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Smokex365
@charter.com

Smokex365

Anon

[HSI] Charter possible blocking D-Link routers and rate-limiting

Woke up this morning and discovered I had no internet. After trying to fix it myself for a bit I called charter and went through their whole routine. Of course the internet connects when my desktop is connected directly. Long story short they blamed it on the router and that was it.

Not buying there fix I started messing around and tried an old router I still had. Couldn't grab and ip just like the primary. Tried connecting the PC directly again and it worked fine. After a little brainstorming I decided to clone my PC's MAC. It connected immediately. Not only that but I'm now getting 40-60mbps down where I was only getting 30-32mbps before. Nothing has changed with my network besides cloning the MAC. To me it sounds like Charter is arbitrarily blocking routers and limiting the bandwidth. Considering the problems I've had with them in the last 3 months since moving here (outside Greenville, SC) I'm ready to make good on a earlier threat and call the FCC.

Is this something common with them and any value in actually contacting the FCC and filing a complaint? I've had more trouble with them in 3 months then I did in 16 yrs with Timer Warner back in North Carolina.

Primary Router: D-Link DGL-4500
Modem: Cisco DPC 3208

Second Test Router: D-Link DGL-4100

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
Technicolor TC4400
Linksys EA6900

1 edit

DocDrew

Premium Member

Some router DHCP clients get too aggressive in trying to regain their IP after an outage. Many of Charter's DHCP servers have a limit on how many requests from the same MAC address in a certain timeframe can be made (something like 5 times in 3 minutes), then the client gets blacklisted for a few minutes (at least 3 minutes, maybe 5). Tomato and DD-WRT firmware users have found this out years ago and their solution was to put a limiter on the router's DHCP client: »tomatousb.org/forum/t-24 ··· -1345837

You could also try unplugging power from the router and modem 5 minutes and wait it out.

Some routers also have issue with how some cable systems DHCP unicast replies come from a different IP then answered the original DHCP request broadcast, due to DHCP relaying.

Examining DHCP logs from the router for errors and proper DORA sequence might help.

B4Knight
Premium Member
join:2014-03-20
Colon, MI

B4Knight

Premium Member

I had a buffalo router that was too aggressive and it blacklisted it self temporarily for 5 minutes after sending requests too many times. Oddly enough what fixed it was plugging the router into the modem and letting router boot up after the modem was halfway through booting up. Usually you powercycle everything... Powering up the modem first till it is fully booted and then connect your PC or router.

Smokex365
@charter.com

Smokex365 to DocDrew

Anon

to DocDrew
It's been fine for 3 months before this and according to my logs there's been no outage in the last 48 hours. I also have unicast support on just in case.
Ctech
join:2013-07-27

Ctech to Smokex365

Member

to Smokex365
you have to power cycle the modem each time you connect a different device. it was power cycled while connected to the pc so therefore that is why you had to clone the mac address to the router

Smokex365
@charter.com

Smokex365

Anon

Nope. That has nothing to do with needing to clone the MAC, never mind I already power-cycled each time while testing.
Zappa2000
join:2001-12-16
Kalamazoo, MI

Zappa2000

Member

said by Smokex365 :

Nope. That has nothing to do with needing to clone the MAC, never mind I already power-cycled each time while testing.

You're mistaken, Ctech is right.
When you unplug the cable to the modem, and plug something else, that has a different MAC, you need to power cycle the modem.
Otherwise, it just won't connect.
Also, if you power cycle too many times within a period of time, it also won't give you a IP.

Smokex365
@charter.com

Smokex365

Anon

said by Zappa2000:

said by Smokex365 :

Nope. That has nothing to do with needing to clone the MAC, never mind I already power-cycled each time while testing.

You're mistaken, Ctech is right.
When you unplug the cable to the modem, and plug something else, that has a different MAC, you need to power cycle the modem.
Otherwise, it just won't connect.
Also, if you power cycle too many times within a period of time, it also won't give you a IP.

I left each device try to connect for 10-15 mins while I was playing with settings and reading logs so I highly doubt it ran into any limits. The fact that this is something that only affected the MAC addresses of the routers and not my PC's, or the cloned address on either router. Nor did it affect the other pc's. Even leaving the modem unplugged for about 20 mins while I was reordering cables thinking maybe the cat 5 had gotten damaged at some point or while I was checking my AD server for issues.

Considering my speeds now and recent (just today) ads for their new spectrum I figure that probably had something to do with it.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

1 edit

1 recommendation

cork1958 to Zappa2000

Premium Member

to Zappa2000
said by Ctech:

you have to power cycle the modem each time you connect a different device. it was power cycled while connected to the pc so therefore that is why you had to clone the mac address to the router

said by Zappa2000:

You're mistaken, Ctech is right.
When you unplug the cable to the modem, and plug something else, that has a different MAC, you need to power cycle the modem.
Otherwise, it just won't connect.
Also, if you power cycle too many times within a period of time, it also won't give you a IP.

Both posts are quite correct.

Napsterbater
Meh
MVM
join:2002-12-28
Milledgeville, GA
(Software) OPNsense
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO

1 recommendation

Napsterbater

MVM

said by cork1958:

said by Ctech:

you have to power cycle the modem each time you connect a different device. it was power cycled while connected to the pc so therefore that is why you had to clone the mac address to the router

said by Zappa2000:

You're mistaken, Ctech is right.
When you unplug the cable to the modem, and plug something else, that has a different MAC, you need to power cycle the modem.
Otherwise, it just won't connect.
Also, if you power cycle too many times within a period of time, it also won't give you a IP.

Both posts are quite correct.

I agree. ISP can and do put a conncurent MAC limit on the modem with the config file, most times its 1 MAC address at a time and requires a reboot to reset.

TheTechGuru
join:2004-03-25
TEXAS

TheTechGuru

Member

said by Napsterbater:

I agree. ISP can and do put a conncurent MAC limit on the modem with the config file, most times its 1 MAC address at a time and requires a reboot to reset.

Yes, this is to prevent one from using a switch instead of a router with the modem and pulling multiple public IP's.