Time Warner Cable - Legacy → [TWC] Router keeps losing internet connection [TWC]

Up till a little while ago I've had no problems since I joined road runner. The last few days my internet connection keeps dropping sporadically every few hours. The cable modem is flashing lights like it normally would, but my Belkin N1 router loses its internet connection. I can still ping local ip addresses, log in to the router, the cable modem but there is no internet connection.

The only way to solve this is to unplug/replug the router in which case the internet works again. What could be the issue?

Is it a router issue or an issue with Time Warner. It's weird considering nothing has changed and these problems just started.

You could connect directly to the modem and call technical support, (not implying that Belkin router is a problem).

I should mention that I tried talking to RR online support. They did a modem reset through their side. Then told me to reset my router and computer and the problem should be fixed. Well I did that and the problem wasn't fixed. So I tried posting here for some extra support.

I'll go back to them, but reading some past posts it seems that their standard reply is to just reset your modem, router, and computer.

Can you post your signal levels both downstream and upstream?

When I checked online I had normal levels.

Status Code: Operational
Software Version: ST52.08.20
Software Model: a806
Bootloader: 2.1.6d

Cable Signal Details
Forward Path:
Signal Acquired at 303.000 MHz
SNR:39.5 dB
Received Signal Strength: 5.9 dBmV
Bit Error Rate: 0.000%
Modulation: 256 QAM

Return Path:
Connection:Acquired
Frequency: 38.5 MHz
Power Level: 36.7 dBmV
Channel ID: 8
Modulation: 16 QAM

Data Service Details
Provisioned Address: Yes
Provisioned Time: Yes
Provisioned Configuration: Yes
Registered: Yes
BPI: Enabled

Your return is pretty low it should be somewhat higher than that. At least around 45ish.

This is from BBR

Upstream Power:
The lower this number is, the better. If it is above 55, you may want to see if you can reconfigure your splitters. Anything above 57 is not good and should be fixed ASAP. (This is getting pretty close to not being able to connect.)

36.7 should be better than 45 not worse. Right?

Mine was sitting around 51 to 53 all summer no problems but I have been told that my modem is a bit more tolerant. Still though 36.7 does seem a tad bit low to me. I have seen a number of posts here on the forum with peoples returns being around there and everyone always says its too low.

I've managed to stay on longer then I have for the past 3 days. I have no idea if the one change I made was the solution. But the only thing I changed was to take off the automatic dns on the router and use opendns.

For all I know is that it's a pure coincidence and I'll lose connection in a minute. But If I was having dns problems would that cause the router to lose it's internet connection? Maybe the modem wasn't allowing the router to renew it's DNS? I have no idea what I'm saying, but it sounds good.

Can someone tell me how do I interogate my modem to get the signal levels please?

How did you get the signals you posted a few posts above? Anyway you normally login to your modem at »192.168.100.1 if its just a modem or »192.168.0.1 if its a combo one.

Thanks Capt!

That was a different guy that posted those stats. above ....
I am having similar issue thought.... new Belkin router F5D-8236 worked fine for about one month then started loosing the internet connection. Unplugging / resetting modem & router no long term fix. I had a new F5D-8235 sitting on the shelf so swapped that one into the circuit and am still getting intermittant drops of the internet.

Kinda sounds like an low SNR might be one possible explaination.

Ah yea my bad, im not all here right now cuz im still digging in to my lunch lol. But depending on what type of modem you have will determine which one of those IPs work. Most Ubees have their default user and password as user / password i think. I don't know about the motorolas anymore and I think ambits are the same as ubees for the default login.

Thanks Capt! No problem!

I don't have the equipment in front of me, it's at a homeless shelter I support ... the shelter figured out that if the clients didn't have an e-mail address and a soft copy if their resume it was darn tough to find a job paying more than minimum wage ... so I volunteered to try to fill the gap.

