Flaid Posted July 28, 2016 CID Share Posted July 28, 2016 I just moved to a new town. Coming from a DSL connection, I bought a refurbished modem, Arris Surfboard SB6141 v7.0 (so that I wouldn't have to pay their $7.50 / month rental fee). I get the advertised speed of 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up... at first... but then over time (18-24 hours) the speed degrades to as slow as 2 Mbps down. Interestingly, the upload speed remains good (between 15-20) even when the downstream is slow. The power levels and SNR are within an "acceptable range" according to http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5862 even during slow periods. Power cycling the modem (unplugging, waiting 2 minutes, plugging back in) fixes the issue, but then it just happens again within 24 hours. I guess I should mention I also have a NETGEAR Nighthawk X6 router, which is brand new, but I believe I've already ruled it out as the speed degradation persists even when I connect my laptop directly in to the modem. Here's my question, essentially: Is it normal to need to power cycle the modem every 24 hours? Is it the modem? Since it is refurbished, I suppose its possible its still broken...? Is it the ISP? I tried contacting them but (of course) they said since I wasn't leasing the modem from them I would have to contact the manufacturer. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudmanc4 Posted July 28, 2016 CID Share Posted July 28, 2016 1 hour ago, Flaid said: [...] Here's my question, essentially: Is it normal to need to power cycle the modem every 24 hours? Is it the modem? Since it is refurbished, I suppose its possible its still broken...? Is it the ISP? I tried contacting them but (of course) they said since I wasn't leasing the modem from them I would have to contact the manufacturer. #1 No, resetting the modem every 24 hours should not be required. Myself just yesterday, reset the modem after being on for more than a month, which was only due to a power outage at that time, before then, 4-6 months since the last power outage. #2 You could be on to something there. #3 Typical ISP behavior as you might have guessed. My only suggestion outside of #2 above, is to do a hard reset 30/30/30 on the modem. You'll be holding the reset button through this entire process. Or, while powered up, hold in reset button for 30 seconds. While continuing to hold reset button, remove power source, or cord. Wait another 30 seconds While continuing to hold reset button, introduce power and continue to hold reset button for another 30 seconds. Then release reset button. Old means of forcing a hard reset, might still do something for you. However my sparse knowledge of modems, it appears values are changing during normal use, in other words a leaking capacitor or resistor is soured in the modem, is heating and therefore the values are changing. I could put my tin foil hat on, and say the ISP is playing games to force you into a rental, but I wont suggest that, it's absurd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flaid Posted July 28, 2016 Author CID Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) Well, I have been running automatic speed tests every 30 minutes for the past 5 hours (ever since the last time I power cycled), and everything seems to be working as expected. A minor drop once, but I was also using the Internet on a different machine throughout the day, so that could easily explain that. I guess I'll just have to keep monitoring it and see if it is really degrading over time or if it is happening all at once. I assume it is over time because I've seen it at 20 Mbps, 15 Mbps, 10 Mbps, and even 2 Mbps. Unfortunately, I only ever notice when something starts buffering or seems particularly slow... and by that time it is already crawling. https://testmy.net/quickstats/Flaid On 7/28/2016 at 1:29 PM, mudmanc4 said: I could put my tin foil hat on, and say the ISP is playing games to force you into a rental, but I wont suggest that, it's absurd. I don't know, I may have fought them quite a bit about their "activation fee" when I first signed up. Since I had the equipment in hand, I wasn't sure why a tech needed to come out to the place and screw on the cable. They gave me a lot of mumbojumbo about checking to make sure the line hasn't been damaged by wildlife, etc, etc... When I asked to speak to the corporate office, they gave me $10 off. And maybe flagged my account for being snarky (?) Edited July 30, 2016 by mudmanc4 Added Speed Test Graph Pgoodwin1 and mudmanc4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flaid Posted August 4, 2016 Author CID Share Posted August 4, 2016 Well, ever since I contacted my ISP (and they did nothing) and started testing speed regularly, I have not had to reboot the modem and everything has been smooth as silk. So I'm really thinking they must've just unchecked the "mess with this guy" box on my account. Oh well! CA3LE and Pgoodwin1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA3LE Posted August 4, 2016 CID Share Posted August 4, 2016 Yup... I just hacked into mediacom and looked for you. They unchecked it. Pgoodwin1 and mudmanc4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pgoodwin1 Posted August 4, 2016 CID Share Posted August 4, 2016 HAHA CA3LE Kroger has me on their "filter this email to the trash" list for complaining too much about stuff they are either out of or quit carrying and replacing it with their own product. They no longer even acknowledge that I've sent them feedback. Maybe because once they were out of Mr. Mustard Hot. I complained about their having three shelves of Kroger mustard. I told them "No mustard eatin' man would use any of that Kroger mustard"..... That probably did it. mudmanc4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudmanc4 Posted August 4, 2016 CID Share Posted August 4, 2016 @Pgoodwin1 Mustard Pgoodwin1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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