ATT woes

[printcraft]

 

[doddg]

I've had ATT fiber for about a year now and I think the wireless portion of their router box is the problem for me. Unless they're deliberately messing with streaming traffic, I would have issues with the TV that was less than 10' from the box. Once I plugged it in via ethernet the problems went away. Even with a repeater downstairs, my living room TV still has issues where it says there isn't enough bandwidth and the show will go to SD, or sit and buffer. That's with 1GB fiber and only two TV's streaming with nothing else on the network. I'm thinking of putting my NetGear router back on as the wireless for that worked much better.

1. I'm going to tell you something and you will think I have started lying in my old age.
2. Wait for it: my son-in-law living below Nashville, TN has a speed of 900 (I got 450 on my laptop there, which I understand is normal to get 1/2 of hardwired).
3. He has had it for 2-3 yrs (in 2 different high-end housing developments).
4. Unbelievable!

 

[wtburnette]

A wired connection will always be superior for real time networking. Your netgear router will likely have a better wireless setup especially if it has external antennas. You have a couple options, turn off all the routing functions of the AT&T device and let the netgear do everything, or put the netgear in access point mode and turn off wireless on the AT&T device.

I'll likely do the latter.

1. I'm going to tell you something and you will think I have started lying in my old age.
2. Wait for it: my son-in-law living below Nashville, TN has a speed of 900 (I got 450 on my laptop there, which I understand is normal to get 1/2 of hardwired).
3. He has had it for 2-3 yrs (in 2 different high-end housing developments).
4. Unbelievable!

Yep. I love having fiber, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. I didn't notice a huge difference from the 120Mbps I was getting from Comcast, except for when streaming. I stopped getting buffering messages and quality drop outs. Then about a month ago I started getting those issues again from the wireless connections. Connected the upstairs TV via cable, as it's in the same room as the router and bought a wireless extender for the TV downstairs. The extender and Roku downstairs show I'm getting a strong signal, but it still has issues with streaming that it shouldn't have given that I'm on 1Gbps fiber. I'm hoping putting my old wireless router in access point mode will address the issue.

 

[eldirector]

My want for fiber isn't as much about the speed (which is nice) as the reliability. Fiber is simply a completely different type of connection than copper, and is MUCH less fault-tolerant. What, wouldn't that be a BAD thing? No, not really, Copper connections will stay "up" but allow for increasingly degraded speeds before they finally fail. They type of connection (RJ45, coax, and/or screw terminals with bare wires) allows for a lot of moisture intrusion and corrosion, and a lot more heat/cold movement. Fiber connections/lines simply don't allow for that. The connection type (don't recall the term) is more weather resistant. ANY failure in the connection is a near immediate failure in the circuit. Any damage to the line results an immediate failure of the circuit. None of this "well, our equipment responds to a ping, the problem must not exist" crap. It works, or it does not.

Had to reboot my ATT router this morning again. Guess what? 95% humidity outdoors, and rain moving in today. Luckily a 2 minute reboot clears its little brain and I'll be buzzing along until the weather changes again. According to ATT, that is perfectly normal for copper.

My tp-link access point has been rock solid, though. The ATT wireless, and both of their signal boosters, are still unplugged/disabled. 25 devices all with signal strengths in the -55 dB or better range anywhere in the house. I may put a repeater in the laundry room to push the signal out to my detached garage. It reaches today, but is marginal.

 

[LazyAce]

My parent's place in Yorktown would lose internet anytime it rained for more than 25 minutes.. Somewhere there was an exposed line. Eventually my mom moved out after about 10 years, problem was never resolved.

I'd never trust the ISP's own equipment. When Comcast/AT&T gives you a modem/router combo, more often than not it's a used/refurbished unit. I'm currently on comcast and had issues for about a year with their "combo modem/router" package. I eventually lost it, went out picked up a used modem and a new wireless router and haven't had issues since.

If you have the option to get your own gear I wouldn't hesitate to do so. I think Comcast now charges like an extra 13 bucks a month to rent their substandard equipment. I picked up a used DOCSIS 3.0 modem for like 45 bucks 4 years ago and a cheap TP Link dualband wireless router and been pocketing that. Combined maybe spent 115 dollars? My equipment paid itself back within the first year.

Also if you're using wireless and have a ton of devices your signal can get overused. Try setting up your dualband on the router, a chunk of your low bandwidth devices running on 2.4GHz, your highspeed streaming devices running on 5GHz. This has worked well in my household with 2 cellphones, 4 tablets, 2 laptops, 4 streaming devices. The 5GHz will have less reach than the 2.4 but it's double the bandwidth. If you guys have a lot of wireless devices in a larger home, I'd look into a mesh network.

