To SomeJoe7777,
I am kind of concerned that my signal isn't the way it should be since my neighbors on either side of me have a 32,5 profile and I have the 25,2. After taking these screen shots I dug into the readme for the RealTime program and think there are issues with FEC rate, Attenuation, Noise Margin, Power Levels and BitLoading. Everything I read pointed me in the direction of a "Bridge Tap" problem.
Armed with that possibility, I called support and was told they looked on the computer and didn't see any problem, and unless I was getting pixilation or freezing they wouldn't come out to investigate. But for $55 they would send a tech to investigate with no guarantee of results.
Could you look at these screen shots and tell me if my theory of a "Bridge Tap" issue holds water? And if so, how to proceed?
Thanks
Don
Thanks for spending the time to look at the screen shots. 
I can't believe how much I've learned/experienced in the 2 weeks of being a customer.
Any suggestion on how to explain to support that I have a potential issue and avoid the $55 truck roll fee? Can they see the Bit Loading info from their computer systems and act on that?
Just call tell them you're experiencing pixelation and periodic freezing. Which actually is probably true ... with the FECs you're getitng it would be hard to imagine that you're not.
They'll send the premises tech, once he gets there, show him your bitloading graph, he'll know there's a bridge tap and will get I&R to come look for it.
SomeJoe7777 wrote:Just call tell them you're experiencing pixelation and periodic freezing.
They'll send the premises tech, once he gets there, show him your bitloading graph, he'll know there's a bridge tap and will get I&R to come look for it.
The FECs are some times in the 2k range, but mostly 0. But I get the point, now I see some occasional pixilation and freezing
Thanks
Don
Fingers crossed!
I have to say, AT&T surprises me LOL
After the phone call from the prem tech yesterday telling me due to the holiday weekend it might push out the time to fix until Wednesday, a line tech knocked on my door first thing this morning (Sunday) to let me know he found the bridge tap, fixed it and just needs to reset my RG.
After the reset, the signal levels are much improved and said he put in to change my profile from 25,2 to 32,5 but that would take a few hours and for me to reboot the RG in the afternoon.
Anyhow, here are the before and after Realtime shots:
Interestingly enough, I am now 100 feet closer to the VRAD.
Before:
After:
He got rid of one bridge tap, but there's another one still on the line.
Your probably still getting pixelation and intermittent freezing. 
SomeJoe7777 wrote:He got rid of one bridge tap, but there's another one still on the line.
Your probably still getting pixelation and intermittent freezing.
I was afraid you would say there's another one. 
When the tech finished and rebooted, I brought up RealTime, showed him the graph and he was surprised and said OH, you can see the same things we can. I asked if there was another bridge tap and he said he only found 1 about 200 feet from the house.
I guess I'm going to be labeled a frequent caller to CS and never get service.
Edit:
Tried to call the tech that came out today, but no luck.
Called tech support and they looked at my line and said there were no more bridge taps, and then tried something else and said there was another one about 32 feet long, but it didn't show up on the first program screen he looked at.
Very helpful support rep. Maybe the line tech only looked at first screen and not the supplemental???
He couldn't schedule anything for today, but set up a tech for tomorrow.
Asked about the 32.5 profile change and he said it looks like the tech today put it in, but its not gone thru yet, possibly because the billing dept has a holiday weekend??? I didn't see the connection, but OK 
Monday 4:30 PM
After 5 hours of the line tech checking everything from the VRAD to my house, he found a few things to fix. Junction boxes with old rusty wires, connections causing interference ect. Sure enough, on his computer it shows my line now getting 44K down and 6K up. But even though RealTime and his computer indicates a bridge tap, none was to be found.
His theory is that the problem may lie with the ethernet cable the installer ran to to the RG. So he called the shop and a prem tech is scheduled to come out tomorrow. He thew out the caveat that the prem tech may pass it back to the line tech group, but they would work that out tomorrow.
He did say that the line is now good enough to support the higher profile of 32,5 and he would find a "co-operative" level 2 support person to make the change.
As I'm typing the TVs froze, RG beboots and WOO-HOO I'm now 32,5.
Note: When the 32,5 profile loaded, the bridge tap indication practically disappeared. The tech just called to let me know the RG would be rebooting in a few minutes, I told him it already did and the BitLoading appears much better, he checked on his computer and said that never happened before.
Moral of the story is twofold:
1, That AT&T has worked hard to satisfy a customer, and succeeded. I'm liking my UVerse even better now !!!
2. The RealTime program from SomeJoe7777 works excellently and allows the customer to communicate with techs in almost their language.
Heres the before and after of todays work.
Before:
After:
Tuesday 8:15 am
The prem tech arrived first thing this morning and ran a check on the wiring with meters. He added a device inside the NID, which I think was called a banding (sp) ?, and grounded a wire. He said he always puts one on his installs because he feels it eliminates some interference, thinks other techs don't because its not always needed.
After doing that, booted RG and it looks like my BitLoading, Noise Level, Power and Max Rate all improved.
While not perfect, it certainly appears to me that AT&T has done a good job getting my service to totally satisfactory levels.
On a different subject, does anyone know what the large button with the wireless icon on the front of the modem is for?
My neice pushed it over the weekend and it started flashing. I tried pushing it again but the flashing continued, and all my UVerse TVs and wireless remained on, so I rebooted the modem to stop the flashing.
Can't see your screenshots yet (but you know that by now).
The skeleton key button is for sharing wireless with Guests.
spd2demun wrote:Can't see your screenshots yet (but you know that by now).
The skeleton key button is for sharing wireless with Guests.
Can you explain that feature, or is there a thread about it?
I did a search, but only came up something where you said you can activate it back in March.
Also had asked the prem tech this morning, but he had no idea.
Edit:
Found it under Big Button and answer was:
Randy has given y'all the correct answer TWICE!
1) It is a Guest Pass to allow visitors to your home to access your Wireless without giving them your password.
2) It does NOTHING, AT&T has the feature turned off.
Yeah, I was coming back to FINISH my post...power went out here and I was using Ethernet. 
But, you found it and that's the story.
