Question Sporadic Connection Drops- Cox Internet, Wifi or Modem?

[NBAJ2K]

I moved to a new house in July and have been having sporadic issues with the connection, trying to identify the issue and wanted to see if someone might be able to point me in the right direction.

Cox Internet 150mbps
Modem - CM700 (2 years old)
Router - Orbi AC2200 Mesh (2 years old)

The speeds I get are perfectly fine, but the connection seems to have blips sporadically and I'm trying to pinpoint the issue.

We will randomly get buffering when streaming shows from Netflix, or a few minutes where we can't connect to the internet from any devices and then everything will be fine. This is especially noticeable when I have WiFi calls to my cell phone where they will drop at times. When this happens, the router looks like it's connected fine and all the modem lights are on. This will happen even when in the same room as the router and modem.

I'm trying to determine if this is a Cox, modem or router issue. If it was an issue with the modem, would the lights all remain green? Cox is trying to charge me $75 to have them come out to check the connection. The sporadic part is what kills me, we could go awhile with no issues, but then today have quite a few.

Any suggestions or thoughts on how to identify would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
-J

 

[mindless1]

Most modems have a status page like 192.168.100.1 where you can see if it's logically online and possibly also a log of events.

You could also put a logging app on a client device that checks the internet connection every so often like every few seconds or however long you set it for (making huge logs to read through if set to a short interval).

I'm not familiar with the CM700 but usually there is one light in particular dedicated to connection that stays on when it has a connection.

You can also try a tracert command to any internet address or domain name to see where the signal stops, like does it make it past the router ot the modem to the next step on the ISP's network.

I don't know about your area or Cox but normally the service charge only applies if the problem is your equipment inside your premises (possibly including wiring), not if their rented equipment has a fault or the problem is signal dropping outside your premises at the junction box.

I don't know where you are located but one thing I used to notice around this time of year was that as temperatures changed, connections would go intermittent or drop in signal strength, from a box at the street to my exterior junction box and at a splitter in my attic which also had temp fluctuations as the splitter was above rather than below the insulation in the attic.

If your outside box isn't locked, you could look at the connections and redo them if you feel capable, though since that outside box may still be their domain, I don't know if it's against their TOS to have customers fiddling with it and if you mess it up that would potentially be a reason for them to charge to fix it.

If this is only noticed over wifi, I would put something on ethernet to see if the dropouts still occur, and try a different wifi channel if it allows that.

You might ask the Cox tech to check everything that isn't billable first, normally they should check signal at the premises entrance or service box at the street first, but if they can't find it dropping out while there, that is where it was useful to have a logging app to show there was a problem and the frequency of it.

 

[simas]

I moved to a new house in July and have been having sporadic issues with the connection, trying to identify the issue and wanted to see if someone might be able to point me in the right direction.

Cox Internet 150mbps
Modem - CM700 (2 years old)
Router - Orbi AC2200 Mesh (2 years old)

The speeds I get are perfectly fine, but the connection seems to have blips sporadically and I'm trying to pinpoint the issue.

We will randomly get buffering when streaming shows from Netflix, or a few minutes where we can't connect to the internet from any devices and then everything will be fine. This is especially noticeable when I have WiFi calls to my cell phone where they will drop at times. When this happens, the router looks like it's connected fine and all the modem lights are on. This will happen even when in the same room as the router and modem.

I'm trying to determine if this is a Cox, modem or router issue. If it was an issue with the modem, would the lights all remain green? Cox is trying to charge me $75 to have them come out to check the connection. The sporadic part is what kills me, we could go awhile with no issues, but then today have quite a few.

Any suggestions or thoughts on how to identify would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
-J

I think you got good advice already
1. isolate your components. i.e. to rule wifi out, does the same happen when you use wired networking?
2. review the logs of your modem (are you seeing T4/T3 connection drops, issues with signal to noise ratio ,etc). basic research would help
3. review the logs of your router

generally, my thoughts on wifi is that it is a shared bandwidth convenience technology - ok to support things like mobility requirement of my phone/tablet, not ok for anything else. I dont move my TV or my primary computer workstation every day and I wire everything I can to reduce load on wifi and completely remove any issues like buffering/connection..

 

[QuietDad]

One thing not mentioned that may also be an issue is neighbors with wifi sharing or overlapping the same channel. Get one of many wifi analyzers available to make sure and move your channel to a less crowded space

 

[JackMDS]

These three are Free Portable very easy to and probably the best of it type.

WirelessNetView - Wireless Network Monitoring Software

Small utility that runs in the background, and monitor the activity of wireless networks around you.

www.nirsoft.net

Scans wireless networks in your area

Tool for Windows that scans wireless networks in your area and displays extensive information, including: SSID, MAC Address, PHY Type (802.11g or 802.11n), RSSI, Signal Quality, Frequency, Channel Number, and more...

www.nirsoft.net

Monitor the Bluetooth activity around you

Utility for Windows that monitors the activity of Bluetooth devices around you.

www.nirsoft.net

 

[NBAJ2K]

Definitely appreciate the help! Going to run through these to try to identify it. Since it's sporadic, would be very difficult to try only a wired connection.

I may try to swap the modem I have out with a different one to see if maybe that helps. I did check the logs for the modem and while I do see some errors here and there, they don't line up with the timing of my issues.

I'm going to try the WiFi analyzer on my laptop as well to see if there's a better channel to use (I think it's on auto currently)

Thanks again, hopefully one of these works!

-J

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[MtnMan]

One thing not mentioned that may also be an issue is neighbors with wifi sharing or overlapping the same channel. Get one of many wifi analyzers available to make sure and move your channel to a less crowded space

Then you need to determine if it is a ISP/modem issue, or just your wifi. Run speedtests on both wired and wireless devices, it will make it clear where the issue is.

 

[mindless1]

It's unlikely to be the modem, I mean some are better at staying connected with a marginally low signal strength or at noise rejection, but that would still be a line signal quality issue that needs fixed. Otherwise a modem that is failing would tend to not be able to regain the signal, lockup, etc, not just sporadically lose it then come back. Look at the modem log to see what it lists and the signal strength.

 

[NBAJ2K]

It's unlikely to be the modem, I mean some are better at staying connected with a marginally low signal strength or at noise rejection, but that would still be a line signal quality issue that needs fixed. Otherwise a modem that is failing would tend to not be able to regain the signal, lockup, etc, not just sporadically lose it then come back. Look at the modem log to see what it lists and the signal strength.

I will also mention that at times on my phone I'll see it show connected to WiFi, but with an exclamation point meaning there's no internet connection on the WiFi, and then it will go away and work fine. Same thing happens at times with my streaming TV boxes after not using them for awhile it will show that same message (so it must have disconnected at some point), but when I dismiss it, it's fine. Not sure if that's related or not. At least when looking at my phone I don't seem to drop off the WiFi connection ever, which made me think that it's not the router. I will use the WiFi analyzer to test it tomorrow and try to see if there's a better channel

Assuming it ends up having nothing to do with the WiFi channel, I guess that would mean either the modem (which sounds unlikely) or Cox (ISP)? I have a new router I was going to try (haven't taken it out of the box yet though).

Since it's sporadic I just know they are going to come here do a quick speed test to see that everything is fine (most speed tests I'm around 120mbps), and then leave. I do know there is some booster that's been plugged in the basement since we moved in that's needed for internet to work, so maybe it's malfunctioning or something too. I'm just scrambling, frustrated trying to figure this out.

Thanks everyone for the help!

-J





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