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AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'

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AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'

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AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-01 16:58:10 - last edited 2021-07-08 02:59:36
Model: Archer AX20  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.3.1 Build 20210521 rel.72481(5553)

Hi,

 

I've been having a very frustrating issue for the past two months where our internet connection (both wired from the router to a desktop PC, and all wireless devices) will completely drop out for 3-4 minutes sometimes multiple times a day. This happens despite the router reporting uninterupted "Online Duration" in the Internet Status section, and my ISP (Spectrum) checked their logs yesterday and said they showed no downtime/outages on our modem except for a brief period over a month ago.

 

Archer AX20 v1.20

Most recent firmware 1.3.1 Build 20210521 rel.72481(5553)

 

The router is connected to Spectrum's modem, running separate 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz networks (not Smart Connect), and also hardwired to a desktop PC (Windows 10) as well as a PS4.

 

I have an uptime monitor running 24/7 on the PC and have seen near daily dropouts of 3-4 minutes at completely different times of day. (The uptime monitor pings Google's DNS, Level 3's DNS, and CloudFlare's DNS and if it can't reach all three for over 10 seconds, it logs a failure and records how long it lasts.)

 

Since Spectrum says this isn't their modem/service, I'm here to see if anyone can provide advice on why this could be happening with the AX20 (if that is indeed the problem).

 

I did a factory reset yesterday, after Spectrum said it wasn't them, and I also updated the DNS to CloudFlare's public DNS (1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1) instead of Spectrum's. Neither have helped, as we've still had dropouts since the reset.

 

What other info can I provide for troubleshooting?

Thanks,

Eric

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'-Solution
2021-07-07 13:58:16 - last edited 2021-07-08 02:59:36

@terziyski Turns out it was the ISP after all. Huge surprise!


Tech came yesterday and checked the lines inside and outside of the house. Found that the extra lines at the splitter on the outside of the house (that were going to other parts of the house that are currently unused) were adding a lot of noise to the signal, and the ISP's "filter" at the split from the main line was squashing that extra noise coming from our line so it didn't get out to other houses, and in that process it was resulting in a lot of packet loss and generally unstable signal. He said he was surprised we were getting any service with the amount of noise happening. He disconnected the extra lines at the splitter since we don't need them (previous tenants), and also ran a new line from the main line direct to the modem. Been rock solid since.

 

Super annoying that phone CS was all "I'm seeing the modem has been connected without interruption for over 30 days so it all looks good here!". They can't detect packet loss or excessive noise on their side?

 

Anyway, thank you very much for all your help and suggestions - I'm glad it wasn't the AX20 after all. Didn't think it was, since it had been great at our last place with a different ISP. But I really appreciate you digging into this and offering all this help!

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-01 22:07:41 - last edited 2021-07-01 22:22:08

@TheNoise 

 

Have you change anything in your router configuration or done a FW update (most probably) before the issue appeared ?

By changing the DNS addresses, did you mean for the Internet connection :

 

 

Observe your Internet port negotiated speed and if you think it's not correct then set it manually:

 

Anything related in System Log ?

 

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-01 23:22:06

@terziyski Thanks for the reply!

 

Hadn't made any changes to the settings before the issue started happening. And, updated to the latest firmware two days ago and have still be seeing the issue.

 

Yes, DNS for the Internet settings are set to CloudFlare's, and I am seeing 1000MbpsFull Duplex listed on the router status page for the Internet and LAN port.

 

What should I look for in the system log?

 

I disabled OneMesh this afternoon, and nothing has really been in the log since then. I did see a 15 second outage on my uptime monitor (which pings those three DNS servers and logs an outage if it can't connect to all three for longer than 10 seconds) about 30 minutes ago, but nothing is in the router log for that time and the Status page still shows an Online Duration of over 1 day (since the last reboot).

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 00:08:09

@TheNoise 

 

I've meant any records in the System Log that may lead you to the issue, but obviously there's nothing in there during that time.

