wifi dropping in and out / signal strength very weak

Yaz4Ever

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I've got an Arris cable modem/router unit that came from TWC with my 30Mbps service.  My computer (Macbook Air) is located in the same room (roughly 8 feet away from modem/router).  For the most part, my Internet connections are strong.  My wife, however, is constantly complaining that the wifi won't work for her (also a Macbook Air) and my kids complain that it often goes out on them as well.  I'm online 8-10 hours a day and rarely have issues with the wifi going down.  To fix the dead zones around the house, I've purchased a wifi extender (for upstairs) and I just bought a powerline adapater that offers a wifi access point as well, but haven't figured out how to get the access point to work, so it's just plugged from the router, through the home electrical, and into an Apple TV via ethernet for now.
 
I know almost nothing about networking, so I don't have a clue what I'm looking at when I log into my router settings pages online.  Because of my complete lack of knowledge, I'm also too afraid to change any of those settings or to go out and buy my own equipment and fiddle with that.  TWC customer support sucks, so I'm reaching out (once again) to you guys.  Awhile back, I asked questions about it here and had some decent responses followed by TWC finally showing up and it worked well for awhile, but it's been quite awhile since it has run as it should.  I'd love to tell TWC to get bent, but my only choices here are TWC or DSL with AT&T.  No Fios, U-Verse, Google Fiber, or anything else to choose from - likely why TWC's cs can continue to suck, they know they're the only real game in town.
 
I'd be happy to post screenshots I've taken of literally every page of the router online settings but I don't know if I should black out anything first.  Not that I'm really concerned any of you would do anything nefarious with it, but it's likely stupid to put some of that info out there openly.  I took the screenshots so I could revert back to their current settings if I screwed anything up after doing research on Google and here.
 
Anyone willing to give probably more time than they need to in order to help me fix this?  I'm really tired of hearing everyone in the house complain to me that it isn't working as if I have a clue how to fix it.
 
 
 

Corsi

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I know you're hesitant to use your own equipment, but it's really easy to set up and you won't deal with any of this bullshit moving forward.  Plus, you can tell TWC to put their modem rental fee in a pipe and smoke it, which is nice.
 
My girlfriend was having the same issue with her Arris modem/router combo, and we decided to just go out and buy our own setup.
 
Modem: http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS/dp/B00AJHDZSI
 
Router: http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wireless-Router-N300-WNR2000/dp/B001AZP8EW/
 
Both items can probably be found cheaper refurbished on Newegg or eBay.
 
We've had this set up going for maybe three months now and haven't suffered any downtime.  Super simple to set up.  Plug in modem, let it go through its thing until the proper lights are illuminated, then plug in the router and follow the directions here.
 
Should take you no longer than five minutes.
 

JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
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What about if you get digital phone service through TWC?  The Amazon listing states 'DOES NOT HAVE PHONE JACKS FOR DIGITAL VOICE SERVICE'.
 

Couperin47

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If you have a TW bundle that includes digital phone, you get to keep the TW modem to provide that service (and you're supposed to get to keep that gratis) while your Internet gets handled via your own equipment... this does mean you generally need an additional quality splitter immediately at entry of service to feed both (or a replacement of a 2 way splitter to a 3 way to feed cable, internet & phone)..
 

Yaz4Ever

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Not sure about JimD, but I only have Internet with TWC.  DirecTV for my TV (until I cut the cord) and no landline.
 

bosoxsue

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I appreciate this thread, as I've had the same issue. Comcast even came out and replaced the router/modem (actually, that is a question: Is the thing the cable company typically provides a combo device, while the recommended solution is to have the two devices linked to upthread?), and it hasn't helped. I have to reset the thing every afternoon.
 
The phone service comes through Comcast, too, so I'll have to get an answer to what to do there.
 

Yaz4Ever

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Even if I go with Corsi's suggested items, which I'm seriously considering, I still know nothing about networking nor what the settings should be in order to keep my network performing at it's peak.
 
For example, the first page (of many) from my router settings shows "System Basic Setup".  Most of the things on this page seem self-explanatory, but I don't know what my settings should be for the following:
 
  1. Channel - should I stick with 1?  We don't have cordless phones (no landline), but I'm not sure what else could cause interference with it.
  2. AP isolation - wtf is that?  The box is currently unchecked.
  3. Enable WMM - again, no idea.  The box is currently checked.
The next page is very similar to the first, but also includes WPS settings.  If I'm not mistaken, WPS is what you use so wireless devices (like my printer which loses it's connection far too often) can find the wifi network.
 
The next page is DHCP stuff.  No idea what that is, but it's enabled and gives me three pre-filled addresses (IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway Address).
 