I'm heading over there after work to have another go at it, very annoying ... the intermittant nature makes it HARD to diagnose. I thought the new router fixed it last night, but this afternoon they called back ... down again ... same issue.

:-(

Thanks Capt! No problem!

I don't have the equipment in front of me, it's at a homeless shelter I support ... the shelter figured out that if the clients didn't have an e-mail address and a soft copy if their resume it was darn tough to find a job paying more than minimum wage ... so I volunteered to try to fill the gap.

I'm heading over there after work to have another go at it, very annoying ... the intermittant nature makes it HARD to diagnose. I thought the new router fixed it last night, but this afternoon they called back ... down again ... same issue.

:-(

The belkin router my dad has upstairs also locks up constantly.. (Unplugging it brings it back)

Its not the routers fault,ITS THE NETWORK ITS ON!!!!

How do you figure that it's the network, if restarting your dad's router fixes the problem?

Everyone points to belkin router. They are the worst next to net gear.

Been using netgear routers for a few years now and have had absolutely no problems. But I have heard a helluva lot more bad things about belkin than anything else. There are just some computer related things that has their logo on it (belkin) that I just absolutely refuse to buy and routers are one of them.

belkin employees are known to give bogus posiive reviews of their own products all over the internet because they have a crap product no one wants

Also, equipment fails. It will fail randomly without warning. You don't have to touch it for it to fail. If you're not doing anything to TWC's modem and just resetting your router, then it's your router (obviously).

I had an old linksys router (The old blue and black ones). Worked great for years, then it just dropped connections all the time REboot would work. It did it rarely, then progressively gets worse. Over the course of a year it went from rebooting once a month to multiple times a day.

I've seen the same thing on other routers, except it goes from fine to multiple reboots in a day overnight. It happens. Replace the equipment and move on.

Same thing started about 6 weeks ago. SMC router. Never a problem up to now. Drops internet multiple times a day. RR did modem reset, no good. Can ping locally. Used to POR, now just go to router admin screen via IE and do a Renew. WAN IP address gets restored from 0.0.0.0 to valid address. Seems suspicious that different routers from different parts of country have same problem.

Just an FYI. I've been using Road Runner for for about 25 years now. And I've had problems with then before, usually solved. However, I've had RR at my present location for about 7 years, in the beginning I had connection problems, related to router access speed. I was paying for 7 mbps and was getting 4 mbps. A new router fixed the problem. Turned out that LAN to WAN speed within a router is a major spec not advertised by router manufacturers. You have to dig for it. But that's another story, to my current point. I've been using the same LAN (home) setup for the past three years, it has worked flawlessly. I use two routers and a Wireless Access Point. The AP and second (VPN) router are connected to my main (Netgear FVS338) router which is connected to the RR modem (SB5101). This setup has worked perfectly for me for three years, up until the end of December 2011. Since then my main router has begun to "reset" itself randomly several times a day. I have not changed anything for three years. I have been trouble shooting the LAN for the past four weeks, here's what I've discovered. From viewing the modem and router logs the RR DHCP drops out which causes the modem to lose it's WAN IP address for a few (milli)seconds. But my "fast" router also sees the WAN drop out and resets itself trying to reestablish the WAN connection. TWC is never going to admit that they are having problems with their equipment. But I have noticed that they've changed my DHCP connection to a different DHCP server (IP address). (I've been working with computers for 42 years so I notice little things like that.) I don't know when (over the holidays) or why (probably server bandwidth) but it is a constant nagging problem. I know it's NOT my equipment as I've swapped in four different routers and I get the same results. That's why I turned on and started looking at the logs, where I discovered the DHCP errors. (4-Error D103.0 DHCP RENEW sent - Invalid DHCP option). I'm still working on the problem...maybe a keep alive...naw!

Wow, you've had Road Runner since 1987 while living in NC? Considering it launched in Elmira, NY in 1995, I say you were ahead of the curve on that one.