Brand New Motorola Surfboard SB6141 Behind Netgear WNDR344 In Constant Need of Power Recycle

I was so proud of myself yesterday when my shiny new SB6141 DOCSIS3.0 modem was delivered to me. Had I known then what I know now, having spent most of the hours in between reading forum post after forum post and troubleshooting every which way but loose, I would have asked the kind UPS man to take that box and put it "where the sun don't shine". Mere hours after I installed the thing and verified with a Cox Support Rep via Live Chat, the modem simply started losing its grip on the internet and could only be temporarily revived via cycling the power. That seems to work very well for about 10 minutes at best.

Having read so many posts specifically about my particular model of modem in the last 18 hours, I have yet to see a single definitive answer to any of the very commonly worded cries for help on this very same user experience. I've seen every suggestion from surge protectors draining/spiking the power levels beyond spec to Netgear routers being overpowered by the sheer gloriousness of the SB6141 modem. There were moderators from Time Warner Cable suggesting that there could be too much noise in the copper and a customer of Comcast's claiming that installing a reverse path gain amplifier did the trick. Most of the posts put the blame on the modem itself, but quite a few pointed the finger at the ISP's area infrastructure and the poor quality of signal flowing down the streets.

I live in New Orleans. I don't know if the forum moderators have ever seen the condition of the outdoor cabling and wiring in New Orleans, but I can assure you we are only different from the hillside slums and cardboard shanties of Rio de Janeiro in that we at least manage to have working air conditioners sticking out of every window in our homes. The wiring from the pole to these old historic houses looks like something a child would draw to illustrate a nightmare about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Back when I actually subscribed to Cox Cable TV, my television had a pretty constant 90 hertz feedback stripe on it for the whole year and a half that I kept cable. I have to use powerstrips/surge protectors in every room, because there is usually only one outlet remotely close to where power is needed. 

When I was forced to upgrade my internet service from Premier to Ultimate in December 2013 after receiving notifications about exceeding my data cap, I did so over the phone without any technician being dispatched to my address to inspect my wiring for its suitability to deliver higher speeds. Nothing was said to me about the need to replace my Cisco DOCSIS2.0 modem at the time. So I am quite certain that everything I've read tonight - all of it - is very likely true of my own case. My electricity fluctuates like crazy, my cable line is probably split in 4 different places and respliced in another 16 knowing the quality of New Orleans workmanship. And there is no getting around the fact that I have more things to plug in than holes in which to plug them.

So. Here we are. I'm going to provide all of the reports from the monitor that you will undoubtedly need, but short of having Cox restring copper from one end of New Orleans to the other or getting a little more aggressive with their delivery of gigabit service to the area, I'm already doubtful that we are going to be able to resolve my intermittent connection issues without some amount of exasperation. Bon chance, mes amis!

Speed Test  5/30 - Before the Issues: 

Then when the celebrating stopped, and the headache began, here's the result for this morning's Speed Test. Keep in mind that nothing in my configuration, connections, or settings has changed other than the earth's position relative to the sun.

I should mention that this loss of internet connection happened back-to-back, again and again for several hours in the late evening, throughout most of the wee hours before dawn. For the last few hours or so, though, it's behaved itself and has not dropped me once. Of course, it started to rain pretty heavily around 2AM, so perhaps we can chalk the improved staying power up to the extra humidity in the air bridging circuits, sort of the opposite of what was done to help in Cox_Support_SB6141_Error_Log_05312014. In either case, I sure wouldn't mind getting that speed back!

Thank you, and let me know if you need any other information.