Modem frequently resets itself

[nate1232]

Hi guys, I have a very annoying problem. I live in Canada with family. We're with Bell. The internet isn't in my name so there's not a ton I can do with Bell unless my family calls in and lets me speak with them.

So for the past two years or so we've been having issues where the internet speeds slow down to a crawl over about 5-10 minutes. Web pages take ages to load, then load like it does when you're using almost all your bandwidth. Then the modem basically turns off, all devices disconnect and can't see the modem because it is off. It eventually resets itself within 20 minutes or so.

This happens anywhere from 1-4 times a day, to once every couple days, but it is a frequent issue. Usually before it automatically turns itself off, I'll access the modem through the browser and reset it. This solves the problem for anywhere between a couple hours to a day.

Last year, we upgraded to Fibe using the Sagecom modem. We don't have our own router. Our download and upload speeds are pretty great, what we're supposed to be getting. But that didn't stop this issue. Before we upgraded to Fibe, we had the modem replaced about 3 times. With Fibe, we've had it replaced twice, and every time the issue remains. We've had wires in the house replaced with no effect. Now with Fibe, the TV is connected to the modem as well. When it resets itself, the TV turns off as well.

We just had a technician in today who basically told us (for the umpteenth time) that there is nothing wrong he can see, and even that they have no record on their end of the modem having turned off since last June (!!!). He said that even unplugging it for 2 seconds, it should register on their system that it has been unsynced or some such. Which is strange considering not only the amount of times we reset the modem daily through the browser and unplugging it, but we had an ice storm this winter that left us without power for three days. We brought in a generator and plugged in the modem and still had service, so obviously Bell's system was unaffected by this storm, so that at the very least should have registered.

There are 15 different devices connected between cell phones, iPods, game systems and computers, although a maximum of 6 or 7 are active at once. The others are from family who comes to visit and have registered their devices. All of us use wireless except the main PC beside the modem which is plugged directly into the modem. I'm not sure listing my or any household PC specs are relevant seeing how it seems to be an issue with the modem, therefore it affects all devices.

I believe we're using the Sagemcom 2864, but I'm not 100% sure. It's definitely a Sagemcom though.

Sorry for the long post, but I figured the more details the better. This is ridiculously frustrating, ongoing for two years with each call and technician resulting in no fixes, being told that there is no problem. If anybody has any suggestions as to what the problem could be and a potential fix, or even something I can finally call Bell and tell them to look into I would greatly appreciate it. Let me know if there's any more info needed.

*Edit*

Something I forgot to mention. I can't seem to find any trigger that causes this. It doesn't happen during or after downloading or uploading at max speeds, and it's happened while nobody is using the internet or tv at all, early in the mornings or late at night.

 

[hang-the-9]

Sounds like a router issue. The tech that said they don't see the connection dropping may be right. They see the connection to the modem, not the router side to your devices. You have quite a bit of things on there hooked up. I suggest you get your own quality router and only use the modem from the ISP as a modem.

Try either Linksys EA6900, Asus RT-AC66U or D-Link Gaming Router AC1300.

All of those got great performance marks. Not to say that this will fix your issue 100%, but it does seem like the router is what is causing issues not the modem.

 

[nate1232]

Thanks for the reply!

I have a decent bit of tech knowledge, but not so much with networking.

If it is the modem or router or what ever it is that Bell gave us that is disconnecting itself (and it IS disconnecting, all the lights go off like when you press the reset button on the back), wouldn't I still have the same issue? Like I said I'm not very knowledgeable with networking but I thought the modem your ISP gives you connects to the router you want to use. If the modem resets itself, then the router will have no signal running in to it, correct?

To clarify, I don't own any router, I only have the wireless modem/router/whatever it is that Bell gave us, the sagemcom f@st 2864

I've had some people elsewhere suggest to me that it may be a wiring issue, but I have no way of knowing.

Is there anything I can do to try to identify this issue before going out and making purchases? A way to see if it is Bell's modem or the wiring?

*edit*

I checked out the System Log for my modem and I keep seeing something saying "NAT is in conflict" multiple times within one day. Does this give any clues to the issue, or is it irrelevant?

 

[hang-the-9]

If you lose power to the thing, I would try a different power plug and see if they will get you a regular modem not a gateway. NAT issues can cause connectivity problems but not cause the device to reboot itself.

If you have a modem/router combo which is also called a "gateway", you will need to disable the built-in router part to use your own router.

I have seen bad cables/ports/network cards cause issues with network equipment. You can test things with only wireless connections, swap some cables around, test things one at a time.