Our Top 5 Fixes For The AT&T Broadband Red Light – HomeNetworkON

One of the problems AT&T users report from time to time is the AT&T Broadband red light. For most people today having no internet can be a real nightmare. We can say that it is totally understandable because many devices in our household rely on the internet connection. Our smartphones and laptops are almost useless without the internet, and a good part of our working time, as well as the free time is somehow closely connected to using the internet.

So, is there anything to do in order to fix that red flashing light and what does it exactly mean? This article will guide you through the recommended steps required to fix this issue and have your internet connection up and running again.

What does the AT&T Broadband red light mean?

According to AT&T the flashing red broadband light indicates that the router has detected the broadband signal, but it wasn’t able to establish a connection.

If you see the light is solid red light it means that there is no internet signal at all.

Since both these cases result in no internet connection most people are pretty frustrated when they experience this issue and mostly don’t know what to do. The good thing is that there are some things you can try that have helped other people to fix the problem on their own. So, let’s begin with the easiest ones.

Restart the AT&T Gateway

Restarting the gateway is a simple and effective thing to do. Sometimes it takes just that to fix the AT&T Broadband red light issue. You can restart the AT&T gateway manually or via the Smart Home Manager.

In case your router supports the Smart Home Manager, you need to Sign In to it first. After that select Network. Now you scroll down just a little more and click on Home Network Hardware. Click on WiFi Gateway and then click on Restart. Confirm your selection by clicking Restart once more.

However, if you want to do it manually, you need to:

1. Disconnect the power cord from the electricity outlet or from the gateway or modem.

NOTE: If there is an internal battery remove it, and if you are on DSL, disconnect the power cord as well.

1. Wait 20-30 seconds.
2. Put the battery back if you have removed it and connected the phone cable if you are on DSL.
3. Plug the power cord back into the electricity outlet or the router.
4. Leave the gateway to boot up completely. It shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes. After that you should see a solid green Broadband light which indicates that the connection is good.
5. Try to connect to the internet now.

If there is still no internet connection and the red status light is still blinking we need to try the next step.

Any Loose Cables and Connectors?

This step to fix the AT&T Broadband red light requires from you to check all the connectors and cables and logically, to pay special attention to the green DSL Broadband cable if you have it. This green data cable should go from the Wall jack to the green broadband port at the back of the router. Ideally you should disconnect this cable and connect it back firmly to the AT&T gateway, and repeat this on the wall jack side.

It is not that easy to spot a loose connection visually. Therefore it would be best to disconnect and connect each cable. Just make sure everything is firmly connected.

While you are disconnecting and connecting the cables please check whether everything is connected properly. Sometimes we make mistakes when we replace our equipment and connect a cable to the wrong port, or if we accidentally disconnect a cable there is a chance to plug it back into the wrong port. So, while checking the cables check if they are connected to the right ports.

Damaged cables can also be an issue so if you notice any visible damage on the cables during the inspection, replace them with new ones if possible.

As a result, if you have confirmed that there were indeed some loose or incorrectly connected or damaged cables, the red light should be replaced by a green solid one after you fix the issues.

Is AT&T Experiencing Some issues?

The AT&T Broadband red light is often caused by a power or service outage, in most cases after bad weather or because of maintenance performed on their side.

To confirm that this is causing the red light and no internet issue please visit the AT&T outage page. This page will give you information if AT&T is having some service outage at or near your location. You can also choose to get notified when a service outage ends.

There are also some third-party websites that can give you the same information, for example DownDetector or Outage.report.

Factory Reset the AT&T gateway

Before we proceed with this solution we need to tell you the following:

When factory reset is performed, all the custom settings you have saved earlier (wireless password, network name, port forwarding, guest network, parental controls and so on) will be deleted. After that you will need to set up the gateway from the beginning since all the settings are being restored to their default factory defaults during the process.

Now if you want to continue with this procedure to fix the AT&T Broadband red light, here is how to do it properly.

1. The back of the router has a small red Reset button which is actually hidden in a pinhole. Find this button.
2. Now take a sharp object like a pen or a paperclip, and press and hold this button for 10 to 15 seconds or more. This is important because if you release the button earlier the factory reset won’t happen.
3. When you release the button, the device will reboot.
4. Wait for it to boot up again and all the LED lights to become stable.
5. Normally when the factory reset process is successful you will see a solid green light on the Service and Broadband lights.

Contact AT&T

If none of the given fixes hasn’t helped you resolve the AT&T Broadband red light you should contact the AT&T support for additional assistance. They can either inform you about an ongoing downtime that makes the gateway unable to connect thus resulting in the red LED light on your AT&T gateway. They can test the line between your home and their network, fix the faults if they detect them, reboot your gateway for you or guide you through the troubleshooting process. As a result, you can expect to get the red light issue fixed pretty quickly.

Summary

If you are an AT&T user you have probably run into this issue at one moment or you are experiencing it right now. If you want to have your broadband connection working again, you need to know what to do to fix the AT&T Broadband red light issue. There is no reason to worry just follow the given solutions one by one or just get in touch with the AT&T support and ask for their help. Whatever you decide we are sure you will surf the internet again by the end of this article.