Picture Freeze, Pixelate or Black Screen on 2262 & 2502, 5662

[ImFrustrated2]

July 16 upgraded from Copper to Fibre and got new Giga Hub modem. We have 4 receivers (VIP 2262 hardwired to the mode, 2 x 2502 wifi receivers and one VIP2202 with a VAP for wifi connection) 5-6 year old Sony TVs

Sometime after the upgrade I noticed picture would pixelate and freeze for a second. Bottom two inches of picture would appear at top of screen when the picture came back. I resolved this by going to settings/picture/resolution and resetting 1080p.

Nov 7 called Bell and was advised that one of the wifi receivers showed error codes. New one was sent. I paired it and rebooted everything. Issues continued. Nov 14 call to Bell and reboot everything including the VAP in a specific order.

Nov 20 Tech came to house and rebooted everything again (not much help)

Dec 6 Call to Bell and replace modem was the recommendation. Dec 7 new modem installed. Hard wire receiver paired ok, unable to pair wifi receivers. Call to Bell, unable to pair at their end and tech appointment made for Dec 10.

Tech on Dec 10 was excellent. All receivers paired, checked modem signal and went to the box 2km away and put us on another feed. Advised that being 31 of 32 feeds with the 3GB upgrade was too much. He changed us to a 64 feed line that was not full.

20 minutes after the service call was closed the freezing occurred. This has occurred on all four boxes and on several different channels. City Tv 1204 between 7 and 8 pm is a guaranteed occurrence. This has never occurred when watching Netflix, Apple, Prime or Disney via a Roku Stick

This tech suggested that the receivers we have are old and the new Fonse Android receivers might be the answer? but would require rental. I also received information from a friend that a Firestick might be the answer, if the Roku stick was fine. Firestick would also limit the number of receivers needed.

December 10 I installed the Firestick 4K Max and updated it. Watching City TV on the Bell App via Firestick and the guaranteed occurrence occurred between 7 and 8 pm. Watched Prime for 3 hrs via the Firestick with no occurrences.

I prefer the picture quality of the Bell receivers over the Firestick. I am almost ready to try Rogers. I don't believe the issue is in my house or my modem. The new Giga Hub modem maybe can't marry to the old receivers I have? But that doesn't explain why it does not occur with Netflix, Prime, Apple or Disney? That leaves the Bell App and Bell feed ?

A family member some 5 km away has the Fibre upgrade with a Giga Hub modem and older receiver and no issues

Another family member a similar distance has the Fibre upgrade, Giga Hub modem and a 4k receiver (older version) and they have the same issues. When watching a Bell feed they get freezing or black screen, Never occurs with Netflix, Prime or Apple.

[BellPatricia]

Hi there @ImFrustrated2 

Thank you for reaching out to the Bell Community.

Which Internet package do you have?

Does the issue occur on all of the receivers simultaneously, or affect each receiver at different times? Can you clarify what channels it happens on (other than City TV), and if it is specific shows? 

Something you can consider is the quality/length of Ethernet Cable you are using, as well as the distance between the Wireless receivers and your modem. We recommend using a Cat6 (or better) Ethernet cable. you can also try moving the location of your wireless receivers. If possible move them closer to the modem, and be sure the receivers are not sitting on any other electronic devices that could cause interference. 

Let the Community know how everything is going.

@BellPatricia 

[ImFrustrated2]

BellPatricia,

Thanks for reaching out.

We have the Bell Fibe50 unlimited internet package with the upgrade on speed to 3.0

The ethernet cable is the cat 6 that was provided with the new modem. We sent the cat 6 cable back with the modem that was replaced on December 7th. That cable was the same one that worked fine prior to the upgrade from copper to fibre.I'm not sure that I should have to upgrade the cables that come with the equipment considering the cost for the service?

I can confirm that the freezing has occurred on two of the receivers at the same time, different channels. November 20th City TV ch.1204 and CTV ch.1501 at 8:07 pm.

It is difficult to watch more than two at the same time with them in different areas of the house. 

We are creatures of habit and watch the same news and tv shows on a regular basis. This issue has occurred on Channels 1204 (City Tv), 1201 and 1501 (CTV), 1400 and 1401 (TSN), 1416 (Golf Channel), 1234 (CBC), and 1223 (Fox). These are the ones that I took the time to note when my phone was handy. The freezing via the Fire Stick and Bell App were on ch.1204.

The wireless receivers have maintained the positions they have been in for years. Moving them closer to the modem would defeat the purpose. I don't need the televisions all in one room close to the modem. This has occurred on the receiver that is wired to the modem, which is in our basement where it has always been. It has occurred on a wifi receiver in the basement some 15 feet away in another room,  a wifi receiver on the main floor almost directly above the modem and on the receiver with the vap in an upstairs bedroom. The receivers have always been situated on cabinets. None are on other devices.

Today Dec 13, I received a call from Bell in response to filing an escalation to my complaint. The caller asked if I would permit him to "tweak" the modem at his end and he would call back on Monday. I advised sure. A moment later the tv screen on the main floor tv went blue and had a message that work was being done or something to that effect. The picture returned a minute or two later. That was at 3:06 pm. At 4:20 pm the picture froze and went black on Ch, 1204. I changed channels and at 4:31 pm it occurred again on ch 1501. From 3:30 pm to 4:00pm I had been watching ch 1416 without any occurrences.