The next page is LAN stuff.  It starts off with LAN IP address information with two pre-filled boxes (IP Address and Subnet Mask) and then DHCP Server Settings:
  • Enable DHCP Server is checked
  • Start IP Address
  • End IP Address
  • Lease Time
  • Domain Name
All but Domain Name have information in them already.  No idea what lease time is nor if I should have anything in Domain Name.
  • Enable DNS override is unchecked
  • Enable DNS relay is also unchecked
No idea what either of them is.
  • NAT Mode is "RoutedwithNAT"
  • Enable UPnP is checked
Again, no idea what any of that is.
 
 
If anyone is willing to review the above and let me know if anything stands out as needing to be changed, that would be great.  
 
If I get responses on that, I'll move on to the next few pages (only 26 more after those above :) ).  In the meantime, I'm trying to find some sort of a router setting cheatsheet online that I understand.
 

Yaz4Ever

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just got off the phone (again) with TWC.  Spoke with a really nice guy (even a blind squirrel is going to find one eventually, I guess) who told me I should definitely get my own gear.  He said anything DOCSIS 3.0 will work, but recommended the following:
 
Arris DG1670A
Motorola SB6183
Netgear C6300
 
He said if he was buying one for himself, he'd go with the Netgear.  Off to Amazon to check reviews now, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any suggestions.
 
I'm still keeping Corsi's suggestions in mind as well, but this guy recommended an all-in-one so that Motorola is saying it's Netgear's equipment and vice-versa if I have problems down the road.
 
I just want something that will work well, have a strong range throughout my house, and can be secured so no one outside of my house is able to access it.  I don't live in an apartment building or anything like that, so I don't think the signal is going to transmit too far regardless of the model I get.  All lot sizes in my development are 1 acre or larger, so we're fairly well spread out.  That said, I do pick up one or two other signals from time-to-time, so I'd guess my signal could reach them as well.  So long as I enable WPA2 or whatever, though, that shouldn't be an issue, right?
 

Yaz4Ever

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went out and spent a lot more than I planned to spend.  The Amazon reviews for each item were very good, though, so that allowed me to swallow it a little easier and a total of $10 more locally than it would've been through them.  Now I'm off to figure out how to set it all up.
 
Purchased:
Motorola SURFboard Modem 400 series - Model SB6141
Linksys Dual Band Gigabit wifi router - Model WRT1900AC
 
Fingers crossed
 

Couperin47

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Yaz4Ever said:
went out and spent a lot more than I planned to spend.  The Amazon reviews for each item were very good, though, so that allowed me to swallow it a little easier and a total of $10 more locally than it would've been through them.  Now I'm off to figure out how to set it all up.
 
Purchased:
Motorola SURFboard Modem 400 series - Model SB6141
Linksys Dual Band Gigabit wifi router - Model WRT1900AC
 
Fingers crossed
 
The 6141 has no settings and you can't get this 'wrong', you simply call TW, get to the right dept and read them the MAC address off the label..power it on and they do everything else (whatever firmware it comes with, TW will upload their latest into it).
 
All your fun and chances to screw things up come when you configure the router ;-)
 

riboflav

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bosoxsue said:
I appreciate this thread, as I've had the same issue. Comcast even came out and replaced the router/modem (actually, that is a question: Is the thing the cable company typically provides a combo device, while the recommended solution is to have the two devices linked to upthread?), and it hasn't helped. I have to reset the thing every afternoon.
 
The phone service comes through Comcast, too, so I'll have to get an answer to what to do there.
 
I had this issue for months. Several Comcast guys would come to the house, barely check anything, and either tell me it's my imagination or just replace my modem - which never fixed the problem. I had a strong signal buy my modem would go out and reboot every day and sometimes, several times a day.
 
Finally, I was about to give up and switch to Fios when I called one last time. They sent out a guy who had only been on the job a few months. He checked everything and really took his time. He found a wire underground that was corroded and said that was the problem. He replaced it and my Internet has been awesome ever since.
 

Yaz4Ever

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Unbelievable how quick and easy that was to set up.
 
 
edit:  And, it's still dropping out intermittently (3x since I posted how easy the setup was).  Ugh.  A tech will be here between 8-12 tomorrow.  Lovely.  I'm almost 100% convinced it's the coax outside.
 

JVglove2face

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Dec 10, 2005
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Bumping for related issue-
 
Does anyone know if there is a limit to the length of run for a cat cable from my modem to a WAP? I may have to run a cable down into my basement, through a crawlspace and the run will be well over 100' of cable. Should I be worried about attenuation?
 
Also, can anyone recommend better modem + router to replace the stock Comcast combo equipment? I have voice/data/tv services and it seems that you cant run some comcast services through just any equipment. Their website wasn't much help.