Disabling OneMesh if you don't use it is a good idea. You can do that with IPv6 too.

Is your modem in bridge mode or router mode ? Is it public or ptivate IP address on the AX20 Internet port ? PPPoE session or Dynamic IP setting ?

Why don't you try to monitor the modem's gateway IP address to see if the connection from your PC to the ISP gateway is uninterrupted.

If there's a modem's gateway outage during the same time as the DNS outage, that means your should talk to your ISP again.

Otherwise you can try to monitor some other public IP address (at your choice) and that way to exclude public DNS only issue.

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 00:16:27

@terziyski 

 

"Why don't you try to monitor the modem's gateway IP address to see if the connection from your PC to the ISP gateway is uninterrupted."

 

Ah, this is a good idea. That's the "Default Gateway" under the Advanced > Network > Status page, right?

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 00:28:34

@TheNoise 

 

 

From AX20 point of view - yes, if it's a public IP address then that would be the perfect test to check the stability to your ISP network.

If it's a private IP address:

then you have to make the test with the modem's default gateway.

If it's a private IP address you may check the connection stability between the AX20 and the modem as well (that's a good test too).

 

If this was helpful click on the arrow pointing upward to make it blue. If this solves your issue, click the star to make it blue and mark the post as a "Recommended Solution".
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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 14:45:32

@terziyski 

 

Alright, so within the uptime monitor if the public DNS severs (CloudFlare 1.1.1.1 and Google 8.8.8.8) AND my Default Gateway IP (which is a public IP starting 104.162.xx.x) all go unresponsive for the same period of time, then you think that definitely indicates a problem on the ISP side, and not within the router?

 

Just had that happen for 3 minutes or so before everything came back by itself.

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 15:00:32

@terziyski Also on this most recent outage I had the router page open and was using the Advanced > System > Diagnostics page to ping both the Google DNS, www.google.com, and my Default Gateway, and they were all timing out.

 

Of course at that very moment the My Spectrum app was reporting my modem status as "Connected" without issue.

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 15:34:42 - last edited 2021-07-03 14:54:28

@TheNoise 

 

Yes, I would suspect the ISP issue. One more thing though before blaming your ISP.

You didn't mentioned what 's your AX20 WAN connection PPPoE or Dynamic IP ?

Can you ping the Spectrum modem from your local network ?

If you can then you can add it to the monitor app as well, thus excluding outage between AX20 and the Spectrum modem.

If you can't, just talk to the ISP and explain them what tests you've done and why do you suspect that the problem is on their side.

If this was helpful click on the arrow pointing upward to make it blue. If this solves your issue, click the star to make it blue and mark the post as a "Recommended Solution".
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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'
2021-07-02 18:33:37

@terziyski It's a Dynamic IP. 

 

I'll have to check to see if I have access to the management interface on the Spectrum modem.

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Re:AX20 connection dropouts (wired & wireless) despite router reporting sustained 'Online Duration'-Solution
2021-07-07 13:58:16 - last edited 2021-07-08 02:59:36

@terziyski Turns out it was the ISP after all. Huge surprise!


Tech came yesterday and checked the lines inside and outside of the house. Found that the extra lines at the splitter on the outside of the house (that were going to other parts of the house that are currently unused) were adding a lot of noise to the signal, and the ISP's "filter" at the split from the main line was squashing that extra noise coming from our line so it didn't get out to other houses, and in that process it was resulting in a lot of packet loss and generally unstable signal. He said he was surprised we were getting any service with the amount of noise happening. He disconnected the extra lines at the splitter since we don't need them (previous tenants), and also ran a new line from the main line direct to the modem. Been rock solid since.

 

Super annoying that phone CS was all "I'm seeing the modem has been connected without interruption for over 30 days so it all looks good here!". They can't detect packet loss or excessive noise on their side?

 

Anyway, thank you very much for all your help and suggestions - I'm glad it wasn't the AX20 after all. Didn't think it was, since it had been great at our last place with a different ISP. But I really appreciate you digging into this and offering all this help!

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