Bell Fibe TV problems and Complaints

[Rich Chambers]

Last week, my internet went down around 9:15am. Windows 7 network centre had a red X between the modem and the internet. TV was working fine. After 20 minutes I rebooted the modem and after it recycled everything was fine.

It happened again the next day at 9:27am. This time, I rebooted my computer after which everything was fine. I called Bell, the initial tech sent me directly on to the next level since the TV should have died as well. A tech was sent to my house the very next day (note that they even offered an afternoon appt the same day. Great service).

The next day right on time the tech came and then measured all the lines from the main box through to the connector that comes inside my house. He changed the outside box, and showed me which modem lights to look for. The one marked "@" in particular.

Yesterday, same thing. All modem lights are blue. Today, same thing at about 9:15am. All modem lights blue. I rebooted my computer and all is well.

I can't help but think that the time is a clue. Only in the morning.

I plan to call Bell but wonder if anyone here has some thoughts.

Rich

[MrWaxx]

Rich, is your PC connected via ethernet or wifi?

Maybe completely unrelated, but I did have an issue after changing some of the wifi settings on the router. 2 iphones and a transformer tablet would randomly lose connection to the internet and I would need to disable/enable wifi on each device to fix the issue.

I had originally changed the channel bandwidth from default "auto" to 20. After changing it back to auto, the problem seems to be resolved.

[Rich Chambers]

Thanks, MrWaxx, we are connected by wifi. And, we do have 2 Android phones connected.

What is that about the channel bandwidth??

Rich

[MrWaxx]

Channel bandwidth is a router setting (Router IP - settings - wireless - general). There are are 3 options; 20, 40 and auto (default). 40 mhz should increase throughput (transmission rate) with a strong signal. However, I have read that it is much less effective with weak signals.

Anyhow, I had changed this setting (from auto to 20) to test the impact it would have on different wifi devices. This is when we started having problems with the internet connection being lost. After changing the setting back to "auto" the problem went away.

I am no expert but I would suggest you check this setting to make sure it is set to auto.

Another way to help isolate the problem is to determine whether or not the loss of connection in the morning effects ALL your wifi devices or ONLY the windows 7 pc. If all your devices are effected, my guess is the router/modem is the issue. If the windows 7 pc is the only device losing connection, my guess would be that your PC is the culprit.

If it is only your PC, I would make sure your wifi adapter's driver is up to date. Also, since your issue occurs in the morning, perhaps the issue has to do with your power management settings. A wild guess, but maybe when your computer hibernates / sleeps (overnight) is turns of wifi to preserve battery life and when it wakes in the morning it has an issue reconnecting.

Sorry, that's all the ideas I have...

[Rich Chambers]

Thanks, MrWaxx!

I'll check what you've suggested. This morning I booted up around 8:45am and the internet went down on both PCs went down at 9:05am.

They are both on Windows 7 and both use the same wireless adapter, so I will check on that.

Even though the network icon in the tray showed it was connected to the modem, I could not open the modem in my browser.

Rich

[nitra]

I had this issue with a Cellpipe modem, level 2 sent out a tech, they replaced it with a Sagemcom modem, it's been stable ever since.

On the Auto/40/20 Mhz issue, if you're having any issues whatsoever, you need to set this to 20Mhz, you might see less overall throughput, but you will get a much more stable connection and less dropouts. Also while on this thought, you should fix a channel on your wireless router, and stop it from using "Auto", it should also be noted, you should Only use channels, 1,6,11
Most people are very unaware that each of those channels overlap +/- 2 channels, so picking channel 6 will cover channels 4,5,6,7,8
I'd recommend getting inssider, http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider
With it you'll be able to sort out the best channel you should be on.
Fixing the channel and channel width will stop the router from auto adjusting to optimize the signal, this alone can stabilize the connection and make troubleshooting much easier. You mentioned above that your computer showed connected, but couldn't open the page, this is either a symptom of a bad Cellpipe, or the router swapped channels/channel widths, and your computer hadn't yet reconnected to the newer one.

There are many things that can kill 2.4 wireless, microwaves are a big issue, and even an apartment or other house nearby can cause serious issues. Personally, I needed to move to the 5Ghz band after my upstairs neighbors had a baby and they started microwaving formula.

