It’s been quite awhile since I’ve written a post about my router woes — I guess that says ATT is getting better! And today’s issue was resolved relatively quickly, leaving me a fairly happy camper, but I thought I’d tell you about it anyway. This is for those who like to follow that saga or who get help from my experience.
Let’s start at the beginning. This weekend, our ATT UVerse Broadband modem decided to flake out. Somehow, it reverted to factory settings all on its own. I woke up on Sunday, unable to connect to anything and unable to get on wifi with our main network. I was able to login on our extended network, but it couldn’t get online, so I knew something was up. Checking my wifi networks revealed that our main network wasn’t listed, but there was a similar ATT network that had four bars. A quick check of the router itself revealed that all was as I suspected, the router listed this new network, but the installer had used the name of our previous network when we got this replacement a few years back.
That was a quick fix. I just had to login to the new router with the new network and its default password, then change all of our devices over to that network, including the extender, and update the name and password on all devices for the extended network. It took awhile, but wasn’t stressful at all.
At the time, I noticed that the Phone light on the router wasn’t lit, but that didn’t bother me much. I figured it would resolve on its own, and I was too busy changing passwords and logging all my devices onto the new network. All was fine until today, when I needed to make a phone call. (Yes, I could have just used my cell phone, but I hate to do that, and I hate to know that something’s broken and not try to fix it, so I dove down the rabbit hole.)
My first step was to try to restart the phone line, since I’ve done that. I went to the status address for my router (usually printed on the router, but I have it bookmarked: 192.168.1.254). There I could see that the Voice service had an error, and I attempted a restart. Of course, the Access Code had changed when the modem reset to factory settings, so I had to look that up on the back of the modem, too. It’s a long and complicated string of letters and symbols, so it’s not easy to copy down, but I did. I attempted to restart the Voice service with no luck, then restarted the modem, also with no luck, and eventually went online to try ATT Support.
If you’ve ever tried ATT’s Support chat, you know how frustrating it can be. Very frustrating. But it’s still a hundred times better than the hell it used to be, so I didn’t lose patience. I attempted to answer its questions about my problem, even though they didn’t make sense in terms of what I was experiencing. I kept getting answers that weren’t helpful. Finally, I typed “operator” and that got me to a live person and not an automated chatbot. The first person had to transfer me to the right department, and then I got connected with “Jeniffer,” who was able to help me out.
I explained what had been happening, and in the process, I realized that Phone 1 said “Not Subscribed,” the same as it said for Phone 2. We only have one line, so Phone 1 should have shown our phone number. I told her this, went through a few more troubleshooting steps like telling her about the lights on the router, and eventually she was able to correct the issue remotely. My phone got a dial tone, and I was able to make a call.
When I asked what had happened, she only said that my phone service hadn’t been syncing properly, and she had corrected the issue. She had no explanation for why the modem reverted to factory settings or why that might cause the voice line syncing issues, which I assume it did. Oh well, at least it is working for now, and if I have problems again, I’ll be sure to type “operator” sooner if I end up on ATT Support chat!
Kendall Dunkelberg 