, power levels, SNR margins, error rates, ... minus your PublicIP), while the TV is off.

i.e. Are your numbers marginal, with TV off? What are your rough per-day FEC/CRC counts?

About how close is your RG jack to the external NID (by line of sight distance, not expected to be highly accurate to actual wiring length)? Could be the TV interference is picked up by (long) internal phone wiring. (so shielding the RG itself -- by a vertical heavy frying pan -- between the line-of-sight to the TV won't help enough).

If can't have dedicated cat5e from NID to RG, but must use internal phone wiring, it should at least be segmented, so the NID to RG's jack is one piece, disconnected from the remaining loop of the rest of the house wiring.

You mentioned u-verse tech installing DSL filter (should be for analog phones only as I believe, not in-line to the RG). I had a pre-Power (pre dedicated cat5e) u-verse install with tech, that segmented my house wiring that way.

If your's wasn't segmented by the tech, you could still try moving your RG (temporary, just to test for improvement) to other jacks, if any are closer to the NID. They still won't be isolated from whole house loop, but it might reduce amplitude received by the RG.

Another slim chance for improvement: test if you can find an orientation of the TV that's reduces interference enough. i.e. Emulating the orientation changes that would result from moving the TV to another wall or corner of the room, without actually moving it very far yet from current general location.