[SOLVED] Connection dropping randomly - ISP not helping

[Aqualoon]

I'm going to try to keep this as short and to the point as possible while getting out all the relevant info.

I know a little bit about networking, enough to get a home wireless network up and running without issues. This is not at my place but I'm trying to help a friend who has had issues for 2 years now. I have been involved in setting up the network from the start so I do have some personal experience with it.

2 Years ago friend buys a new house (rather big) and I talk him into trying a TV streaming service to see if he likes it. He contacts Mediacom and just gets internet service (100 Mbps). Because his house is so large I get a few of those plug in extenders, set them up and everything is fine (at this point it was mediacom's modem, his wireless router and 4 of the plug in extenders). His wife doesn't like the switch to streaming TV as she liked how everything was setup TV wise from Mediacom (they had their TV service at their old place for years - she knew how to run the remote, DVR her shows, etc.). No prob, call Mediacom and they are now on the TV and Internet bundle. When this happened a tech came out (I was there for this) as they had to install their own modem/router and TV boxes for the TV service. The tech tells me that because they had to change modem/wifi router combo that this MUST be used, and to setup the owned router as a wireless access point. I do this, set everything back up and test everything and leave.

Since then they have non-stop issues with the internet randomly dropping throughout the day and night (wifi). The location of the incoming cable and Mediacom's modem/router is in a downstairs closet and as mentioned, it's a large house so there's no way to run cables everywhere. Their son has to move his PS4 into the closet and do a wired connection at night and he will still randomly drop. They have called Mediacom techs throughout the two years who come out, do stuff (I have no idea what they do when they come out, I guess one tech was out there for less then 10 minutes) and still have the issues.

Last month my friend got tired of it, upgraded to their gigabyte service hoping that a full hardware change would fix the issue. It didn't. I was out at their house a few weeks ago to put in some beefier extenders (Netgear EX8000), tested their connection and left. Wifi is still coming in and out and just last night the son was playing in the closet on the PS4 and his wired connection was dropping.

What's the next step here? As mentioned, not totally network savvy but understand enough (hopefully) to get done what needs to. Calling the ISP for help doesn't seem to be doing anything and the family is tired of not having reliable internet (I would have gone crazy by now). The only other game in town is DSL at much slower speeds.

--Edit--

I wanted to add some additional information that I didn't above. He only has 2 neighbors, one to each side and each of them has a wireless network. So it's not like there should be any interference going on.

 

[null_dev]

Any packet is sent through network has one checksum pack(assume CRC), and usually if a node sees too much CRC error, it simply disconnect from the network(no matter the size LAN/MAN/WAN).

Noises are the most reasons for having CRC errors. A bad wire, bad environment for wireless, etc...

You may check modem(and profile of ISP), to make sure the modem has continus live connection. Check NAT CRCs, there must be too few! Again, if modem sees too much error, it drops the network, and reconnect

In ISP customer profile(if any/applicable), check connect/disconnect records(or simply ask ISP for that), if it's too much, so blame the wire come to modem, recheck the wires, use shielded high-quality ones. If the wire is bad, so purchasing more bandwidth will make it worse!
Ask ISP to downgrade the bandwidth to below 100Mb, and see if it gets more stable, if yes, so it's belong to ISP to modem setup.

If you see no connect/disconnect, so this would be belong to Modem(internal home network). I think the place modem is located may have some noisy/bad environment. Try to re-locate the modem somewhere else, and try again.

Hope it helps

 

[Aqualoon]

How do I go about checking for CRC errors? And I check these on Mediacom's modem/router and not on the owned router that is now an access point, correct?

Right now the closet downstairs is the only place in the house where the cable comes into the home. So I'm sure they can relocate that, but it's not really a quick and easy solution ya know.

And thanks for the response.

 

[null_dev]

How do I go about checking for CRC errors? And I check these on Mediacom's modem/router and not on the owned router that is now an access point, correct?

What's the modem brand? model?

That modem/router should have admin console, it's usually accessible by 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. SImply check the gateway of connected device, that's modem address.

From one of the connected device, connect to the modem. It may need user and password. each device has default admin user/pass, you may find it from labels in modem, or check online(search the name and model).

Then in system log/diagnostics check if you see any kind of unexpected log. Also in PPOP/NAT bridge/interface, check upstream/downstream and CRC errors. Many modems(even cheapest ones) have these stuffs for reporting, so hope it's true about this modem too

Right now the closet downstairs is the only place in the house where the cable comes into the home. So I'm sure they can relocate that, but it's not really a quick and easy solution ya know.

Yes yes yes, check the wire come from phone/net/ISP provider to the modem, make sure it's in high quality and good state.

Ask ISP for connect events also, or simply using the customer profile(if any)