Uverse TV Picture Freezes all channels all devices. Wasted hours with support Tech spent 2 hours at our home. Still not working

Can you detail your Ethernet network configuration for us?  How the TV Receivers are connected to the Gateway via what devices (switches, routers, etc.)

The only symptom you've given is "picture freezing" on "All channels on all devices".

How long does the picture freeze?

Does it fix itself?

Live and Recorded?  

Does the time of day matter?

@Curious_George 

Do you use Ethernet switches to connect the settop boxes and do they share traffic with devices other than uverse tv?

Sorry for the slow response.  I was away from home and I wanted to be sure to give an accurate description of my home network.

I have two Uverse devices (one DVR, one STB) that are directly connected by ethernet cable to the gateway modem.  I have three other uverse devices that go through switches.  

Even those that do not go through switches have trouble with freezing.  Interestingly, if I try to watch the same game on ESPN on the DVR and on a Roku (connected to a swtich), the picture on the DVR (or the direct connected set top box) freezes occasionally.  The ESPN App on the Roku never freezes.  Why don't I just watch on the Roku?  Because I like to be able to quickly jump back and forth between different games, and streaming doesn't seem to support that as well.

Do you have a Wireless Router (or Wireless Access Point, other than the dedicated AT&T U-verse WAP for wireless receivers)  on one of these switches where you have AT&T U-verse Receivers?

@Curious_George 

Without seeing how everything is hooked up, based on your problem description you have created the problem yourself with those switches.  Keep the Uverse equipment segregated on its own Ethernet connection to the gateway and see if that doesn’t get things working for you again.  

@JefferMC: I have three ATT AirTies extenders in my set up.  They are connected to the gateway/router via ethernet through switches.

@gr8sho :  Perhaps I wasn't clear, but two of the Uverse devices are directly connected to the gateway with their own ethernet cables.  Are you saying that other Uverse devices that are connected through switches could be causing problems for the other devices?

I appreciate the questions and helpful suggesstions.

Yes, if the AirTies are on the same switch as an AT&T U-verse box, try disconnecting the AirTies and see if the problem doesn't miraculously go away. 

Multicast traffic, which is used extensively by AT&T U-verse IPTV, is not handled well by most consumer Wi-Fi routers/access points, including the AirTies.  These devices slow their Wi-Fi signaling rate way down to try to ensure that the multicast gets through accurately, and normally signal that they can't handle as much traffic.

Isolate the IPTV devices from your Wi-Fi devices.

@JefferMC : Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. The whole reason I bought AirTies from ATT was because I figured they would only sell things that worked with the rest of their hardware and software.  I will try what you have suggested and report back.

Can I use the AirTies connected via WiFi instead of wired without creating this type of problem?  I'm trying to solve two problems with the AirTies extenders.  First I have a large home, and the wifi connections in the periphery of the house are weak.  Second, I have some Ring cameras and a doorbell, that couldn't get a strong enough wifi connection to the gateway/router.  The AirTies fixed both of those problems.

@JefferMC I disconnected and turned off the 3 AirTies.  I'm still experiencing picture freezing on the DVR which is directly connected to the gateway.

Let's check two things:

1) If you are not a fiber customer, go to http://192.168.1.254/ , click on the Broadband tab and look at the connection statistics tables.  Make a screenshot and post it in a reply.  This is to see if your issues are on the between your Gateway and the AT&T Network.

2) Simplify your network to nothing but the DVR and the Gateway.  Does it still freeze?

@Curious_George 

The issue @JefferMC is trying to point out isn’t directly related to the Airties, but rather the switches themselves.  They can and will defeat multicast protocol U-verse TV is dependent on.  If those switch do not handle IGMP protocol correctly, it will break the connection to the settop boxes.

Also, it’s unlikely U-verse TV will work if you’re actually trying to use the Airties as Ethernet extenders for the settop boxes.  The only viable solution I’ve found via extensive testing is to use a Uverse WAP for wireless, a direct Ethernet connection or use of a supported Ethernet switch.   

The official recommendation is that you totally segregate IPTV traffic from other Network traffic in terms of ports on the Gateway (i.e. a port is handling only one or the other).  As long as you follow that recommendation, multicast handling is not an issue for you.

I normally advocate that you can mix traffic as long as no Gateway port that is handling IPTV will have any Wireless Access Point/Router attached to it (other than the IPTV WAP), because there are a lot of times you need to mix traffic on one cable (e.g. long run to the Living Room where you want IPTV to a set top and Network to a streaming box).

IP Multicast and IGMPv3 are related, but not synonymous.  IGMPv3 is a protocol for subscribing and unsubscribing to multicast streams.  Pretty much all gear allows IP multicast traffic, but how they support it may vary.  IGMPv3 is not supported by most gear that operates at layer 2, e.g. switches.  A (more expensive) switch that supports a feature called IGMPv3 peeking can help by keeping multicast traffic away from devices whose way of handling multicast traffic is less than ideal (e.g.  a wireless router/access point).

That’s a great explanation.  Unclear to me how many garden variety switches work with Uverse, but I bet not too many.   
If an att tech helped with issues like this they may have provided a switch that is suitable for U-verse.  

I appreciate the suggestions and explanations.  I have continued to experiment with my system.

First, I removed all of the AirTies.  Since I purchased and installed them, ATT swapped out my gateway/modem and I had not tried the BGW320-505 without the AirTies extenders.  To my surprise, without the AirTies, I had pretty good coverage everywhere in my house (which I did not with the previous gateway).  There are some issues in remote parts of the house, but for now I'm going to live with that as I work through the other issues.

Once I removed the AirTies from the system, the Uverse picture freezing problem got better.  It didn't go away completely, but it is watchable now, with only the occasional annoying freeze.  This is true for both the two Uverse boxes (1 DVR, 1 set top box) that are connected directly to the gateway, as well as for the other 3 that are connected through switches.

Two of the switch-connected devices have two ethernet cables that go to the cabinet where the DVR is located, which also has two ethernet cables that run to the closet where the gateway/modem is located.  So if it would help, I could put an upgraded IGMPv3 supporting switch in the cabinet and connect the three uverse devices to it, and then use a regular switch for the other cable and connect the non uverse devices to it.  

IGMPv3 snooping isn't necessary on a switch unless connected to that switch there is:

1) AT&T IPTV gear (that will use IGMPv3 to subscribe to multicast streams), and

2) Other gear that will choke on the multicast traffic (most commonly consumer wireless routers and/or access points).

A switch that performs IGMPv3 snooping (so called because the layer 2 switch is "snooping" in the layer3 information to interpret the IGMPv3 packets) only sends layer 2 multicast traffic to ports from which IGMPv3 subscriptions have come requesting that traffic.  Technically, layer 2 devices aren't supposed to know anything about the information inside the payload of the layer two packet.

If you divide your traffic between a switch with the IPTV gear and a different switch without the IPTV gear, and each connected to a different port on the Gateway, you'll definitely have no need for IGMPv3 snooping.