HD Channels Freezing
alantibbetts
Newbie

We have had issues with certain HD cahnnels freezing, specifically 551 and 618. When they freeze, you can go to the non-HD channel and all will be fine except for the fact that you don't have HD now. This is especially annoying when I have DVR a sporting event on 551 (TNT HD) only to find that 1/4 of the way through the channel froze and I was not able to see the rest of the event. I was extremely angry to put it mildly.I called the tech service and they told me to check connections. To me a bad connection would affect all channels and would happen alot more frequently.

A second issue that just popped up is my battery is going dead in the connection box. Does Verizon replace this battery free of charge or is it my responsibility? I have had FIOS for less than 2 years and I would have thought the battery would last longer than that.

Any chance the two issues are related?

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
SinCara
Specialist - Level 2

@alantibbetts wrote:

We have had issues with certain HD cahnnels freezing, specifically 551 and 618. When they freeze, you can go to the non-HD channel and all will be fine except for the fact that you don't have HD now. This is especially annoying when I have DVR a sporting event on 551 (TNT HD) only to find that 1/4 of the way through the channel froze and I was not able to see the rest of the event. I was extremely angry to put it mildly.I called the tech service and they told me to check connections. To me a bad connection would affect all channels and would happen alot more frequently.

A second issue that just popped up is my battery is going dead in the connection box. Does Verizon replace this battery free of charge or is it my responsibility? I have had FIOS for less than 2 years and I would have thought the battery would last longer than that.

Any chance the two issues are related?


The battery has nothing to do with it. All the battery is, is a backup for your phone/digital voice service during a power outage. Nothing more.

The batteries are the customers responsibility. Verizon is now charging $40 to new customers if they want a battery backup. When you and I received fios they gave us the first battery.

You do not have to buy a new battery through Verizon. You can easily find them cheap on ebay, amazon or some stores.

You also don't even need to replace the battery. If you dont care to have it for phone service just open the ont where the battery is, disconect it so the ont doesnt beap and let it be.

There is also a trick that can give some more life to the battery. Just disconnect the battery from the ont for a few seconds then re-connect it. The ont battery light should go off. I did this and got 3 more months out of mine.

As far as the HD freezing issue it sounds like a signal issue to me. When this happens again, hit menu on your remote go to settings and find self diagnostics. Run that and see what it says. Is it all ok and in the green? You can also run the network diagnostics and see what that says.

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
alantibbetts
Newbie

Thanks SIncara,

I will do the self diagnostics next time I get the freezing. I will try your trick with the battery to see if I get some more life. what do I lose without the battery if I just disconnect it? Will I lose phone service during a power outage?

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
SinCara
Specialist - Level 2

alantibbetts wrote: what do I lose without the battery if I just disconnect it? Will I lose phone service during a power outage?

Yes you will lose phone service if the battery is disconnected and a power outage happens.

If you have a cell phone it's really not a big deal, but I know for some it is in which case the trick I listed should give you some more life to the battery and then eventually replacing it is the way to go.

If you do end up needing a new battery just search fios battery on ebay. They run $15-$20 shipped. Much cheaper then the $40 Verizon wants.

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
Justin46
Legend

@alantibbetts wrote:

Thanks SIncara,

I will do the self diagnostics next time I get the freezing. I will try your trick with the battery to see if I get some more life. what do I lose without the battery if I just disconnect it? Will I lose phone service during a power outage?


IMO it is not necessarily the actual battery that is the problem.

I have had FiOS for getting close to 9 years now; the initial battery was still going strong at 5 1/2 years, never a problem, when Verizon decided to replace all of the ONTs (and thus the BBUs) in our area due to a series of power outages and brownouts that apparently damaged some (not mine as far as I know). The new BBU/battery worked fine for a year or two, and then it started causing the beeping. And that pattern continues until today, a couple of years or so later. All I do is go and remove the battery connector, wait 10-15 seconds, connect the battery again, and the beeping goes away for anywhere from a couple of weeks to 3-4 months, then it happens again. Since my BBU is in the garage it is only a minor irritant when it starts beeping, other than what I mention below.

I think there is something in my current BBU itself that senses a battery failure that doesn't actually exist, that my battery is really fine. There are enough reports of batteries "failing" after only 6 months or a year or two that I think Verizon needs to look into that and replace batteries for free that "fail" within maybe two years, or replace the BBUs where that happens. But I suspect that is not going to happen.

If you just disconnect or remove the battery and leave it that way, when there is a power failure you will lose all FiOS service immediately until the power comes back. The issue I have with that is the momentary failures that do nothing more than make the clock on my clock radio to start blinking (it does not have a battery, boo!) will cause the ONT to restart, and thus you still lose all FiOS service for several minutes, even if you have your computer and router and STBs and TVs on a UPS. Maybe a minor issue, but we seem to have periods where we have frequent brief power blips, and I would hate to lose all FiOS sevice every time that happens.

Hope the above helps.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/25, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
alantibbetts
Newbie

Justin, some more good info. I will "reset" the battery and see what happens. Question: What is ONT and BBU?

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
Justin46
Legend

@alantibbetts wrote:

Justin, some more good info. I will "reset" the battery and see what happens. Question: What is ONT and BBU?


ONT: Optical Network Terminal

BBU: Battery Backup Unit

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/25, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)

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Re: HD Channels Freezing
alantibbetts
Newbie

Update: I disconnected and reconnected the battery as described and the battery light went out. Nice!! Let's see how long it lasts.

Also, channel 618 froze on me last night, so I ran the self diagnostics as described above. Self diagnostics showed everything to be fine and network diagnostics showed everything to be fine. I then used the reset function on the menu and got the channel back.

So, it appears to me that it is not connection related because I didn't physically touch anything to bring the channel back. I believe it is the set top hi def box that is glitching and causing the channels to freeze. I would like to hear other's opinions on this as I want to have a good idea what the problem is before I call in Verizon. 

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