Perhaps the 3801 isn't the only equipment being used. A quick search found this posting from three months ago.
It references the AT&T 5268AC router. It appears to be made by Arris. This seems to be a voice gateway with wifi. https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-Internet-Equipment/Radio-frequency-interference-from-U-verse-equipment-on-Amateur/td-p/4888880 Art NK8X ᐧ On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 6:53 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 2:38 PM, Art Snapper <[email protected]> wrote: > > There are numerous reports on the web from hams experiencing RFI from > and to > > Uverse. My main point is AT&T was complaining about receiving RFI, > without > > keeping their own house clean. > > 73, > > I'm sorry, Art. Just can't go along with you here. Nothing personal. > > I spent some time looking up hams, RFI, Uverse, etc., based on your email. > > An awful lot of the reports I found are over five years old, They > predate discontinuance of the 2-Wire (brand name) model 3800 gateway > box that AT&T used heavily on early Uverse. > > That actually is a big clue, because it verifies what I've always > thought, that the 2-Wire 3800 model gateway box was the source of a > lot of their troubles. The changes between a 3800 and 3801 were > extensive, including a massive increase of buffering memory (10 or 20 > to 1 increase?) to improve the built in error correction. There was a > long list that our AT&T mentor told me about, and their experience was > that the 3801 could soak up a lot of trouble out in the cables. The > drop-off in troubles attributable to the gateway is testimony to the > success of that project, as is my and my neighbor's experience with > the upgrade. > > The 3800 was severely susceptible to strong ham signals on 160/80/40, > with certain frequencies capable of making the gateway reboot with 20 > watts on the antenna, much less 1.5 kW. My old problem of rebooting my > and my neighbor's 3800 gateway with QRO on 160 was finally eliminated > with the 3801, which had just come out, and at that time was available > in restricted quantities. This time they were not going to lead off > with mass deployment. And they were keenly interested in my case, > described below > > Several reports that looked current (2016 in email header) in > references I saw, in the text were actually referring to much older > events. One 2016 email was complaining about something the email > itself said occurred in 2001. I thought that was interesting, still > complaining about something that happened 15 years ago. > > The 2-Wire 3800 is no longer manufactured, the Uverse tech support > "book" now has a list of customer complaints that automatically get an > existing 3800 replaced, regardless. No clue as to how many have been > deprecated. Nobody on my block has one anymore. Read on. > > They have gone to a practice of using coax from the interface where > the cable comes up from underground to the gateway box. Twisted pair > is no longer used for that. With certain repair activities, they will > automatically replace older twisted pair from cable entrance to > gateway box with coax. > > AT&T has a group, headquartered in New Jersey that is a national group > specifically formed to deal with ham radio issues with Uverse. It's > director is a well-known east coast ham, and they have the authority > to force local repair groups to follow certain procedures in > ham-related cases, and mark certain customers for automatic referral > to their group. > > Anyone who has a current problem of this sort, should get in touch > with the ARRL RFI task force, who will do an entry level triage to > eliminate common issues, and then give cases that pass triage to the > AT&T group I am talking about. > > They were good with my problems, really good. > > They simply do not fit your description, and I do not see current > timeframe references on the internet to paint them with the colors you > are using. > > What good does it do us to push and haggle to get a major company to > do the right stuff, and when they do, keep on beating them up > regardless, bringing up things that have been fixed for years? > > In my case, 2010-2011... > > 1) I had problems with temporary main telephone cable routing due to > the construction of NC Toll 540 (extension of I-540) and its > intersection with US 64. At some point ALL the old cable was replaced. > Things were dicey with cables where they were moving roadways back and > forth to maintain traffic while bridges were being built and old > roadways dug up and replaced with heavier construction to interstate > specifications. > > 2) The 650 foot buried drop cables from the pole out on US 64 service > road to both my and my neighbor's house were replaced and reburied > using a different route. Since 1980, when my house was first built, > widening US 64 from 2 to divided 4 lane roadway, stuff related to the > 540 highway, including some mistaken contractor digs, and a couple > cable-melting lightning strikes, over time had put so many splices in > the drop, that the cable itself was way out of spec and a problem. > > 3) Neighbor's in-house wiring was cleaned up and rerouted to reduce > lengths and avoid some wear points. > > 4) The Gateway box in my house was moved to a spot recommended by AT&T > after walking around the house describing the ethernet lines. This > replaced a 120 foot ethernet run from cable entrance to gateway with a > scant 8 feet, with the gateway in my wife's office. The cable entrance > is directly underneath the window in her office. AT&T did most of the > crawlspace crawling around under the house, even though technically it > was my problem and my expense. > > 5) Telco Common mode current blocks designed for the frequencies and > cables in use were added at strategic points on the ethernet around > the house. They were better than my #31 material FT240 choke wraps > made after K9YC specifications. (That is NOT a dump on K9YC.) > > 6) 3800 gateways at both houses were swapped out for 3801's > > 7) These items were done one at a time followed by a retest at 1.825 > watching changes in power levels necessary to reduce error correction > counts and reboots. We did this in the wee hours so we wouldn't knock > the neighbor off her IP-phone line and internet. She worked a lot > logged in to VPN from home and had a lot of conference calls. > > This stretched out procedure kept me at low power until all fixed, but > it DID allow evaluation of individual steps taken, which they were > very happy to have. > > If I live to be 100 and keep Uverse until my last gasp, there is no > way they will ever recoup the money they spent fixing my > extraordinary, ridiculous case from the monthly Uverse bill. But they > did get a bunch of proven facts to use on procedures in their "book" > for these kinds of troubles. > > Again, anyone having RFI trouble either way with an AT&T Uverse > device, getting confused looks from local tech people who don't know > what to do, should go via the ARRL RFI task force. > > 73, and a great holiday season to all. > > Guy K2AV > _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
