Forum Discussion

RexG's avatar
RexG
New Contributor
4 years ago

Intermittent disconnects, usually in the evenings

Hello, I have been having intermittent loss of internet service multiple times nearly every day. The log from my Netgear CM1200 shows cycles of the following messages, repeating in some combination every 5 minutes or so:

CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 16
CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 24
Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out

The internet loss doesn't seem to depend on load, but occurs without pattern, although it seems to be worse during the evenings. I don't have any splitters -- there's a single coax cable running from the wall outlet to the cable modem. I've seen on other posts here that one or more of the above messages means I have "noise", but I'm not sure what that means, nor how to remedy it. 

Can someone advise on how to fix this, so I can get a reliable, uninterrupted connection? I'd be very grateful. :-) 👍🏼

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: Two persons in our household work from home, and depend upon reliable connections for Teams/Zoom, etc. We used to be on the COX Panoramic cable modem + Wi-Fi, and the outages occurred on that setup. I had a tech come out to diagnose a couple weeks ago, but he wouldn't even look at anything once he found out we have about 30 Wi-Fi devices -- he said that was beyond the capabilities of the COX Panoramic wifi and recommended I give up on the COX modem and get a 3rd-party modem + a mesh Wi-Fi system (he strongly recommended Orbi). So, I did -- to the tune of ~$900 -- I got a Netgear CM1200 + Orbi RBR850 with one satellite. Although the performance seems better (especially on Wi-Fi), the outages still continue with the same frequency.

  • MichaelJ's avatar
    MichaelJ
    Moderator
    4 years ago
    Hi RExG,

    As a test, I recommend connecting only one device directly to your modem. No WiFi connection, use only an ethernet cable and one computer connected directly to your modem. Unplug the power cord to the modem, and turn off the computer, not a restart. Once you have everything off for about 1-2 minutes, plug the power cord back into the modem and wait 1-2 minutes for the modem to recycle, then when you see the online light is lit, turn the computer back on. After the computer is back on the internet maintain this configuration for an amount of time to see if you are able to maintain a stable internet connection. If after a sufficient amount of time has passed and the connection looks good, add back the Wifi router and restart all equipment. Continue testing with the same computer and only one computer and see if the connection seems stable.

    If all continues to work well, then start adding additional devices one at a time until you see any issues arise. This may help you isolate the issue and it may help to determine the next steps.

    Feel free to let us know about your progress. We are here on the Forums 24/7 for assistance.

    Thank you,

    Mike J.
    Cox Support Forums Moderator
    • RexG's avatar
      RexG
      New Contributor
      4 years ago

      Thank you for the reply, michaelj. I may try that procedure sometime this week, but it involves some rather drastic downtime, and given our dependence on the internet for so many home devices and WFH activities, I'll need to time it properly.

      Are you proposing this because you suspect my Wi-Fi or one of my devices is causing the connection loss / modem reboots? Are there any logs or other indicators that might point more directly to an offending device?

      Keep in mind also, we were having these same problems with the COX Panoramic modem that had built-in Wi-Fi, so I doubt it's my new modem or Wi-Fi setup. Thanks again!

      • MichaelJ's avatar
        MichaelJ
        Moderator
        4 years ago
        RexG,

        It is the simplest and most direct way to test your internet connection by removing any intervening devices and seeing what happens when you are only dealing with one device at a time. if you continue to experience intermittent loss of internet service multiple times throughout the day, then I suggest scheduling a tech to come out. The tech can check the interior wiring and outlets as well as test for issues outside the home. Check your logs after the restart and a few minutes into the testing and thereafter as you add a device back to your network. If you detect a significant change when you add a device, take it off the network and restart the modem, then continue from there.

        With 30+ WiFi devices on your home network, you may want to think about contacting our Cox Business Services to see what solutions we have for that number of concurrent devices being used. Here is the contact information in case you are interested: www.cox.com/.../contact-us.html or call us at 1-866-743-7741.
        Sales Support Phone Hours: Mon - Fri, 8 am - 6 pm PT and Sat, 8 am - 12 pm PT.

        Thank you,

        Mike J.
        Cox Support Forums Moderator