Extending DHCP Leases

[Striker44]

My internet connection drops and resets itself rather often, disconnecting me from anything I am doing online (streaming, gaming, even just loading a webpage if I time it "right").

I noticed today that it was occurring exactly every 60 minutes, and further investigation using the command prompt and "ipconfig /all" showed I have two DHCP leases that are set to expire and renew every 60 minutes. (Interestingly, right at this moment one of them lasts for 1 hr 37 minutes and the other for 1 hour 58 minutes, which is the first non-precisely-60-minute expiration I have seen today.)

I use an Arris TM1602A provided by my cable company, and a Sagemcom F@st 3965CV router, also provided by my cable company. I already contacted my cable company and they notified me that it is not something that they can change on their end or that I can change by logging into my router.

I logged into my router anyway, and I do not see any option in any category dealing with DHCP leases. Under "LAN Setup," I can provide my PC (which is wired directly to the router) with a reserved local IP reservation...so my first question is - would doing this be effective in any way at stopping the constant expiration and renewals of my DHCP lease?

Now, further information. This was not always an issue, but started at some point within the past year. My "Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection" is an Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260, and my "Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection" is a Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. These are the only two parts of my /ipconfig that show lease expirations. The first of those (the Intel one) shows a driver update in Windows Update occurring on 5/17/2015, which may very well be around the time the problem began (I can't confirm, though). The Realtek shows as "other hardware" (it doesn't say update), and an install on 1/2/2016, which I believe is *after* my problem already began, though again I cannot 100% confirm.

I know that's a lot of information, but I figure something in there may help, so I wanted to provide it.

My key question is: How can I go about setting up my DHCP leases so that they do not expire so frequently?

I have used this cable company since 2009, and owned this computer since 2014, and this frequent lease expiration did *not* happen until at least mid-2015, so I have to believe there is a way to fix this "new" problem that did not always exist.

If a direct fix is not possible, my other question is: Would connecting my PC directly to the modem instead of using a router solve this issue? If so, it's not an ideal solution, as I also often connect a laptop wirelessly via the router, but if I know I won't be doing that for periods of time, it could help.

Any ideas or assistance with my question(s) is much, much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bill001g]

Your first test is to go into your PC and put in a fixed IP address and see if it is stable. This completely removes the DHCP problem.

The lease time being short does not matter a real lot in most cases. It is used to prevent you from running out of IP addresses,

The way it is suppose to work is at 1/2 the lease time you pc will ask the router may I keep using this ip. The router will tell it yes and the lease time will be reset. If it gets no response then the pc wait some period of time, varies a bit between os, and asks again. Eventual just as the timer expires it will ask one last time. If that fails then it drops the ip and sends out blind broadcasts asking for a new one.

Only if it would actually not get any response or if the router would actually deny the renewal would it ever actually drop the ip and the session.

There may be firewall rules on the pc that is preventing the dhcp traffic...although most time that is explicitly allowed because of the importance.

If you do not move your pc to other networks much a static ip will solve all dhcp problems, just be sure to select a ip that you exclude or is on the top of the subnet.