[BellPatricia]

Hey there @ImFrustrated2 

Thanks for all of the additional information. 

How is everything going now, was the technician in charge of your escalation able to pin point the cause?

@BellPatricia 

[ImFrustrated2]

Hello @BellPatricia 

The cause has not been pin pointed. 

Yesterday (Dec16) the tech advised he was switching our wifi to constant 5ghz for tv and computers and 2.4ghz for things like doorbell cameras and printers.

I was able to re install the printer and door bell cameras on the 2.4 feed. Freeze and black screen continue on tv.

At 4:03 pm on City TV Ch1204 the picture froze and went black for a second or two then returned on one of the wifi receivers.  The freeze and black occurred again at 4:14pm, 4:16pm and 5:05pm.

I watched TSN Ch1400 during this same time period on the receiver hardwired to the modem from 4:00 pm to 5:10pm and there was no freeze or black screen.

Escalation tech calling back today.

I confirmed today that the freezing has been occurring, especially on CTV News Ch 1501 at my parents house which is more than 5 km from my house. They have the Giga Hub modem and VIP5662W receiver.

From reports on this Bell Forum and Reddit posts it appears this is a common issue with CTV and City TV with both Bell and Rogers. Possibly a signal strength issue? Not limited to those channels but most common on those channels???

[ImFrustrated2 · Accepted solution]

For reasons unknown, last night was the first time since November 20 that we had no incidents of freezing or black screen!! The most notorious channels during the most notorious times 4pm to 8pm were without incident 🙂

There were four monster bell tech trucks with techs working about 500-600 metres from our home. Different street but not far away. If they are still there today I may stop and ask what they are working on?

my fingers are crossed that the ghosts have left the machine 🤞

[ianmacdon]

My father in law, 97 years old has a bell fibe gigahub, the white one. He has one wired tv box in the living room and one wireless box in the kitchen, they are the old big ones. 

Every so often the tv channels go black on the wired tv, but the wireless tv is ok but all the apps work, so he ends up watching youtube. . He had a spare wired box at home so I swapped it out, and it worked for a few days, then lost channels again, but all the apps still worked. 

So basically I went over today and unplugged everything and waited a few minutes and now its all working. 

BUT, has anyone ever seen this before, and how is it the apps are ok, but the tv channels are black.. .any ideas. 

Thanks 

[JJC]

Good Day from Toronto,

I'm a long-time Bell customer with Fibe TV which rarely crashes. I can think of but a few times in the past 13 years. Last night I was screening a series through my TV on Crave. The program kept freezing and I would have to restart the Bell 2262 device only to have the problem re-emerge. I contacted Bell and they did a thorough check of my modem connections. All was good. They suggested I contact CRAVE for help. I did, and we ended up accessing, through Bell, my provider, the CRAVE app in Apple TV. I signed in and the series playback worked fine. Unable to understand from a technical perspective what went wrong, the CRAVE tech asked me to reach out to Bell. This is my way of doing so. The AI virtual assistant is useless.

Conclusion: if you're having playback issues through FIBE TV of programs on CRAVE, download the app, sign in, and go from there. You can access the app on your iPhone and send the signal to your TV as an option.

Clearly, there is a technical glitch that both parties haven't properly identified.

Good Luck and Happy Viewing.

[Ann2]

Why is my TV as well as taped programs constantly freezing? Bell changed the box a few months ago for the same issue.and it worked for a month or so and now it’s back to freezing.

[BellPatricia]

Hey there @Ann2 

Thank you for reaching out to the Bell community 🙂

We would love to help but the community still needs a bit more information.

• What type of TV receivers and modem do you have?
• Is your equipment connected via Wi-Fi or Ethernet?
• Does this impact a certain show or channel?
• If you have multiple receivers, does it happen on all receivers at the same time?
• Which troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?

If you are still having trouble we recommend following the steps in this How To: Fibe TV not working? Try these quick fixes.

Let us know if you need any more help.

@BellPatricia 

[Ann2]

When it freezes the following nessage pops up: network problems have stopped this stream. The program is not currently available for playing.

It can be any channel that freezes and at any time. This same thing happened a couple of months ago. I was given a new box which worked for a while and now I’m back to the way it was. My mom is having the same issue but less than me.

i don’t know what equipment I have; you’d have to look at my account. I should be offered a credit for all this hassle. I’m not a happy customer.

[BellNick]

Hi there @Ann2 
The model of your equipment can be found directly on the receiver. It should show something such as "VIP", followed by  "2262 / 5662 / 2500 / 2502 / 7802".
Is your receiver(s) connected via Wi-Fi or ethernet connection and have you tested both connection types to see if the issue persists?
When the issue occurs, does any error message or code appear on your modem?
When the issue occurs, do any of your other devices within your home experience any internet disconnection issues?

[cf1]

I am experiencing the same issue:  Selecting a channel, and everything is black but I can hear the sound.

It's not an issue with the TV, since the guide displays properly & I can see the thumbnail preview.

Rebooting the receiver fixes the problem, but it will reoccur after a couple days.  

Receiver is connected via ethernet.

[BellNick]

Hi there @cf1 
Thank you for your post. 
Are you able to share which receiver model you have?
Looking forward to hearing back.

[cf1]

The receiver is VIP5662W, running client version 3.6.36790.5602