My Cox Internet Connection Drops Once or Twice a Day Past Few Months

Hi ocdrummer,

I see that you have a tech visit setup for tomorrow, I had some questions regarding the cable modem.  I was wondering when you lose connection do any of the lights on the modem change, indicating the modem has gone offline?  I would like to take a look at the modem signal levels to see if there are any issues there.  Have you tried connecting the computers to the router via ethernet cable (if possible)?  Is it just the wireless connection that you are having trouble with? Can you e-mail your account information (name and street address) to coxhelp@cox.com, we can look into this further for you to narrow down where the issue is.

The lease time of the router resets here in about 12-hours to the same IP address.
You might want to see if it has something to do with this.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070918161518AAp0SYn

I postponed the tech service visit until Sunday, so as to see what the pattern of lights on modem is upon connection failure. However, since posting, the disconnects have not occurred (isn't that how it always is?). It has been two days, still waiting for failure. I'm sure it will, just a matter of time, as it has been going on for a few months.

Right now, I have the full modem/router configuration. If that fails, I'll try a modem-only configuration, connecting the computer directly to the modem and eliminating the router from the configuration.

To answer your question, I do not believe it has to do with wireless, as my computer is connected via Ethernet cable, and it cannot access web pages on the internet when the failure occurs (wireless iPads cannot access the internet in that case either).

I could renew the lease manually via "ipconfig /renew" (and have). No effect.

It may be beneficial to try testing without the router to see if you notice any differences.

IPconfig just renews the 192.168.1.x IP you get from the router, not the public IP the router gets from the modem. I think what you are looking for is "DHCP query frequency" 

But I am confused, which router do you have? You first say you have a Cisco N900 which would be E4200v2 but then you said you had WNDR4500v2 which is a Netgear router. So do you have a Netgear WNDR4500 v2 or something else? This is important because I would need to dig around to see if there is a way to adjust WAN DHCP query frequency  Also, is this a Cox router? I don't see either listed here. Why are you having a tech out if you expect the issue is the router? Or do you suspect something else?

Sorry for the confusion on router.

I have a Netgear N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router.

The modem (just installed by Cox) is a Cisco DPQ3212.

Oh, N900 is just the speed, so I will assume you have the WNDR4500?  And your router loses connection, and the only way to fix it is to power cycle your router? Then I ask again, why did you have Cox out to your house? If the problem is with a Non Cox router, how can a Cox technician fix the issue? Have you contacted Netgear or tried their forums?

OK. The router product name is as I indicated, N900.... The model number is WNDR4500 (v2 I believe, from updating firmware).

I've had a WNDR4500 for the past two years, with a stable connection. As I said, I thought the trouble was the router initially, so I replaced it (same model). As the connection drops persisted, I had Cox come replace the modem (2.5 years old). Plus, they checked cable connections in house and at curb (Cox guy re-crimping connection at curb, as it was poorly done initially). They tested signal strength and all was fine.

So, it seems unlikely that it is the router or the modem. That was my point above.  I am waiting for the next failure (with router in loop), to record what the modem shows (lights). After that I'll verify it still fails without the router in the loop. Of course, there have been no failures in three days now....almost hoping there is one tonight (they seem to occur late night or early morning), so I can get closer to identifying the issue.

So, the connection failed sometime during last evening (don't know when). My computer (connected via Ethernet cable) was off. When I turn computer on under this condition, it shows there is no Internet connection. Also, I had a few wired devices, like Vonage VoiP and AT&T Microcell attached to router (via Ethernet cable). These were on, but the Vonage box showed it was disconnected, and the Microcell was flashing red, indicating it had no connection. I had hoped that the modem would show some indication in the pattern of lights on it, but there were just the normal 4 green lights.

My last step is to disconnect everything except the modem, and connect it directly to my computer. At least this will eliminate the router as an issue, if it occurs again.

Hi,

I've been having the same issues as the OP the last few days.  I would come home from work and notice on my laptop that I have no internet connection. Other connected devices  (Roku-wired, Cell Phone-Wireless)  to my router also do not have internet access. A power cycle of the modem will fix the problem.  It seems to happen at regular intervals. Sometime during the day before I leave for work at 7am and when I get home around 6pm.  However, I woke up this morning to find the internet connection was down again.  Still, the lights on the modem showed normal Green/Blue/Blue/Green/flashing Blue.  I power cycled the modem but this time I removed the router and connected the laptop directly to the Modem as the OP is currently doing to see if the router is the issue.  I have the Motorola SB6121 Modem and the Netgear N900 router (Same as OP).  Here is the Diagnostic Info from the Motorola Modem taken just now:

MODEM LOG FROM THE LAST 30 DAYS:

Let me know if you need me to provide any other info.

Thanks for helping us on this issue! 

Still no failure today with modem-only setup, but here are the modem signal levels. I don't know how to get at any event logging. I've been reading several posts around the country that discuss intermittent connection drops. I have a technician coming out Sunday...again. If I can't get the issue resolved this time, I may have to drop Cox after 9 years. I have lots of premium services and full home DVR. It would be a shame, but I need service I can trust.

Well, the Cox senior technician came out earlier this week.

He said the modem DPQ3212 was the wrong one (only for use with phone service, which I don't have with Cox). Turned out I was being charged for rental of that modem too, and I never authorized it...but they credited me back the money and replaced with a Cisco DPC3010 modem.

He found a signal amplifier in the path that a previous Cox technician had installed (I think he said it artificially boosted the signal in a bad way). Further, he said that the coax cable size was too small, given the distance from curb to my house, and said I need a thicker cable that Cox would install. He said it would be sometime this week, whenever they rolled a truck in my area. It Thursday night now, and I'm still having failures something like 1-2 times per day. Just had one and the modem had the following readings. Also, I tried to ping yahoo.com but it could not contact the server. Everything hanging off my router was disconnected as well. Rebooting the router always seems to work, and did so this time too. Cox had better roll that truck soon, fix the problem, or they will loose a 9 year customer with many premium services. I am tired of debugging their network issues.

Im in Chandler, Az.....Have same kind of problems. About ready do drop their service. I have close to no problems in the winter time when things cool off....Numerous drops during summer time. This has been going on for a few years now.

I'm in Mission Viejo, CA.

Also, an update.

After yesterday's drop, I called Cox. They verified they had replaced the curb-to-house cable on 8/28 -- so the problem is STILL happening. The tech operator on the phone said 53% of modems in my neighborhood were offline (which I generally think means there is an issue, as it is unlikely that people turn off their modem). You would think Cox would address the issue.

As it stands, I have yet another technician coming out Saturday morning. If they do not fix it this time, I am no longer going to be a Cox customer. I will also file a complaint with BBB, as some have previously suggested.