Cable Modem

[Superhero 9027]

Recommend me a cable modem.

I have an Arris Surfboard that started dropping 3-4 times a day. It's particularly annoying since my wife works from home.

We already have the Eero mesh wifi at home, so don't need a modem/router combo. Just looking for a good, reliable modem.  (we have the cheapest Cox plan, so we don't need anything that can handle multiple 8K TVs while hosting an e-sports event.

[Francisco 2.0 32600]

Arris makes very, very good modems.  Either they work, or they don't.  Dropping might be a symptom of something Cox has going on.

Also, there's a list on Cox website of certified modems.  Scroll down and look for the Docsis 3.1 modems (assuming you are providing your own modem here, and not renting).

https://www.cox.com/residential/support/cox-certified-cable-modems.html

 

 

 

 

[dcbc 14644]

23 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Arris makes very, very good modems.  Either they work, or they don't.  Dropping might be a symptom of something Cox has going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This.  We have have had an Arris Surfboard for years and it has been rock solid.  I'd buy a new one of the same model and see if it fixes the issue.  If not, the problem is not with your modem.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10806]

Definitely start by reporting issue to COX and having them send out a technician to test the cable signal strengths. It's much more likely a cabling/connection issue than your Arris modem. Wouldn't be surprised if they just need to run a new cable from their box to your home.

[Superhero 9027]

Looking through the Surfboard instruction manual, it's not getting bonded connections (whatever that is), and is not getting steady intergoogles connection.

Cox did some work in the area early June. Everything was fine until the past week or so. Wife is calling cox this morning.

 

[Dahobbs 18328]

10 minutes ago, Superhero said:

Looking through the Surfboard instruction manual, it's not getting bonded connections (whatever that is), and is not getting steady intergoogles connection.

Cox did some work in the area early June. Everything was fine until the past week or so. Wife is calling cox this morning.

 

That's almost certainly a cable connection issue or an issue on Cox's end. Although, if you're running the cheapest plan, I don't know that lack of bonded channels would matter (basically increases the number of lanes available to transmit and/or receive data). Is this a modem you own or provided by Cox? 

[Superhero 9027]

We own the modem.

 

Wife was in the phone with Cox and they “reboot” (her words) the modem several times.  I was planning on setting the modem back to factory settings and trying from there, but so far it’s been stable. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10806]

Time will tell, if it still keeps dropping COX needs to diagnose line.  The modems setup to try and effectively "reboot" when signals get too low to try and re-establish connection.

Other DIY things you can look at are disconnecting and reconnecting the cable from the modem.

Unplugging and replugging both ends of the power cable to make sure not loose.

Making sure unit is getting enough ventilation and not overheating (put on a counter top and not in a cabinet until issue found)

[TOR 6131]

On 6/21/2022 at 2:43 PM, Superhero said:

Recommend me a cable modem.

I have an Arris Surfboard that started dropping 3-4 times a day. It's particularly annoying since my wife works from home.

 

I have that modem, and it has started doing the same thing.   xFinity?

[tx 3 putt 78704]

whatever they stock at costco 

[Superhero 9027]

On 6/23/2022 at 6:45 AM, Superhero said:

Wife was in the phone with Cox and they “reboot” (her words) the modem several times.  I was planning on setting the modem back to factory settings and trying from there, but so far it’s been stable. 

The modem has been relatively stable now. It's still dropped a few times since then but not 4-5 times/day. I'll reset it to factory setting this weekend to see if it helps.

If not, I already got a new modem just in case.

On 6/23/2022 at 7:59 AM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Time will tell, if it still keeps dropping COX needs to diagnose line.  The modems setup to try and effectively "reboot" when signals get too low to try and re-establish connection.

Other DIY things you can look at are disconnecting and reconnecting the cable from the modem.

Unplugging and replugging both ends of the power cable to make sure not loose.

Making sure unit is getting enough ventilation and not overheating (put on a counter top and not in a cabinet until issue found)

I already did everything you said before we called Cox.

Re ventilation, I had it inside a box for several months while we were doing our renovation and it was working beautifully. Right now it's behind my media stand getting more ventilation than before so that's not it.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10806]

3 hours ago, Superhero said:

The modem has been relatively stable now. It's still dropped a few times since then but not 4-5 times/day. I'll reset it to factory setting this weekend to see if it helps.

If not, I already got a new modem just in case.

I already did everything you said before we called Cox.

Re ventilation, I had it inside a box for several months while we were doing our renovation and it was working beautifully. Right now it's behind my media stand getting more ventilation than before so that's not it.

When you pull up the modems admin page.. likely at either:   https://192.168.0.1   or https://192.168.100.1

what do you see for power and SNR (signal to noise ratios) for the bonded channels? pwd should be between -15 and 15... SNR should all be above 30db

Also.. check the Logs as they may indicate what is happening next time you see a drop.

[TOR 6131]

It might be worth texting/chatting Cox TS and asking them to do a reset on your modem.  It will force a new IP from them and could clear things up.

[Sam Lin 3600]

On 6/25/2022 at 6:11 AM, Superhero said:

Re ventilation, I had it inside a box for several months while we were doing our renovation and it was working beautifully. Right now it's behind my media stand getting more ventilation than before so that's not it.

Be aware that this can change with age, as heat sinks and thermal paste degrade and lose connection for cooling. Something that was cooling great while new typically cools worse after months/years.

You could do a quick test, put a desk fan on the modem and see if the stability changes at all for 2 days. If it magically stays stable, then it was overheating. Then you can decide whether to do surgery and repaste the heat sinks/heat spreaders, or just get a new modem.

[Superhero 9027]

On 6/25/2022 at 10:05 AM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

When you pull up the modems admin page.. likely at either:   https://192.168.0.1   or https://192.168.100.1

what do you see for power and SNR (signal to noise ratios) for the bonded channels? pwd should be between -15 and 15... SNR should all be above 30db

Also.. check the Logs as they may indicate what is happening next time you see a drop.

Logs are clear. Didn't see anything our of specs for power and SNR. I'll look again when I get home.

 

On 6/25/2022 at 10:59 AM, TOR said:

It might be worth texting/chatting Cox TS and asking them to do a reset on your modem.  It will force a new IP from them and could clear things up.

They reset it a few times when my wife called them last week. I reset the modem for factory settings over the weekend. Don't know if it's the same IP address, but I assume so?

 

On 6/26/2022 at 9:10 PM, Sam Lin said:

Be aware that this can change with age, as heat sinks and thermal paste degrade and lose connection for cooling. Something that was cooling great while new typically cools worse after months/years.

You could do a quick test, put a desk fan on the modem and see if the stability changes at all for 2 days. If it magically stays stable, then it was overheating. Then you can decide whether to do surgery and repaste the heat sinks/heat spreaders, or just get a new modem.

Maybe the cause... Weird thing is sometimes the modem is working property, the wifi router can't connect to the intergoogles. But last night it was the cable modem that was the issue. I unplugged it for 10 seconds, plugged it back in and everything started working again.

 

I have a new eero router and a new Netgear modem. Looks like I'll be replacing both of them this weekend.

[Superhero 9027]

Just to close out this thread, I'm using a Netgear CM700 modem and the intergoogles is mostly stable now in the house. It's not dropping, but there are some moments where it hangs for a second, which sucks when playing online games. But at least the wife can work from home now without dropping video calls. And by video calls, I don't mean streaming on OnlyFans.

 

Looking at the receipt for the Arris modem, I had it for less than a year. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd go back to claim against their 1-year warranty. But too lazy to go through the hassle for a $60 modem.