Question Frontier Fiber Internet

[Pete66]

I have 100/100 fiber Internet service from Frontier. When it works, it's fine. But lately, the connection randomly drops. Usually, it's less than a minute and then it comes back up, but that can disrupt a large upload or download.

When the connection drops, the modem/router I got from Frontier -- an Arris NVG468MQ Version: 9.3.0h7d91 -- always reports that the link to the WAN ONT is up and connected and the blue "Internet" light on the Arris remains on.

The ONT itself is two floors away, so I haven't checked its status, but I'm beginning to think that the problem is in the Arris itself rather than in the fiber connection. Does that sound like a reasonable conclusion? Should I spend some $$ and get an eero mesh system and hope that the new router hardware solves the problem? I've rebooted the Arris, but that had no effect.

Dealing with Frontier service is, in my experience, highly unlikely to be satisfactory, especially with this sort of intermittent problem.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ralston18]

Quantify "large" upload or download.

= = = =

I suggest holding off on spending any money until more information is available.

Start by checking the ONT and as much of the connecting cabling as possible.

As for the Arris, check the logs (if available and enabled) for error codes, etc.

Who has full admin rights to the Arris? You will need help from that person.

What about the computer being used? Specs?

Check the computer logs for error codes, warnings, and informational events when there are problems.

Start with Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer. Look for entries being logged just before or at the time of the drops.

And do call Frontier - good, bad, or ugly - the sooner you get the problem on record the better.

 

[evermorex76]

What is your computer's connection to the router? Wired or Wi-Fi? Have you checked whether you can ping the router during the outages, or log into the web interface to check status? (Not sure if you were looking at that when you say the router "reports" the ONT is up.) Most router's have a diagnostic page as well where you can try to ping things. From both the PC and the router try to ping the gateway IP address on your ISP's side, then something like Google DNS 8.8.8.8 or CloudFlare DNS 1.1.1.1. And of course you need to be able to run to the ONT to check on it during the outage. It should be pretty obvious if it's having to re-establish connection, but you'll have to get there quickly if the outages are that short. Having Frontier check their logs may be the only way to catch that. The ONT may lose link then re-establish it in a much shorter time than you can get there, and then some additional time may be needed for the router to get its connectivity restored, so the actual outage could be much shorter than you think.

 

[Pete66]

Quantify "large" upload or download.

= = = =

I suggest holding off on spending any money until more information is available.

Start by checking the ONT and as much of the connecting cabling as possible.

As for the Arris, check the logs (if available and enabled) for error codes, etc.

Who has full admin rights to the Arris? You will need help from that person.

What about the computer being used? Specs?

Check the computer logs for error codes, warnings, and informational events when there are problems.

Start with Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer. Look for entries being logged just before or at the time of the drops.

And do call Frontier - good, bad, or ugly - the sooner you get the problem on record the better.

I guess that the next thing to do is to run and check the ONT during an outage. At least I'll get some cardio exercise.

I have full admin rights to the Arris.

I'm looking at the router's web page, which includes various status reports.

[Moderator Note: OP provided link deleted - reveals WAN IP address.]


The main computer is connected to the Arris by Ethernet, but the problem occurs on other devices that are connected by wi-fi, so I'm essentially positive that the problem is not the connections between the Arris and the devices on the local net. For example: listening to music playing on an Amazon Echo ( and the music stops for a few seconds to a minute of so and then resumes.

The problem is either: (1) the signal coming into the house; (2) the ONT; (3) the connection (cat 5) between the ONT and the Arris; or (6) the WAN side of the Arris.

 

[Ralston18]

Try a known working Cat 5e cable between ONT and Arris. UTP, round, pure copper, AWG 22-24.

No aluminum or copper clad aluminum. Not flat, not shielded.

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Note:

Link deleted because it revealed your WAN IP.

FYI

https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-public-ip-address-2625974

You can repost the image - also redact the WAN - IP.

 

[thestryker]

If your Arris gateway isn't losing connection chances are it's something to do with the ONT. We had what turned out to be a faulty battery backup (it was showing no signs of issues) taking our ONT offline. Definitely do some basic ping/traceroute tests when it goes down because when we had Frontier they weren't able to view logs (corporate didn't want to pay for it).