Powerline Ethernet, problem and fix.

[gfmcbay]

I just had Uverse installed on Friday in a home setup that included an office area (where the modem went) and two TVs in very different parts of the house.  The tech had quite a lot of issues getting the tv syncs to work and he had to use different methods to connect the DVR and settop box (the secondary set top box is connected via an upstairs phone line, the DVR was backport connected via coax somehow).  While the install was ongoing I mentioned we had powerline ethernet (via Linksys PLE200s) connecting all these points already and it might be the best way to connect everything.  The tech said they had tried Uverse over powerline ethernet and found it didn't work and so wasn't supported.   Anyway, he finally got the two tvs working  via the other connections (coax and RJ-11) but soon after he left and I was trying out the new service I noticed massive amounts of frame freezing, pixelization issues, sound dropping, etc.   After some troubleshooting it turns out that any use of the powerline ethernet network tends to knock back service on Uverse TV causing these issues, and I could reproduce the issue pretty consistently just by downloading a large file over the powerline ethernet.  The odd part is this was happening even though the Uverse modem and boxes were not participating in the powerline ethernet network in any way.  My best guess is noise generated on the powerlines by the powerline ethernet is crossing over to the coax or the rj-11 and messing things up for Uverse tv.   Unplugging all the powerline ethernet adapters cleared the problem up but I was not looking forward to going back to wireless to connect all these points (so many of my neighbors use wireless that the channels can get pretty crowded and the wireless tends to slow to a crawl).  On a lark I decided to try connecting the two Uverse boxes into the powerline ethernet network and have them get their connection from the modem via cat-5 off the powerline ethernet grid and it turns out that the service runs flawlessly like this.

I'm posting this in case anyone else has similar issues and does a search that might find this -- if you have a powerline ethernet network and Uverse via RJ-11 and/or coax and you have massive freezing/pixelization issues that are still unsolved, try unplugging all the powerline ethernet adapters... If that clears it up, try to route the Uverse signals through the powerline ethernet and just forget about the RJ-11/coax connections, if your network setup allows for it.  This may or may not work for you, presumably Uverse does have issues with some powerline ethernet adapters, but it is worth a try and it totally cleared up all the problems I initially had with the tv service.

[Niko_1]

What powerline ethernet adapter do you use?

Can you share that with us?

I have phone line box in one room and coax in another ... after reading number of posts I now know I need powerline ethernet adapters so I can run TV via RJ45 not coax and have the cable laying around the floor.

Thanks for any help.

[gfmcbay]

I'm using Linksys PLE200 adapters.  There's another thread in this forum where someone mentions using Corinex AV-200 adapters and having success as well, so either of those would probably be good ones to try.  As mentioned in my first post, as far as I've heard from the tech running the Uverse IPTV over powerline ethernet is officially unsupported... but in my case it turned out to be the only option that actually gives me a watchable TV signal.. go figure.

Message Edited by gfmcbay on 12-21-2008 08:39 PM

[sschutz74]

I just got the netgear WNHDB3004.  They are stand alone Bridge pair. They are rare right now, but use 4x4 5ghz wifi.  These work great.  I have had problems galore with powerline working in my house.. reliable wifi seems to be here.  5ghz is basically clear and has 5x the channels of 2.4ghz wifi, so it is also interference free.   They are actually sold in Switzerland with Swisscom IPTV, which is basically based on the same Microsoft Media Room architecture as ATT Uverse.   I don't think they are officially supported, but they work great.

[gitpatel]

I have the very similar issue with "NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter" kit that I use to connect the U-Verse gateway to my desktop. As soon as I connect the ethernet wire from Netgear to Gateway, my wireless stops working and the moment I disconnect the cabel, wireless starts again.

Looks like U-verse gateway can not handle the signals coming from the Netgear adapter and kind of freaks out.

Any help from AT&T or anyone else will be very much appreciated.

And I know for sure that this powerline kit it working because just before I changed to Uverse from DSL model, it was working perfectly fine.

[HRG_Champaign]

Just ran into a similar issue with a brand new Uverse install.  Using the newest Netgear AV5001 Powerline Ethernet adapters, i have encountered significant interference with video signals whenever i a moderate/large amount of data is moving across that part of the network.  Picture freezes, hesitates and pixelates...  I guess the UVerse system/network does not like the "noise" in the power lines.  Back to square one with finding a good way to get wired Ethernet connection to my desktop computer which acts as a server for a variety of items in the house.

Wish i had read up before I bought the set.  Oh well, Amazon will still take them back for a few more weeks.

[willost]

I came across this message board after weeks of troubleshooting my home LAN, and finally resolving my issue last night (unfortunately before reading this post)!

I have always had excessive freezing, pixilation, etc... With all my U-verse HDTV's, however, it became significantly worse when I moved my entire LAN distribution location to a central closet. All morning and day the service would work fine - as soon as the early evening rolled around, kaboom, the freezing was horrendous. I had to ask myself, what changed. Sure I experienced intermittent problems before, but since moving the 2Wire Gateway into the closet, the video freezing has become a nightmare. I want to point out that my internet did not experience any degradation (nor did voice service); it was just the HDTV signal.

I have eighteen (18) Ethernet connection points within my house (all professionally installed by me). All have been terminated except for my son's room where I have two (2) CAT5E cables waiting in the attic, but not snaked down the wall yet. 

Given that my son needed an internet connection for his XBOX 360, I remembered I had a set of Netgear Powerline XE104 adapters in the garage...I installed this in my son's room for iNet connectivity - voila, challenge circumvented until I get my lazy butt in the attic and snake the final two Ethernet cables into the wall.

Well, now the problems really start getting unbearable... and here comes the conclusion.

The circuit I tapped off of to drop a 120 volt AC outlet into the closet (for the equipment - switches, routers, etc...), just happened to be the same circuit that was going to my sons bedroom...

So, the HDTV freezing got even worse when I terminated the Powerline units directly on the circuit that the 2Wire Gateway was on...

Why was service degrading so bad in the early evening and working okay for most of the morning and afternoon...? If you have teenage kids you probably guessed right, that's when my son finishes his homework and jumps on XBOX Live...

So it took me (a geeky computer nerd) months to figure out that these Powerline Ethernet adapters do not play nice with U-verse HDTV.

Summation: Everything works perfectly since removing the Powerline eNet adapters. My advice, do not use these at all with AT&T... They cause problems.

Steve W

Johns Creek, GA