 

[LazyAce]

Also, AT&T Fiber is working it's way down Shelbyville road. I live off of Emerson/Shelbyville and I'm really close to having fiber to my home... something like 100 bucks a month for 1000 up/1000 down and unlimited data (the lower teired packages are capped).

Within the next year or soI don't see why it couldn't work it's way into Wannamaker assuming they're going to push it that far.

 

[doddg]

My parent's place in Yorktown would lose internet anytime it rained for more than 25 minutes.. Somewhere there was an exposed line. Eventually my mom moved out after about 10 years, problem was never resolved.

I'd never trust the ISP's own equipment. When Comcast/AT&T gives you a modem/router combo, more often than not it's a used/refurbished unit. I'm currently on comcast and had issues for about a year with their "combo modem/router" package. I eventually lost it, went out picked up a used modem and a new wireless router and haven't had issues since.

If you have the option to get your own gear I wouldn't hesitate to do so. I think Comcast now charges like an extra 13 bucks a month to rent their substandard equipment. I picked up a used DOCSIS 3.0 modem for like 45 bucks 4 years ago and a cheap TP Link dualband wireless router and been pocketing that. Combined maybe spent 115 dollars? My equipment paid itself back within the first year.

Also if you're using wireless and have a ton of devices your signal can get overused. Try setting up your dualband on the router, a chunk of your low bandwidth devices running on 2.4GHz, your highspeed streaming devices running on 5GHz. This has worked well in my household with 2 cellphones, 4 tablets, 2 laptops, 4 streaming devices. The 5GHz will have less reach than the 2.4 but it's double the bandwidth. If you guys have a lot of wireless devices in a larger home, I'd look into a mesh network.

1. We don't run more than 2 TVs at a time, but we both could be on cmps at the also with our 2 cells: all at the same time.
2. We aren't downloading or uploading hardly at all on our cmps: if we had TV streaming it would be an issue.

 

[wtburnette]

Also, AT&T Fiber is working it's way down Shelbyville road. I live off of Emerson/Shelbyville and I'm really close to having fiber to my home... something like 100 bucks a month for 1000 up/1000 down and unlimited data (the lower teired packages are capped).

Within the next year or soI don't see why it couldn't work it's way into Wannamaker assuming they're going to push it that far.

They usually send out a offer for $70 a month when it first rolls out, good for the first year. I started mine up before the offer went out and pay $80 a month and when the first year ends it'll go to $90 a month. I called about the $70 offer but they wouldn't honor it. Even though I didn't have a contract, the best they would do is knocked $20 off one month...

 

[bacon#1]

Only Comcast.
I would never go direct satellite route: I know they lie about how they have fixed the issues of storms and snow.
They know I can switch and I've told them I talked to Comcast for an hour last week about switching.

Want my TDS 5mbs max? And everyone knows satellite never fails in stormy weather, it's only sunny and clear skies when it goes out.

 

[doddg]

They usually send out a offer for $70 a month when it first rolls out, good for the first year. I started mine up before the offer went out and pay $80 a month and when the first year ends it'll go to $90 a month. I called about the $70 offer but they wouldn't honor it. Even though I didn't have a contract, the best they would do is knocked $20 off one month...

1. Are you talking about ATT fiber when it becomes available?
2. they don't even have 50 speed in my neigborhood near S. Franklin/Southeastern Ave grid.

 

[wtburnette]

1. Are you talking about ATT fiber when it becomes available?
2. they don't even have 50 speed in my neigborhood near S. Franklin/Southeastern Ave grid.

Yes. Was replying to LazyAce, who said it was soon to be in his area.

 

[Route 45]

Also live near Wanamaker. I've been here since 2003. Used to have AT&T. Never again. I don't care how much of a savings AT&T is, I have Xfinity (Comcast) and love it, would gladly pay a premium to avoid the headaches of internet and TV that have intermittent issues. Usually get about 90mbps download speed and rarely have an issue. That's plenty fast for multiple devices. Don't know how much more it costs than AT&T, and don't care.

 

[jkaetz]

I'll likely do the latter.



Yep. I love having fiber, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. I didn't notice a huge difference from the 120Mbps I was getting from Comcast, except for when streaming. I stopped getting buffering messages and quality drop outs. Then about a month ago I started getting those issues again from the wireless connections. Connected the upstairs TV via cable, as it's in the same room as the router and bought a wireless extender for the TV downstairs. The extender and Roku downstairs show I'm getting a strong signal, but it still has issues with streaming that it shouldn't have given that I'm on 1Gbps fiber. I'm hoping putting my old wireless router in access point mode will address the issue.

The wireless extender is killing you. They will show a strong signal on your devices, but they introduce massive latency into the network path and hide signal problems between the extender and the access point. Extenders are the telephone game of wireless networking. Your device has to yell to it, then it has to go yell to another wireless device. Multiple hard wired access points are what you want if you can't get the whole house covered with a single AP.