[MrWaxx]

Funny, theoretically setting the bandwidth to 20mhz (as opposed to auto) should create more stable connections. This is one of the first settings I changed after the bell install with the sagemcom modem. However, for some reason this is when I started having connection issues similar to Rich. My wireless devices would say they are connected to the network, however I could not access the internet or the local network until I disconnected and reconnected. After changing back to "auto" all is well again.

I agree with choosing a fixed channel dependent or nearby access points to help overall stability.

[nitra]

You would need to fix both, 20Mhz and a fixed channel. It sounds like your devices didn't reconnect after the width was changed, I've seen this with older drivers quite often, removing the wireless connection and adding it back will generally resolve that.

[Red River]

hello.
I've recently switched to Fibe TV and have this intermittent HDMI error at startup only.
it's the H1005 HDMI no signal error. Work around I found is to quickly switch off/on then it will ask to press Select to watch Bell and sometimes everything works right away without any probs.
I've tried different things; even changed the HDMI cable and upgraded my TV firmware(Sharp Aquos 40")
One thing I want to try but don't know how is to change the order in which the remote switches TV. right now TV switches on first and after a second or 2 the PVR and maybe that's what causing it.
either way it's a weird problem and the installation tech had it too even with the component cables but then he reset the PVR and everything worked so we asked to try our HDMI cable again because the PQ sucked and it worked with our old PVR fine before.
however, after he left we discovered that the error message was back.
would appriciate any input on this.
search didn't find anything quite like my problem.
thanks.

[nitra]

Dr. Dave will have to chime in here, but that's a known issue with Sharps.
It's not isolated to the Fibe boxes, it's something in the TV.
You may need to use component, also, component shouldn't be considered inferior to HDMI..

[Rich Chambers]

Regarding my internet issues, I have updated the TrendNET driver on my wireless adapter, but I have left my wife's as it was.

That happened yesterday afternoon. No problems yet.

Rich

[Red River]

Originally Posted by nitra

Dr. Dave will have to chime in here, but that's a known issue with Sharps.
It's not isolated to the Fibe boxes, it's something in the TV.
You may need to use component, also, component shouldn't be considered inferior to HDMI..

it was working fine with the old PVR and the error was there with the component cables and like I said PQ was noticably inferior vs HDMI(there were 3 of us and we all saw it).
I'm thinking maybe it's the order in which devices are switched with the remote. PVR is a few secs behind the TV and I'd rather it to be on first.

[Dr.Dave]

@Red River, there seems to be an issue using HDMI with Sharp Aquos TVs on the Mediaroom boxes including Fibe TV. This has also been reported with VIP12XX boxes on Telus, MTS and AT&T in the U.S.

HDMI is a complex 2-way protocol and there can be incompatibilities between 2 different devices, particularly when one does something that the other doesn't expect.

From your post, it sounds like you have the Sharp Aquos TV plugged directly into the VIP2262. Is that correct? You should be able to use component to resolve your problem. You'll need the 3-cable component video plus the red/white cables for audio. Be sure that the HDMI cable is unplugged. It should be impossible to get the H1005 error if there isn't an HDMI cable.

Also check that that your VIP2262 is set to 720p or 1080i. Press MENU, select SETTINGS, Television, Screen Aspect ratio and high definition.

[Barb G]

Dr. Dave, I'm not sure if this problem belongs in this forum now, but as I'm the one who started it almost 2 years ago, here goes.

Since installation of Fibe TV in Aug. 2010, pretty much on a bi-weekly basis, one or more of my recorded programs shows as only .01 minute recorded on the progress bar. In fact, 60 minutes has actually been recorded but the progress indicator sits at the beginning of the progress bar incrementing as the program plays the full hour. However, if I miss a couple of minutes and have to rewind, the program starts at the very beginning again and I have to fast forward to get to the place I was at and continue on or watch the whole thing again! I called Bell about it several times but nobody had a clue. Finally this week I asked for a new PVR . I showed the tech the problem as I had retained 6 recent occurrences and he said it was a hard drive problem. He installed the new model PVR and I was so relieved until today when the same problem recurred on the new PVR. I called Bell and suggested perhaps it's a software issue but the agent insisted I have an 'enhanced' technician come out and check everything again - perhaps it's the modem.

Has anybody else experienced this problem or is my description to confusing to understand??

[Dr.Dave]

Barb, it could also be a problem with the guide or the data stream. If there's an error in the data, Mediaroom will have trouble skipping forward or backward, but will play the program just fine.

Bell should be able to check the modem stats and see if there's an unusually high error rate.