Hello all,
As the title states I'm having several connectivity issues which don't seem to be fixed with any suggestions I've encountered in other threads.
The nutshell version: With 3 different gateways I've had connection drops (both wired and wireless) which are increasing in severity as time goes on (starting as of about 3 months ago).
The long version: I moved to an apartment a while back, bought my own gateway (Motorola/Arris SURFboard SBG6580), signed up for Time Warner Cable's 24 Mbps, bought Chromecast, installed PLEX media server (I'll explain the significance shortly), and ditched cable.
For three weeks everything was gravy, then I started getting connection drops on all my devices (I use the ethernet cable for my laptop, wireless for Chromecast, Ipad, Iphone, etc.) It started with only a couple drops a day for about 30 seconds each, automatically fixed on its own. I noticed it happened, at first, on high demand sites or while surfing plus streaming from PLEX to Chromecast, but as the drops increased in frequency and severity (lasting longer and requiring me to power cycle the gateway to reconnect) it started happening without cause (the connection lights would go out on the gateway even when I wasn't actively using it). Eventually it escalated to the point where most of the day my connection would be cycling in and out continually and unfixable no matter what I tried (restarting gateway, computer, & Chromecast). What was really strange was that while some devices would be disconnected, others would work fine. Also sometimes I could be online despite the gateway and connection icon saying otherwise. For example, I'd have a playlist loaded on PLEX streaming to Chromecast and my wired connection would drop (no pages would load, no accessing email, etc.) but PLEX would continue streaming my playlist to Chromecast and playing all the media files. Other times Chromecast would give me connection errors, the Iphone also, but the Ipad and laptop would connect with no issues.
After hours on the phone with TWC support troubleshooting to no avail they sent a tech out to check the lines. She checked the lines inside and out, ran diagnostics on her laptop, checked settings on mine, checked the gateway settings, and finally decided that this was not TWC's fault at all, the settings were all good (properly configured), so it must be a defective unit. I replaced it with a rental which the tech gave me while I would decide what to do next.
Two weeks later the rental started doing the same thing exactly as I described above. Within a week it had escalated to be just as bad as with the last gateway. Since it was from the same manufacturer (Motorola/Arris) I figured I'll buy a highly reviewed one from another brand since maybe my computer just doesn't like the company or something.
So I bought the Netgear C3700. The first 2 weeks were gravy again, but as of 3 days ago the same exact connection issues have started. It has not yet escalated to anything more than a couple of drops a day fixable automatically, but I don't want to wait until it gets terrible again to start troubleshooting.
The reason why I mentioned PLEX and Chromecast is because I'm suspicious they (one or both) might be to blame based Google searches and the fact that prior to this I've never had similar problems and I haven't added or removed any software since moving in here.
I've tried just about every advice I can find online and clearly I can no longer assume this is the third defective gateway in a row.
From what I've seen asked in other threads: I use Norton 360 (and always have . . . since I bought this laptop about 5 years ago) plus Spybot SD which I only use for scans every now and then and not running all the time.
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 8048 Mb
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000, -1984 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 933539 MB, Free - 379745 MB; F: Total - 953868 MB, Free - 344479 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 04M3YM
Antivirus: Norton 360, Updated and Enabled
Thanks in advance.
As the title states I'm having several connectivity issues which don't seem to be fixed with any suggestions I've encountered in other threads.
The nutshell version: With 3 different gateways I've had connection drops (both wired and wireless) which are increasing in severity as time goes on (starting as of about 3 months ago).
The long version: I moved to an apartment a while back, bought my own gateway (Motorola/Arris SURFboard SBG6580), signed up for Time Warner Cable's 24 Mbps, bought Chromecast, installed PLEX media server (I'll explain the significance shortly), and ditched cable.
For three weeks everything was gravy, then I started getting connection drops on all my devices (I use the ethernet cable for my laptop, wireless for Chromecast, Ipad, Iphone, etc.) It started with only a couple drops a day for about 30 seconds each, automatically fixed on its own. I noticed it happened, at first, on high demand sites or while surfing plus streaming from PLEX to Chromecast, but as the drops increased in frequency and severity (lasting longer and requiring me to power cycle the gateway to reconnect) it started happening without cause (the connection lights would go out on the gateway even when I wasn't actively using it). Eventually it escalated to the point where most of the day my connection would be cycling in and out continually and unfixable no matter what I tried (restarting gateway, computer, & Chromecast). What was really strange was that while some devices would be disconnected, others would work fine. Also sometimes I could be online despite the gateway and connection icon saying otherwise. For example, I'd have a playlist loaded on PLEX streaming to Chromecast and my wired connection would drop (no pages would load, no accessing email, etc.) but PLEX would continue streaming my playlist to Chromecast and playing all the media files. Other times Chromecast would give me connection errors, the Iphone also, but the Ipad and laptop would connect with no issues.
After hours on the phone with TWC support troubleshooting to no avail they sent a tech out to check the lines. She checked the lines inside and out, ran diagnostics on her laptop, checked settings on mine, checked the gateway settings, and finally decided that this was not TWC's fault at all, the settings were all good (properly configured), so it must be a defective unit. I replaced it with a rental which the tech gave me while I would decide what to do next.
Two weeks later the rental started doing the same thing exactly as I described above. Within a week it had escalated to be just as bad as with the last gateway. Since it was from the same manufacturer (Motorola/Arris) I figured I'll buy a highly reviewed one from another brand since maybe my computer just doesn't like the company or something.
So I bought the Netgear C3700. The first 2 weeks were gravy again, but as of 3 days ago the same exact connection issues have started. It has not yet escalated to anything more than a couple of drops a day fixable automatically, but I don't want to wait until it gets terrible again to start troubleshooting.
The reason why I mentioned PLEX and Chromecast is because I'm suspicious they (one or both) might be to blame based Google searches and the fact that prior to this I've never had similar problems and I haven't added or removed any software since moving in here.
I've tried just about every advice I can find online and clearly I can no longer assume this is the third defective gateway in a row.
From what I've seen asked in other threads: I use Norton 360 (and always have . . . since I bought this laptop about 5 years ago) plus Spybot SD which I only use for scans every now and then and not running all the time.
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 8048 Mb
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000, -1984 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 933539 MB, Free - 379745 MB; F: Total - 953868 MB, Free - 344479 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 04M3YM
Antivirus: Norton 360, Updated and Enabled
Thanks in advance.