Tutor
•
9 Messages
Issue with outside wiring, not getting fixed. Please Help!
I am writing this post on behalf of my parents. They have U-Verse TV, Internet, and land phone. They have had U-Verse for about 3 years. Since they got it, they have had issues with the service dropping for short periods of time, randomly, at least once every week or 2. They have had service techs come but no one has really been able to solve this issue. The outages have been short enough and intermittant enough for them to just suffer through them until the service kicks back on.
However, since July 4, their service (TV, Internet, and phone) has been out about 70% of the time. It will sometimes come back and stay on for a day or 2 but then it will go out again for a few days. We have tried everything from rebooting, unplugging, and other steps that the phone reps have instructed. We have also had techs come to the house 1-2x/week since then (I think 5 times total) to try to fix the issues. It seems that the phone reps can detect some sort of issue with the outside wiring, and the techs have been coming and doing different things with the wiring, but the issues continue to persist or actually get worse. Finally, my mom called on Thursday and probably yelled at the phone reps very badly and demanded the issue be fixed right away. I believe she was told that a "senior tech" would come to the house the next day (friday) but one never came, and then when she called back on Friday they said they had no record that someone was supposed to come out.
My parents are old, and are unable to do many things, especially during this heat wave that we have been having here in the midwest this week. They seriously depend on the TV being able to work, and the telephone as well since they dont have cell phones. This situation has become very very bad and near emergency level. It is causing them alot of stress which they cant have and they are becoming furious.
I would also like to add that I believe that when they had the U-verse installed, the installer had to do some sort of complicated wiring around the outside of the house because there was a phone jack or something in another room and they had to run wires outside from one room to the other. I am unsure if this is related to the issue, or if it has more to do with the wires from the utility box or something else.
Anway, I made this post just to see if there is anything that anyone on this forum can do to help or any advice or anything that might be able to help us because the situation has become very bad and we are very desperate for help.
Thank you.
davemize
ACE - Professor
•
3.7K Messages
5 years ago
With 4 - 5 tech visits in less than 3 weeks, you should push for service escalation and a more radical solution. At this point, suggest the tech start at the VRAD with a card & port swap, ensuring only a K or N card is used. Also try for new post assignments in the service terminal, along with rebuilding the NID on the outside of the home. Since you mention "unusual wiring" done at the home, also suggest a new CAT5 home run to the gateway, along with redoing any internal wiring and the data jack at the home. You don't mention any equipment replacements; if none, replace the gateway.
Such extreme service repeats weren't common during my time at ATT, but they weren't uncommon, either. I had several such repeats, where I essentially had to redo a recent install from scratch in order to solve a nagging service issue.
0
0
wpascarelli
Tutor
•
9 Messages
5 years ago
Thanks. Do you know if there is an easy way to call U-Verse and tell your comments to them so that they would get relayed to the tech that supposed to be coming tomorrow (monday)? I do not plan on being present to tell him these things. I also dont know what they have already done, although each of them have supposedly done "something" involving the outside wiring and the service box. Also, I do not know if the wiring is "unusual" or not, I just mean that they had to run a long length of wire around the outside of the house to go from one room to another, and I am not sure if that is the norm or if that could be causing issues.
Regarding the Gateway, they have had it replaced at some point previously (maybe a year ago), to try to fix the intermittant issues they were having, however they have not had it replaced since the issues became more serious in the last 3 weeks.
*Edit* actually my brother might be there when the tech comes, I relayed all your suggestions to him to tell the technician.
0
0
davemize
ACE - Professor
•
3.7K Messages
5 years ago
No easy way to communicate this. You'll have to be firm and insistent in your conversations with customer support, letting then know that you can't continue with service this unreliable. Individual U-verse garage managers have a lot of control over this type of thing. The down side for the tech is the time involved; such repeat calls can far exceed the allotted time for a standard service call. Some garages are more aggressive with troublesome installations; I;ve seen managers go out on these escalation calls with the tech to observe and soothe ruffled feathers. As you can tell from the messages here, that seems to be a rarity these days.
0
0
wpascarelli
Tutor
•
9 Messages
5 years ago
The technician is at the house and my brother is there and said he is not interested in doing the things that @davemize stated above. He is still there so I am not sure what he is doing and if he is going to get the service to work regardless, but he would not listen to the suggestions.
0
0
dinglesby
Scholar
•
205 Messages
5 years ago
I know this is not the answer you are looking for but the only solution is to change providers. AT&T is no longer interested in Uverse or Direct TV. They are concentrating on their streaming services. I do not see AT&T Uverse improving as AT&T is not investing in the service. Sorry but changing providers is you only option.
0
0
davemize
ACE - Professor
•
3.7K Messages
5 years ago
I hope that the tech was able to resolve your issues. It's hard to fault the tech here, since my suggestions involve a lot of time- time the tech won't normally be allotted, without manager support. Please let us know how this all turns out.
0
0