Best way to extend WiFi range
I'm using a Cisco DPC3825 modem and router. The range in my house is terrible (online reviews show this as one of the big complaints about the DPC3825). I've read some about range extenders and the difficulties of setting them up using a Cox modem. I've also read the challenges of getting Cox modems to act as a bridge to another, more powerful router. So what do people recommend as the best practice for increasing my WiFi range? I'd prefer a cost-effective solution. Answers like "moving the router" are out of the question, as I live in a long house where moving the router toward one end will simply reduce the signal at the other end. Either a wider range router or a repeater seems to be the only solution, but how does one best get that to work on Cox's network, economically?22KViews0likes8Comments
Slow Speeds with Netgear R7000 Router - How We Fixed It - SOLVED
This is a post about slow internet speeds with the Netgear R7000 router and how we solved the problem.If you want to skip directly to our fix, goto the fourth paragraph from the bottom of the post.If youwant the background first, keep reading. Like others, we've been having slow internet download speed issues with our R7000 router. These slow speeds are when we are connected by cable to the router with the wifi off on the computer and the router or if connected by wifi to the router - it doesn't matter. Our internet connection is the Ultimate package rated at 300Mbps/30Mbps download/upload. When connecting through the router we would be lucky to get 120-160Mbps download but always 30Mbps up. When connecting directly through the cable modem (Motorola MB8600) we usually get our rated download speed and above. All speed test numbers have been tested using not only the speed test software housed at Cox, but also speed test sites on the internet. All speed tests confirm each other as they are within 10% of each other with, of course, the ISP's test showing the fastest. Regardless, the R7000 router always showed 120-160 down (sometimes even half that at times). There would naturally be slightly slower speeds during congested times during the evening, but the R7000 would always be about 50% slower than if we were connected directly through the modem, bypassing the router. Before getting to what we did with the router, here is everything else that was done to isolate any other potential problems. Cox came out to the house multiple times. Network cables from the computer to the router and router to the modem were fine, but we replaced them with brand new CAT-7 cables anyway. Interior house coax cabling was fine and barrel connector were fine but connector replaced anyway. From the house to the tap, the cabling was fine. The tap checked out OK, but since it was old they replaced it anyway. The cabling from the tap to the post where cabling comes out of the street was fine, but they rebuilt the post anyway. The cabling in the street had one section that indicated some slight signal loss, so they replaced the cabling in the street. Back in the house, their test equipment was attached to the line ahead of our modem and regularly showed 315-330Mbs down and 31Mbps up. They reprovisioned our line at the central office, installed their modem on the coax, directly attached their modem to our computer and regularly got 300 or above on multiple occassions. They reprovisioned the line again,installed our modem on the coax, directly attached our modem to our computer and regularly got 300 or above on multiple occassions. Computer settings were checked to make sure everything was configured correctly and all unnecesary computer processes were stopped to make sure nothing was interfering. So, everything is OK on the ISP side and also with the computer and its cables. After making sure everything else was OK, we shut everything off, connected the computer back to the router and the router back to the modem, let the modem boot up completely, then let the router boot up completely, then let the computer boot up completely. After making sure all unnecesary processes were stopped, new speed tests were run showing slow 120-160 download speeds. Multiple tests over the past month connected to the router, whether by direct cable with wifi off on the computer and router, or whether connected by wifi consistently showed the slower speeds from the ISP's speed test and multiple internet speed test sites. And multiple tests while bypassing the router and being directly connected to the modem regularly showed 300-350. So the router was definitely the issue. Have we reset the router back to factory defaults? Yes. Have we been sure to download and install the latest firmware when it came out? Always - and there is where the problem is. We dutifully upgraded all the firmware releases up through the most current v1.09.18 (as of January, 2018). After reading others' posts, a number of them have talked about downgrading the firmware. Some have said v1.09.06 worked for them (but their rated line speed was, if I recall, much less than our 300/30). Others have said they have downgraded to v1.03.24 that had solved their problems (in fact, one of those people had a line rated at 400/40). Still others said v1.07.12 solved their problem. Hmm, was this the answer? After looking through our old speed test results from October, 2017, we noticed that when we upgraded our line in October from Premier 100/15 to Ultimate 300/30, we also upgraded our R7000 firmware from the 1.07.xx series to the 1.09.xx series - and that 's when our problems began. All along we thought the issue came from the ISP, thinking they either had equipment problems or that they had mis-provisioned our line when we switched to the faster plan. It turns out it was the firmware on the R7000 router. FINALLY - HERE'S THE FIX.We factory reset the router once again, downloaded and installed the v1.07.12 firmware, then again factory reset the router, direct connected to the router before rebuilding all our old settings, kept wifi turned off - and now we are regularly getting 300-350Mbps download from the router. After rebuilding all our old settings, turning wifi back on and still staying connected directly to the router, we are still getting 300-350 downloads. Removing the direct cable connection to the router and using the wifi from the computer to the router, we are regularly getting +/- 300Mbps downloads (of course depending on how close we are to the router). So that's the simple fix. I suspect there is something lurking in the 1.09.xx series firmware that is not allowing the router to efficiently handle higher rated line speeds (if you are at 150Mbps rated download or below, I'm guessing you are OK). Some people might say our settings weren't correct in the router when using the v1.09.xx firmware releases. I don't think that's the case since we tried everything AND we also factory reset the router while still using the v1.09.18 firmware. Hope this helps. This post was written January 10, 2018. The most recent firmware as of this date was v1.09.18, which caused us to have slow download speeds on the R7000 (much slower than our 300/30 line). If you're reading this after January, 2018, and you have slow speed issues with the router, and if the most current firmware is in the 1.09.xx series, I would suggest downgrading back to v1.07.12. UPDATE as of January 22, 2018: This fix has continued to work reliably. I'm consistently getting download speeds in upper 300's to lower 400's - either connected directly to the router or using wifi.21KViews0likes2Comments
My netgear router is throttling my connection speed (Ultimate 150)
Hi, I'm so tired of getting the run around from cox support and spending hours searching google for my problem. There must be somebody out there who can actually help me and not just say "buy a new router". I have a netgear wndr3400v2 dual channel 2.4 GHZ/5 GHZ wifi router. The router is under 1 year old so isn't out of date. firmware is uptodate. There is no problem with the wifi connection. The problem is that when I connect the PC directly to the modem (cisco DPC3010) I get download speeds in excess of 190 Mbps (impossible according to the cox "tech"" but I do .. hence no complaints; except that when I connect through the LAN socket 1 on the router I only get speeds of 94 Mbps. That means that the router is somehow throttling the speed by 100 Mbps! All the cox techs just say "It's a router problem and nothing to do with us". Netgear are about as easy to contact as the dear departed and are no help either. Help! I can't just keep buying routers till I get one that doesn't slow my connection! Any real help would be gratefully received and thanks in advance. Speeds are checked on cox speed check and speedtest.net and are consistent, fast direct to modem, slow through router.Solved18KViews0likes5Comments
2.4 ghz signal is not detected by any device.
