My wife and I had landscaping done and the workers accidentally cut the fiber optic line to the house. ATT tech came out and re-ran the line. The internet continued to cut out multiple times, particularly in the morning.

A tech came back out, tested the fiber optic line and said the connection was good, but there were errors and replaced the modem with a new modem. Next day and from then on the internet keeps dropping. I get an error message in my browser saying the ATT modem cannot connect to an IP and the modem light blinks red.

To me this indicates there is an issue with the line or network coming into the house, but they are pushing back saying it is my router.

Can a router somehow disrupt an ATT fiber optic modem and cause it to blink red? That doesn’t make much sense to me.

I am going to buy a new router, but it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that everything was fine until they ran a new line to the house.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

  • Strong-Mix9542@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Might have dirty fiber. If the light on your modem blinks red its definitely an ATT problem. You want to get the tech to run a radius test. Keep calling in troubles, when you get to 5 in a 30 day window the area manager will get involved.

  • sandman404knows@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Fiber pen / cassette cleaning combo for all the patch points. The RJ45 side can test with a good cable or different cable to see behavior change (if any). Eliminate devices to simplify the root cause.

  • heimdal77@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Had something like this years ago. Kept having to have techs come out till one thought to check the pole. It turned out they had put some kind of filter on the lines what was the wrong kind and it was cutting the signal in and out.

  • xbiker12@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    when mine was initially setup I had intermittent connection issues. I was able to monitor the Rx power and see it fluctuate. (the numbers to the right of the decimal are not displayed correctly which took awhile to figure out)
    0.16 is ACTUALLY 0.016
    0.160 IS what we would typically write as 0.16
    its showing how many thousands and not padding the zeros correctly.

    I called and a tech came out and cleaned the outside house box connection, the connection at the street, and the connection on the other side of the street. been solid since then.

  • guy30000@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    The errors you see are telling you its their stuff. Don’t buy a new thing. You just spoke to a dummy.

  • fieroloki@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    You have your own router connected to the ATT modem? If you connect directly to the ATT modem do you still have issues?

  • vrtigo1@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Based on what you’ve stated, it absolutely sounds like an AT&T problem.

    If the problem continues, simply disconnect your router and connect a PC directly to the AT&T modem. If the problem continues, AT&T won’t be able to blame the problem on your equipment since it’s disconnected.

    FWIW, my experience with AT&T fiber support has been abysmal. I had a similar issue and the tech they sent out straight up lied when he filled out his work order, saying the issue was my router even though he used his AT&T laptop connected directly to the modem and experienced the same problem. They tried to charge me $100 for a site visit because the problem was on my side. Took nearly 3 months of fighting with them to get that fixed.

    • SamirD@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      This why I never put accounts on autopay–fighting to get money back is a big fight.

      • vrtigo1@alien.topB
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        10 months ago

        Anything autopay is on a CC for me so it’s relatively simple. If it’s a legit bad charge, I just dispute it with my card issuer and let them handle it.

  • rokar83@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Try plugging directly to the AT&T modem first. See if that works.

    If it does, you’ll have to turn off the dhcp sever in the AT&T router. if you want to use your own.

  • lubbz@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Get a 5 port modem, bypass the router and plug I. Your devices and see if it happens.

  • djrobxx@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Yeah, if the light on the gateway is flashing red, it probably has nothing to do with your equipment.

    But dealing with tech support, it’s best to simplify down to just their equipment. I literally disconnected everything and just had a laptop with an ethernet cable going into their box when the tech showed up. And even then, the techs tried to blame the USB/ethernet adapter, so I had to dig out an older laptop with integrated ethernet 😂

  • MischiefMayhemMagic@alien.topOPB
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    10 months ago

    Thanks for everyone’s replies!

    We called ATT today because the internet refused to come back on at all and they sent a different tech who identified the issue.

    The tech used his meter and it showed there was a connection issue within 39 feet of the modem.

    Apparently when the fiber cable terminates against the house they have to cut the cable and make a manual connection. The tech who hooked up the line didn’t do a good job cleaning the glue away and bent one of the fibers.

    The tech from today was baffled the other tech didn’t discover the issue (but the other tech who came out numerous times was also the one who hooked up the fiber initially).

    The tech also said he had one case where the router was actually causing issues with the modem, but he said that is extremely rare.

    • SamirD@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      Glad to hear this is sorted. I heard our next door neighbor had to have att come out 3 times to get their fibre right. This is one of the main reasons I haven’t signed on yet.