Fiber's other big advantage is upload speed. They are usually limited to single digit Mbps. This means a lot of you want to do two video calling or offsite backups.

 

[doddg]

Also live near Wanamaker. I've been here since 2003. Used to have AT&T. Never again. I don't care how much of a savings AT&T is, I have Xfinity (Comcast) and love it, would gladly pay a premium to avoid the headaches of internet and TV that have intermittent issues. Usually get about 90mbps download speed and rarely have an issue. That's plenty fast for multiple devices. Don't know how much more it costs than AT&T, and don't care.

1. Very instructive: thanks!
2. As a last resort today, I hooked up with an ethernet connection into the "extender" to see if that will solve me disconnect issues for my laptop.
3. I know some will think it's my laptop (as my wife and I), but besides being at Ziebart for 2 hours yesterday w/o issue, my son-in-law (cmp geek) reminded my that I was at his house for 5 days at Xmas time and had not one issue (he has ATT: fiber).
4. My son-in-law said I'm not having speed issues, but only connection issues, and only with this laptop, which makes me wonder it is is a setting thing: but I'm woefully ignornant of such things.

 

[doddg]

The wireless extender is killing you. They will show a strong signal on your devices, but they introduce massive latency into the network path and hide signal problems between the extender and the access point. Extenders are the telephone game of wireless networking. Your device has to yell to it, then it has to go yell to another wireless device. Multiple hard wired access points are what you want if you can't get the whole house covered with a single AP.

Fiber's other big advantage is upload speed. They are usually limited to single digit Mbps. This means a lot of you want to do two video calling or offsite backups.

1. My son-in-law says it's not a real extender (loosely used term used by me and the ATT Tech last Monday): it is a "mesh."
2. He probably used that term b/c he thought I'd understand it since I had talked about an extender I had bought months ago but took out b/c it wasn't working.

 

[wtburnette]

The wireless extender is killing you. They will show a strong signal on your devices, but they introduce massive latency into the network path and hide signal problems between the extender and the access point. Extenders are the telephone game of wireless networking. Your device has to yell to it, then it has to go yell to another wireless device. Multiple hard wired access points are what you want if you can't get the whole house covered with a single AP.

Fiber's other big advantage is upload speed. They are usually limited to single digit Mbps. This means a lot of you want to do two video calling or offsite backups.

Well crap, nice to know I spent $60 on junk. I think it improved the service to my TV downstairs, but not enough to justify it. I'll have to pull out my old router to use and stop using the extender.

 

[jkaetz]

1. My son-in-law says it's not a real extender (loosely used term used by me and the ATT Tech last Monday): it is a "mesh."
2. He probably used that term b/c he thought I'd understand it since I had talked about an extender I had bought months ago but took out b/c it wasn't working.

The mesh setups are definitely better but will still sacrifice bandwidth and latency compared to multiple hardwired APs.

 

[doddg]

Well, I canceled my 4-6pm appt. b/c I came upon something that might work?
The "extender"/mesh is located here on the wall opposite the other side of the house where the signal is being sent (60ish feet).
I noticed it had 2 ethernet "plugs" in it.
I asked my son-in-law, and he said, "Try it."
I have no had a disconnection since I did that, but I've only been on the cmp for about 30 minutes an hour ago.
I will play with it during the evening, but earlier I loaded up about 8 sites, going in and out of them, trying to make the connection disconnect and couldn't, and this is with my 2 grandkids using their devices along with their Dad, but they are gone now.
I am leaving late tonight for an event, and must get some sleep before I go, after staying up to 3am last night, so I won't be able to be on the cmp for hours to test it out, but I'm hoping to get lucky.

 

[doddg]

"Extender"/mesh that I plugged in a few feet away from me, which I connected to with an ethernet wire has performed flawlessly with my laptop staying connected.
My speed has been consistent also.
I don't know why the Technician/ATT didn't know to tell me to do that.
It was my idea to my son-in-law (cmp geek) as he was trying to troubleshoot why my cmp would lose connection just 20' away from my desktop on the same wall that never had connection issues.

 

[WebSnyper]

"Extender"/mesh that I plugged in a few feet away from me, which I connected to with an ethernet wire has performed flawlessly with my laptop staying connected.
My speed has been consistent also.
I don't know why the Technician/ATT didn't know to tell me to do that.
It was my idea to my son-in-law (cmp geek) as he was trying to troubleshoot why my cmp would lose connection just 20' away from my desktop on the same wall that never had connection issues.

So you bypassed the wireless connectivity issues, by going hardwire between the laptop and the extender/access point?

That's an ok workaround if you are happy with staying tethered with the laptop. Won't help other wireless devices if the issue is in fact with your wireless network as opposed to the laptop iteslef being/having a problem with wifi connectivity (which you said you were fine at other locations with the same laptop).