Arris Router and Time Capsule losing network nightly...

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8 points

Arris Router and Time Capsule losing network nightly...

I could use some advice as I'm losing my mind over this.

We are Charter customers with 60 download speed and an ISP provided Arris TM902 Router. I have 2tb Time Capsule that's new.

For the last five nights, we've lost our network between 9:00 and 10:00 (ish) consistently. I've been using this user-submitted fix to reboot both systems in the right order which seems to fix the problem but the Arris is still dropping Internet each night.

** Two days ago when this happened I was trying simple reboots of both machines and discovered that if I set the TC to Bridge mode, my iMac could connect to the wireless and internet, but none of our iOS devices could log into the Wifi. Setting it on DHCP and Nat would cause the Router to jump off the network again and by resetting back to Bridge I would get the same thing over again.

Occasionally during this time I would get an amber Double Nat code but it wasn't (or didn't seem to be) consistent.

Any advicewould be very welcome. Here's the appropriate timeline if that helps:

1. Lost signal first time Wed. pm (possibly after 11:00 pm CST).

2. Thurs. morning ran power cycles on TC and Arris; wife reported that the network and wifi "just started working again" that day;

3. Thurs. night lost signal.

4. Fri. called ISP after experimenting with solutions, which is when I found most of what I describe above in the ** paragraph; they said "the phone switch" (I have no idea what this is) wasn't working and referred me to local dispatch. While I was waiting, tried the forum-response linked above, and this seemed to solve problem, BUT the TC did not appear to be factory reset. Many of you will probably appreciate that Dispatch did not call to see about scheduling a visit until AFTER I had "fixed" it myself. They did not come out.

5. Fri-Sat. night, lost signal again. Power cycled systems and it seemed to correct.

6. Sat. night Router went out exactly around 11:36 pm; Woke up this morning and still out. Tried linked solution, fixed it again.

Wondering if a new router could possibly address the issue or if this is really just something I need to fix either in network or DHCP lease? I am completely stumped.

brd

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 5, 2015 9:19 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

Community+ 2024

Level 10

159,272 points

Jul 5, 2015 10:10 AM in response to brdaykin

Based on the information provided in your post, we don't know whether you have a modem/router problem or a Time Capsule problem.

One way that you can try to isolate the issue is connect a computer directly to the Charter modem/router....using either an Ethernet cable, or via wireless if the modem/router also provides a wireless network signal.

Watch that connection, particularly between 8 PM to 10 PM to see if the Internet connection is lost. If it is, then the issue is anywhere from the provider to your modem/router. Ask Charter if they are performing any network upgrades or changing equipment, since that can cause interruptions in service, and your Internet breaks seem to be on a fairly consistent basis whether than intermittent with no pattern at all. That would usually point to a provider issue, but most providers will unfortunately never admit that they are having issues.

If your "test" connection works well with no Internet connection breaks, then you have to shift the focus of the troubleshooting to the Time Capsule.

If you have an Apple Store near you, the first thing that you should do is have them take a look at the Time Capsule to run some diagnostic tests on the device. Ask them whether you should be running the Time Capsule in router mode of DHCP and NAT, or whether Bridge Mode would be the recommendation.

Good arguments can be made for either setting, but I imagine that Apple will likely advise that you run the Time Capsule as a router using DHCP and NAT.

Keep us posted on your progress.

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Answer 2

brdaykin Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks, Bob, this is helpful. I'll try the direct-to-iMac ethernet connection tonight and see what happens. I tend to agree with you that there's no way my ISP is ever going to admit that the router is doing something it oughtn't to be. I've gone that route before and it's always, "well, we don't support Apple products."

*Is* there a chance, do you think, that the Router provided by the ISP could be improved with something I can get at the store? When I said it's a "new" TC I realize it's possible I gave the impression that this is a brand new set-up. But we've gone weeks, if not months, with the same configuration on these devices and no had no issues.

???

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Answer 3

Jul 5, 2015 12:27 PM in response to brdaykin

*Is* there a chance, do you think, that the Router provided by the ISP could be improved with something I can get at the store?

It's possible, but you would first need to get a list of approved devices from Charter to make sure that the product that you buy will be supported. What to buy is yet another question that is tough to answer.

If Charter has a support forum for users, you might want to post on that site and ask about options with other products.

I believe that Charter is a cable provider, and if that is correct, one of the options that you might have is that of buying a "modem only".....not a modem/router which is a product that you do not really need since the Time Capsule is also a router.

Ideally, the network would look like this:

Internet Connection > Modem > Time Capsule Router > Devices

This would be simpler than what you have now......

Internet Connection > Modem/Router > Time Capsule Router > Devices

In networking, the simple networks always seem to have far fewer problems than more complex networks

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Answer 4

Jul 5, 2015 5:59 PM in response to brdaykin

When you mentioned that you had an Arris router, I took that at face value.

Upon checking further, I see that an Arris 902 is a modem.....not a router.

So, the correct setting for the Time Capsule with the Arris 902 would be DHCP and NAT.

If you place the Time Capsule in Bridge Mode, only one device will be able to connect to the Internet. All the others will not be able to connect to the Internet.

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Answer 5

brdaykin Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 17, 2015 4:49 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Morning Bob,

First, thanks for your help and suggestions.

I'm still stymied. We've tried multiple configurations (hooking up directly to desktop, turning off the TC at night but leaving the network cord plugged in, and more) and we are still struggling. The outages have started happening during the day, so I'm no longer sure it's something that's occurring during the night.

We've been completely out the last two days and no restarting, not even the full solution I'd listed above two weeks ago, is working, which makes me think there's a problem at the modem connection, but occasionally I do see a "double nat" amber alert from the TC. This occurred this morning while I was messing around with restarts and I didn't think we even had a signal from the Arris at all.

One of the problems is I've not been home much the last two weeks so my ability to even walk through things with customer service with my ISP is limited. I hope to get in touch with them today and find out if the Arris is working as a router or if there's a possibility we could get a new model.

Thanks again. I wanted to ask you too if there's a possibility that having too many wireless devices connected to our home network would be causing something to happen? This is actually something my wife asked and when I thought about it I guess it hadn't really occurred to me. Here's everything that could potentially be on the wireless at one time:

iMac (2013)

Canon wireless printer

iPad Air

AppleTV (not sure... it's a later model, the small black one, but I forget which version)

2 iPhones (5 and 5s)

iPad 3 (? the retina display but still thicker model)

iPad Mini (2nd gen with lightning port)

That seems like a lot. Is it possible that having so many different devices, presumably with different a/g/n setups, could be messing with the network's ability to work through all the demands?

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Answer 6

Jul 17, 2015 5:18 AM in response to brdaykin

I wanted to ask you too if there's a possibility that having too many wireless devices connected to our home network would be causing something to happen?

I counted 8 or 9 devices, and the Time Capsule has a limit of 50, so unless you are at 40+ wireless devices, this would not be a factor at all.

We've tried multiple configurations (hooking up directly to desktop, turning off the TC at night but leaving the network cord plugged in, and more) and we are still struggling. The outages have started happening during the day, so I'm no longer sure it's something that's occurring during the night.

If you are saying that you have your computer connected directly to the modem, and the connection drops are occurring that way and even increasing in number, then it is very clear that you have a modem issue. I think you need to try another modem.

If a replacement modem does not solve the issue, then you have to start looking a a wiring and cable issue......the actual wiring that comes into your house from the pole outside, the connector at the wall, etc. This means that your provider will need send out a technician to troubleshoot everything that has to do with the wiring.

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