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Mickey20's avatar
Mickey20
New Contributor
5 years ago

New Device Connecting to Network at night

We recently upgraded to the Cox Panoramic WiFi Gateway.  I got a notice that a new device had connected to our network around 0400 one morning.  The device was the same model as our own router but the IP address was unavailable.  I changed our network password and this happened again around 0200 this morning.  Could this be Cox doing automatic updates?  Would that show up as a new device?  Both times it said the device connected but had minimal activity.  Forgive me if the question is stupid but I’m learning as I go.  Any idea if it’s something I should be worried about?  At the moment I have “paused” the device until I figure out if I need to change passwords again.  Thank you.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    5 years ago

    You got a notice?  An email, a pop-up, a message from your firewall, anti-virus?

    Check your modem log for activity around these times.  An "SW" (software) would indicate an update.

    It could be Cox updating your firmware because, as you noted, it's a new device and probably needs updates and reboots.

  • Mickey20's avatar
    Mickey20
    New Contributor
    5 years ago

    I posted a reply but looks like it didn’t get through.  The Cox app allows you to assign each device connected to your network a name and shows you at any given time what devices are connected.  It also notifies you when any new device connects to your network and how much activity it had.  I got the notice via the app.  I did ask the Cox rep if it could be the automatic updates but they couldn’t answer the question and told me to just pause (I guess it’s the same thing as block) that device from connecting.  I’ve done that but I’d really like to know what it might be.  I have a Gateway router/modem (2 in 1) that has a specific name and shows up on my notifications as that specific name so if it were running an update it seems like it wouldn’t recognize it as a new device.  

    • Bruce's avatar
      Bruce
      Honored Contributor III
      5 years ago

      Again, review your modem log.  I don't know its make but the IP of my modem is 192.168.100.1

    • racn1le's avatar
      racn1le
      New Contributor
      5 years ago

      I got the same notice last night at 2:08 am.  It's the second time it has happened since I got the Panoramic gateway (TG1682G) a few weeks ago. Not sure why the gateway would be detected as a device though. Here is the event log from my modem for this morning.  Any ideas as to what it means.

      [Harvester][1186]: Harvester StartRadioTrafficHarvesting Starting Thread to start RadioTraffic Data Harvesting 2020/3/05 02:03:06 Notice
      [Harvester][1186]: Harvester StartAssociatedDeviceHarvesting : Started Thread to start DeviceData Harvesting 2020/3/05 02:03:03 Notice
      • Mickey20's avatar
        Mickey20
        New Contributor
        5 years ago

        Where do you find the event log? (I’m new to all of this).  I was thinking an update sounds more likely since it’s done at night and the Cox rep did tell me they were running updates last night which is when I got the notification.  Maybe since the updates are being pushed from another location it doesn’t recognize that as a known device.  Do you also use the pods?  Let me know if you find out anything else and I’ll do the same.  Thanks for the info.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    5 years ago

    The connection between the modem and router...even internally...is Layer-2...not Layer-3 (IP).  Meaning, it's MAC-to-MAC...or connector-to-connector...with no routing...and no IP address.  That's why your router didn't have an IP address to report.  Although your modem does have a public IP address, it doesn't communicate with your router at Layer-3..

    Your modem probably updated, rebooted, returned online and your router reported the "new" connection.

    • Mickey20's avatar
      Mickey20
      New Contributor
      5 years ago

      Thank you.  It still continues periodically at all hours of the day.

      • Bruce's avatar
        Bruce
        Honored Contributor III
        5 years ago

        Upload your log and identify what you're specifically questioning.

        You can use the Click to Join link at the bottom of this page to upload files from your computer.