Reproducible outages on specific channels

[delfin1]

I am a longtime subscriber on the Extreme FiOS TV tier.  Until recently, my main complaint was the lack of El Rey despite that channel being part of the tier beneath Extreme... but in recent weeks, a separate issue has me tearing my hair out.

I am experiencing problems with channels primarily in the upper 600s.  Some of them seem fine; if I want to restrict myself to watching those, things appear to be functional.  Some of them (680, SyFy HD being a very frequent example) are returning "Channel [x] is Not Available" 99 times out of 100.  If I go up the virtual dial to 696 (E! HD), not only do I get the "Not Available" blackout... but for a short while, my STB acts sluggish, and the channel blackout effect now happens on channels that were fine just a minute ago.

I have had one instance in which the outage extended to all channels for several hours.  Generally, the outage is more like twenty or thirty seconds on those formerly-functional channels before they return to normal.  

I have tried running the troubleshooter on this site, which did not help.  Changing the channel away from and back to the specified channels did not help.  I have rebooted my router and my STB repeatedly.  I have checked the coax cables (and replaced them with newer ones) from the splitter to the router and to the STB.  I have paid my bill.

Further information on request.

[clem21]

Last time this happened to me it was a failing cable box. I assume you also replaced the splitter too as that can also cause signal issues. Do you have another box in the house you can temporarily swap out to see if the problem continues?

[delfin1]

I do not have a secondary box.  Nor am I sure where (other than Amazon) I can pick up a newer switcher box, but I'll check my local sources.  If I can rule that out as well, that should satisfy the "problem is not in my own equipment" clause and I will see if I can get a Verizon tech out to look at it.

(Apologies for the delay in responding.  These forums keep crashing out for me with an error when I attempt to post here.)

[CRobGauth]

Not sure what you mean by switcher box.

You can find a splitter at most big box HW stores.

Or a store like Best Buy.

Look for one that says 2 Ghz.

What model STB do you have?

Have you checked the coax from ONT to splitter?

Those can go bad as well.

[clem21]

The issue can also be caused by a bad splitter not passing that frequency cleanly. Did you try to get a new box from Verizon? If so does it still have the issue? Like I said, I had the same issue and the box was to blame.