Re: Help needed with intermittent internet

JM wrote:
There's a whole bunch up there that my ego would like to clarify, but it likely would detract from the target. I do understand what a router does. I
do understand the OSI model. My attempts to generalize and present the
various miscommunications between myself and a room full of Comcast support
people over the past 4 weeks misrepresented the situation.
That a router operates at layer 3 is a fact. That it does much more than
"route" traffic also is a fact. However, I'm having trouble seeing the
pertinence of this information, in the context of your theory concerning possible cause. If I'm interpreting your comments correctly, you think the router might be blocking IP traffic according to a schedule. If that's so, then would we see the internet "down" specific times of day? Should it be predictably recurring? Could there be other times of the day when the internet is intermittent? Finally, would a reset of the Netgear "fix" this type of problem?


Well, here's where we are:

Comcast has stated that the modem is not going down, and there's nothing in the modem logs to indicate a problem.

You've isolated your LAN from the Netgear box.

That narrows things down to the router in the Netgear box.

You've implied that this happens every night, over night. That would seem to indicate a regularly scheduled event.

So possible issues include:
- The router is configured wrong, possibly blocking on a schedule.
- The router has some other problem.
- The router, and the other two also, are all from the same batch, and are all defective.
- You really didn't isolate your LAN from the Netgear.
- Comcast isn't being honest about the modem not having a problem.

That's a pretty short list, but it could get longer if one of the last two items on it are where the problem is. But assuming that you did isolate the LAN from the Netgear box, and assuming that Comcast is correct that there aren't any problems up to and including the modem that's in the Netgear box, then we're down to the something with the router in the Netgear box.

So assuming that isolation troubleshooting has been properly done, and the results have been correctly reported, it's now time to focus on that router. I'm suggesting the blocking schedule because the context of your reports of your conversations with Comcast infer that they aren't aware of a way that the Netgear box can shut-down sometime overnight, and your reports on when the problem happens, for the most part, point towards the same timeframe each day. But that's just one example of what it could be, and something that I'd look at first in the router configuration.

My point is that isolation troubleshooting has narrowed us down to the router. The symptoms reported are not inconsistent with a router problem. (They were inconsistent with a bridge problem.)

What else can be done?

You can physically disconnect the LAN instead of just disabling the NIC. That would confirm that you have isolated the problem to someplace outside your LAN. And Comcast can recheck the modem logs, and recheck the RF signal to the modem. If everyone re-does, and confirms the steps they've taken to isolate the problem, then we're right back at the router. And so far, I've seen absolutely zip on the router configuration. The only thing we know is that three different physical routers have been in place during the course of this problem.

Speaking of things I haven't seen addressed, a number of times I've asked if they only replaced the combo box, or if they also replaced the power brick for it as well. And I've also asked about what other electrical equipment might be on the same circuit. Even if you can't get into the router to check the configuration, you should be able to make sure that it's getting clean power.

I'm not saying I'm locked into the blocking schedule theory. But I am saying that if all the information that has been offered is correct, and all the methodology has been sound, then we have isolated the problem to that Netgear router packed in the same box as the modem. And despite replacing the combo box twice already, the problem is still there.

So what else can it be? Either you need to go back and re-do the isolation troubleshooting again, and see if you wind-up someplace else, or the problem is in the router. And they symptoms are not inconsistent with something that can happen with a router.

Where else can we go with this?

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.

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