Verizon FiOS → Nest Thermostat and Actiontec Rev E

So I started having connectivity issues with my Nest thermostat and it turns out that the lastest firmware that was pushed out makes the Rev E incompatible with the Nest thermostat, or at least will make it have frequent disconnects.

Just thought I would post this here in case anybody else is having similar issues.

I just spoke to Nest customer service, and they said the problem is that the Actiontec router settings need to be modified. The NAT timeout needs to be 60 minutes or longer. However the customer service guy couldn't tell me how to accomplish that.

If you look on the Nest support site, you'll see the following statement:

quote:

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Unfortunately, these routers don’t conform to the TCP/IP specifications around Network Address Translation (NAT) timeouts and are disconnecting Nest too soon.

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RFC5382 states:

quote:

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the value of the "established connection idle-timeout" MUST NOT be less than 2 hours 4 minutes.

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While that may be stated as a requirement, I doubt the Actiontec NAT timeout is that long. The NAT table is a limited resource in any router. It is impractical to keep NAT table entries around for an indefinite period of time. Firewall rules can also cause a session to be torn down after a certain amount of inactivity. If Nest wants to keep a session up with their host for an indefinite period of time, it really should be incumbent upon them to send a "keep-alive" packet on a regular interval.

In any case, the NAT timeout in the Actiontec is NOT configurable.

In my case, the problems I had yesterday were due to a Nest server outage and that was the first time I had any really bad issues -- obviously not the Actiontec's fault.

I have a Wireless Gaming Adapter on my network that used to drop its connection all the time. I now use a Utility on one of my PCs to ping it once a Minute, which seems to help keep its connection active. Perhaps you could do something similar with the Nest Thermostat.

Odd that Nest didn't mention the outage when I called them that same day, since I then called Verizon to complain about my router (which is the first one offered with Fios several years ago when I started with them). BUT the upside is that Verizon is sending me a new router for free.

They weren're real up front about the outage. They never posted anything to Facebook or Twitter (other than responding to other's posts) and their support page says it was "out for a few" users.

Hmm, I'll have to keep a close eye on my Nest over the next few days. I haven't had any disconnect issues with it, and just started using it this week as the weather turned colder (it's only controlling heat in our house, no central a/c).

I wouldn't be surprised though if Nest weren't exactly forthcoming with news about outages. These guys all came from Apple, and are very accustomed to the Apple way of thinking - i.e., minimal ongoing communication with your customers. That being said I have not really had any issues with the Nest and my AT Rev E router.