I have a Cox dual-band router (brand new), but only the 5 ghz (5G) signal is detectable. None of my devices detects the 2.4 ghz spectrum signal -- it does not show up in the list of available networks. I have two devices (a laptop and a Roku) that are not 5G compatible, so I need to use the 2.4 ghz signal with those. On the router, the lights flash for both. Rebooted both the router and the Roku multiple times, but that did not solve the problem. The representative on the Cox website "Chat" had no other ideas.15KViews0likes3Comments
Has anyone succeeded in using a router with "bridge mode" on the Cox modem, to get around the unreasonable 10 device limit? If I can't solve this, I'm going to have to cancel all my services and go to AT&T.
Has anyone succeeded in using a router with "bridge mode" on the Cox modem, to get around the unreasonable 10 device limit? If I can't solve this, I'm going to have to cancel all my services and go to AT&T. I've spent many hours and dollars trying to get around this issue, which Cox denied creating for several weeks, blaming my equipment. They even came here, and the tech replaced my premium quality splitters with cheap ones, and kept mine. And I swapped the 2472 for a 4141, still didn't work. This is the ago of IoT. NOBODY has less than 10 internet-capable devices in their home.14KViews0likes2Comments
OMAHA: DNS issues - DNS in router?
First, you "upgraded" my account by sending a new Internet modem, a model UbeeDUBW656 -- yet, on this page, < http://www.cox.com/residential/support/internet/article.cox?articleId=b2ec95d0-7ef9-11df-5590-000000000000>, you do NOT have this modem listed as preferred. That may well be the problem. Ever since I installed this modem, there has been intermittent yet consistent "DNS" problems on all of my devices that are connected to this modem/router. Both wired and wireless suffer from these DNS issues. I have tried to bypass the modem's DNS features to no avail. I am a very savvy internet-capable IT guy. I know how to troubleshoot. The DNS port/ip filtering is somehow wacked out on this modem/router. And, I cannot even change the DNS settings IN the router. This bites. The symptoms are the DNS addresses will not resolve. Running nslookup and choosing different servers, always time out, when this problem exists. For the last 24 hours, I have had this problem, and resetting the modem is not working. I have cleared, flushed, registered, re-configured multiple computer devices just to be sure it was not a local problem. The problem resides in either the modem/router, or at COX in Omaha. I am VERY unsatisfied with the quality of COX Internet, and feel that I am overpaying for such service. -- Unhappy in Omaha.11KViews0likes19Comments
is it possible to change the wifi channel on my panoramic wifi to one that is less crowded?
Hello, I'm reaching out to ask how I can change the wifi channel used by my panoramic gateway/router. I have been having a lot of internet stuttering and lag recently. I thought the problem might resolve itself after the scheduled outage for system work on 3/15/2022. it didn't, so i changed my plan to a higher tier thinking there were more neighbors paying more, and i was getting slower speeds to keep bandwidth available. that didn't change anything either. After doing more homework I was led to look at the channel my hardware uses for wifi. This seems like a likely cause for the problem. I am on a channel with 15 other users that show a strong connection. there are 5ghz that are unused and available. i found that i can get to an older java interface through a browser by pointing it to the gateway, but that app says channels are automaticallycontrolled. any advice would be appreciated. regards, chris9.7KViews0likes9CommentsConnecting to Router Settings for NetGear CG3000D
I cannot seem to connect to my COX-provided NetGear CG3000D router's settings. I am having issues with getting my Nintendo Wii to connect to the internet and it recommends changing some network settings via my router. The manual for the router available through COX.com says to access the setting by going to http://192.168.0.1 but this does not load anything for me. Thank you for any advice.8.4KViews0likes5Comments
is it possible to change the wifi channel on my panoramic wifi to one that is less crowded?
Hello, I'm reaching out to ask how I can change the wifi channel used by my panoramic gateway/router. I have been having a lot of internet stuttering and lag recently. I thought the problem might resolve itself after the scheduled outage for system work on 3/15/2022. it didn't, so i changed my plan to a higher tier thinking there were more neighbors paying more, and i was getting slower speeds to keep bandwidth available. that didn't change anything either. After doing more homework I was led to look at the channel my hardware uses for wifi. This seems like a likely cause for the problem. I am on a channel with 15 other users that show a strong connection. there are 5ghz that are unused and available. i found that i can get to an older java interface through a browser by pointing it to the gateway, but that app says channels are automaticallycontrolled. any advice would be appreciated. regards, chris