Modem SB6141 keeps resetting with T3 and T4 errors

[bartsarzy]

I recently moved into an apartment and had internet installed by Atlantic Broadband....the only provider for this area. They original installed their own modem/router combo which was beyond garbage. The wifi connection would significantly weaken and then drop when you walked away from the router in the same room. I ended up purchasing my own modem, the SB6141 and an accompanying Netgear router the same day but the modem keeps resetting and in the logs, I see a bunch of T3 and T4 errors. It's quite annoying that this keeps happening. I posted screenshots of the log page and signal page from the modem UI.

I know I should call my ISP but from previously working with them and just knowledge of how they work, they're useless when it comes to trying to get them to do something. They tend to point the finger at the customer as it's there fault and with me owning my own modem and not renting their's, there's a good chance that they're going to tell me it's my modem and I need to rent one of theirs to fix this issue.

I'm hoping someone here can give me a few words of knowledge of what to say to the rep to tell them someone needs to come out and diagnose my signal. I really believe it's the signal because of some searches pointed to that from the errors I'm receiving.

https://ibb.co/gXkG8T

https://ibb.co/dn8Q2o

 

[stdragon]

Up stream, down stream, and SNR levels are all within acceptable ranges. However T3 and T4 basically means that a communication handshake is attempting to be negotiated after a temporary interruption in communication between the modem and head-end cable provider.

Most likely an issue of intermittent ingress noise on the line that's bumping the coax connection offline.

Are you experiencing any packet loss or poor connectivity when using an Ethernet line to the network port of your computer?

And yes, this is why I never buy my own modem. While I'm renting it from the ISP, it's insurance that if there's a problem, they will swap it out at no additional charge. Also, they're responsible for ensure 100% compatibility and management via firmware updates to it. Meaning, if they question that the modem is a fault, then they can come replace it.

 

[bartsarzy]

Up stream, down stream, and SNR levels are all within acceptable ranges. However T3 and T4 basically means that a communication handshake is attempting to be negotiated after a temporary interruption in communication between the modem and head-end cable provider.

Most likely an issue of intermittent ingress noise on the line that's bumping the coax connection offline.

Are you experiencing any packet loss or poor connectivity when using an Ethernet line to the network port of your computer?

And yes, this is why I never buy my own modem. While I'm renting it from the ISP, it's insurance that if there's a problem, they will swap it out at no additional charge. Also, they're responsible for ensure 100% compatibility and management via firmware updates to it. Meaning, if they question that the modem is a fault, then they can come replace it.

As far as I know and from what I tested, I don't have packet loss when there is a connection. For the connection itself, its great when it's there. In fact, I get a faster connection than what I'm paying for. I've only ever owned my own modem because I've always had issues with them and never mine own. What ISP's give you is used and only gets a basic refurb before being sent back out. I do have to comment on saying that ISP's are required to ensure compatibility and maintain the firmware for customer owned modems just as equally as their own but I digress.

I plan on logging a set of a random pings to different sites and see if there are any packet losses over some given amount of time to get an idea of what happens when I'm not manually testing it. Thanks for your response too!

 

[stdragon]

DOCSIS is a standard, so technically if that's fully met, it's all compatible.

As for firmware updates - unless the laws have changed, the ISP doesn't have to support customer owned CPEs in terms of maintenance. They do have the ability to update the provisioning of services to the modem via a configuration/provisioning update, but firmware updates are completely up to the owner and vendor. If the modem is provided by the ISP as a rental however, they have full control of performing pro-active firmware maintenance as they see fit.