Just got U-Verse -- Internet speed is dodgy...

StephenP85 · ‎10-27-2010

I got u-verse installed Tuesday with the 18mbps internet (and U-450 and voice unlimited). I switched from Cox, thinking I would get more reliable internet during peak times. Not so. Since then, regardless of what time it is, I am having a tough time even getting a page to completely load. Sometimes it will just time out, and I'll refresh it once or twice to get it to come back up. Other times it will load halfway until I refresh. Getting a Youtube video or Netflix to stream is nearly impossible. Youtube videos will load about 10-20 percent and then just stop. If I refresh, it may or may not load another 5 percent. Sometimes i can get lucky and watch a full video if it's only a minute or two long.

I've been looking at these forums and saw that people were posting screenshots of U-Verse Realtime, so I downloaded the program. See my screenshots below. I don't know what any of it means, but the red and orange numbers can't be good. Any idea what could be causing the problem?

mibrnsurg · ‎07-15-2008

You don't have enough max bandwidth to have the 25/2 profile and 18M internet, SomeJoe's number are saying you should be on the 19/2 profile and things would be stable (w/12M internet). Right now TV is probably interrrupting as it has priority.

Chris

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-866-465-1496 for direct TS to avoid Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

Red numbers at the bottom of your screen shot show the profile your servics should be set at, 1900 but your profile is currently set at 25200 which may be too high.

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

Very likely you have a bridge tap on your line. For only being 2000' from the VRAD, a 29.9 Mbps max rate is very low. The average max rate for people within 1 dB of your attenuation value is 37.6 Mbps.

Please post a screenshot of the bitloading tab to confirm.

StephenP85 · ‎10-27-2010

What's a bridge tap?

Here's a screenshot.

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

I can't confirm it from that screenshot, but I still think there's one there.

A bridge tap is a length of wire connected to your line that goes to another location, but isn't connected to anything on that end. It forms a "T" connection in your line. Usually, bridge taps are left over from previous customer installations that used to use your pair.

Bridge taps cause reflection of the signals on the line and attenuate the VDSL signal, resulting in interference, errors, and low data rates.

Call technical support, request they send a premises technician to come check your line. The premises technician will call the Installation and Repair (I&R) group (the linesmen) if necessary, to come find and remove the bridge tap.