NBN HFC Problem: Connection drops out after I go to sleep?

Debuting on 27/12/2019 - 18:47
Last edited 28/12/2019 - 02:36 by 1 other user

So, I'm having a weird issue where the the HFC modem can freeze overnight and shows 4 solid lights but there is no connection and the router isn't able to get an ip address from the arris modem.

It seems to happen more often after I've downloaded say over 20GB in the previous day. Does anyone know what exactly this issue is? Has anyone experienced it themselves? I was thinking along the lines of opening too many connections because whilst downloading through the VPN I set the max connections to around 64 to optimise the connection as most of the content I am getting is located in China behind that slow firewall where I can max out anywhere from 20-50KB/Sec per thread. I don't know if this is killing the arris modem over time. I would hate to think of what torrenting would do though, so maybe I'm looking at the wrong culprit.

It is getting quite annoying waking up, opening the browser to find it isn't working. It's a simple reboot of both modem and router and it's back to normal and there are absolutely zero dropouts during the day. Rebooting the router in the morning has no effect.

Should I try and get NBN to replace the arris?

• 

  kipps on 27/12/2019 - 19:00

  NBN won’t assist. You need to work with your RSP. Get the modem replaced if it’s not signal levels.

  • 

    Debuting on 28/12/2019 - 16:21

    Yeah, I've been putting it off but have a break now. I'm enjoying it for the moment. I think I should use the time off to get a tech in because at the moment I don't have to work around which days I will be at home.

• 

  o53djz7qTPY4der on 27/12/2019 - 19:07

  Do you have VoIP?

  I was having a similar issue with my fttp and it turned out to be the VoIP service. Will go into more details of you have VoIP too.

  • 

    Debuting on 28/12/2019 - 16:22

    I'm using voip on the side, but I don't know how that would affect it.

    • 

      o53djz7qTPY4der on 28/12/2019 - 17:36

      Well…

      I had voip with a PPPOE connection set up. The first few days I was experiencing dropouts. I noticed because OpenVPN would drop and then my server would lose internet until I restarted OpenVPN.

      At first, I couldn't solve the issue but noticed that this tended to happen when large downloads (20-300GBs) were in progress or had just completed.

      After hassling the ISP for a resolution I kept a careful eye on the logs.

      What I noticed was that because LFTP was saturating my connection (100/40, usually maxing out at 97-99), my VOIP pings (happening every 60 or so minutes) back to my ISP to check that the account is still valid (ie. paid up), both internet and VOIP, would get taken down for a few seconds to re-establish a connection. VOIP would try to authenticate 3 times before disconnecting me. I didn't get disconnected every time but if there was not enough bandwidth for VOIP to ping back it would fail, despite the bandwidth required for this being tiny.

      In the end, I removed my VOIP service from the equation and taa-daa… No more disconnects. I promptly removed my VOIP service from the account and survive with just a mobile.

      My VPN suggested adjusting the MTU but I found this made no difference. There were also a couple of VOIP settings I messed with but none worked.

      My ISP were convinced that I was wrong in my troubleshooting and it couldn't possibly have been the VOIP service but as I said, since removing, no issues.

      My advice, temporarily remove VOIP from the router. Try a large download and see what happens.

• 

  alexlim2000 on 27/12/2019 - 19:13

  +1

  it is very rarely the NBN modem - it is a very simple device and it is rather good at its job.
  More often than not -
  * People try to use an outdated ADSL router with the NBN modem - old routers were built to route much slower ADSL connections and struggle with the speeds of NBN. Personally after replacing my ADSL router with a proper router, it solved my speed isues (over wireless).
  * You might also want to double check your router's settings, some older routers have this… dialing? or sleeping function where it shuts off or drops the connection if it is inactive.
  * If you've got a mate with a spare router, ask to borrow it and see if the issue persists or changes in nature.

  The folks over at whirlpool forums are really helpful with this stuff too

  • 

    alvian on 28/12/2019 - 02:18

    +1

    You might also want to double check your router's settings, some older routers have this sleeping function where it shuts off or drops the connection if it is inactive.

    A reasonable suspicion except,

    • Rebooting the router in the morning has no effect.
    • reboot of both modem and router and it's back to normal

    According to OP's description, it looked like the modem is at fault but not the router.

    ---

    old routers were built to route much slower ADSL connections and struggle with the speeds of NBN

    It does not explain why OP's connection is stable during the day:

    • there are absolutely zero dropouts during the day
    • downloaded say over 20GB
    • HFC modem can freeze overnight and shows 4 solid lights but there is no connection
    • the router isn't able to get an IP address from the modem (presumably after rebooting only the router)

    ---

    If you've got a mate with a spare router, ask to borrow it and see if the issue persists or changes in nature.

    A step in the right direction. This will isolate the problem to the modem/connection or to the router. A faulty router is RSP's problem (or OP's if it is a BYO router). A faulty modem/connection is NBN's problem but since NBN will not deal with retail customers, OP will need to go through the RSP to report the fault to NBN.

• 

  Fysh on 27/12/2019 - 23:33

  -2

  Power save mode. Turn it off