Internet disconnects every hour

[Kaie]

Hi,

In the last week the internet has been disconnecting every hour for a few minutes.  My husband and I play World of Warcraft and its very frustrating to be disconnected every 60 mins for up to a few minutes.  We started to keep track of when we disconnect and its exactly every 60 minutes.  At first we thought it might be the new expansion but we are starting to think that this is a Rogers issue, since the game disconnects along with the internet.  We are at our wits end and are very frustrated with the service.  We have been with Rogers for quite a few years and every call we make we are told that everything is fine and that it must be on our end.  We have very good gaming computers, so we know its not the computers since both will disconnect at the same time.  We are seriously considering switching ISP since we have read that Rogers throttles WoW as well.

We have the SMCD3GN modem/router.

Is anyone else having this issue?  Any solutions??

***edited labels***

[Gdkitty]

Interesting.
That area is one reported before with this issue.

But it's always with the gateways. Have not heard it with the d2 Motorola modems before.

[c0ntrast]

If anyone figures out how to fix this issue please post it here because it just continues to happen, and has for almost a week now.

[MidnightTide]

Well, I have been trying these things so far:

1.  turn off your wireless

2.  change your DNS to google (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4)

haven't done this one yet, but might be giving it a go  (as I can go to a 19 ping to over 50, with speeds from 28 to 3)

3.  turn off the bridge on the router

To do any of that, you are going to have to get into your router...

http://www.thewebtechreviews.com/2011/04/02/my-frustration-with-rogers-smcd3gn-modem/

[fionafars]

I'm having the same issue as a lot of people. I didnt realize I wasn't connected this morning, tried to open an email attachment that came in gmail through google chrome and got this message: The server at mail.google.com can't be found, because the DNS lookup failed.

This started on Tuesday afternoon. The online light on my SMC modem stays on and steady, but there's no connection to my PC or wireless devices. Once I reboot the modem, it works again. It disconnects a few times a day and overnight.

I'm in Scarborough, near Danforth/Birchmount. Wondering if anyone else has this issue around here and if I should try changing the DNS to Google's? Does this sound like the same problem others are having? I have not contacted Rogers but I will if this seems like a different issue. Thanks!

[fionafars]

I've been reading further in the forums and it seems others are saying the wireless is fine with the DNS issues. Does anyone think this means this could be a problem that Rogers can help me with, or should I try the Google DNS? My modem was fine yesterday, but while the online light stayed lit, the last email I received was at 4:01 a.m. and it was still not working at 7am until I rebooted.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[csilcock]

Fionafars - This sounds like a different issue. The original issue in this thread was related to the internet disconnecting every hour for a few seconds, and then reconnecting with no modem reboot required. Perhaps contact Rogers directly or create a new thread to see if anyone can help. I would recommend Google public DNS as an excellent alternative to the default Rogers DNS.

As far as I go, I've been seeing disconnects for about 10-30 seconds consistantly since the beginning of October. I have swapped my modem 3 times (from SMC to Hitron to Cisco), spoke with Rogers about 10 times, and had one technician come to my house (another is scheduled for Monday). I've tried disabling wireless completely, and swapping my DNS server. They have performed a maintenence request on my building and found nothing. I have suggested it's possible a DHCP issue or a problem with their system, and been quickly shut down. I've also suggested congestion, which they were quick to dismiss as well. They have told me that if the next technician does not solve the issue, that I should call back and ask to escalate the issue to the CAT team (which as far as I can tell; is about as far as you can escalate these kinds of issues).

Can anyone suggest anything else I can try? I would love to switch to bell, but my apartment is only rated for 15mbps down, 1 up on DSL, and I absolutely love the speed and service I have gotten from Rogers with the Ultimate package up until this problem started. I was really looking forward to upgrading to the new version when it becomes available in this area 😞

-edit, I should also mention that I live in Kitchener (Fairview Park Mall area)

[fionafars]

Thanks csilcock,

I'm always so hesitant to call Rogers, but maybe that's the best thing to do in this case. The first day I had disconnections more frequently, but now it's not as often. I might try  a new thread first. Thanks for your advice. I hope your problem gets solved!!

Fiona

[frichardson]

So I've had the same problem as everyone else with the SMC Modem/Router.

The first time I fixed it, all I did as swap out the cable that was plugged into the wall, that worked for about a week but it came back shortly.

I've been trying to fix it for over a week and I think I've found the best way to do it. I've left my xbox on for a few hours now and still haven't had a timeout or disconnect. Here's what I did.

Step 1) Login to your router/modem, so by default 192.168.0.1 (username csuadmin pw is password)

Step 2) Uncheck Enable DHCP Server, it'll reboot your modem but click ok.

Step 3) After it loads up, disconnect all the devices you're using, and reconnect them to your network.  At this point any device you are using is able to obtain automatically, so you do not need the DHCP server to assign you an IP, your computer, iphone etc can do it automatically. It'll take a few more seconds than normal to connect the first time, but it'll assign it's own IP and the problem will go away. Just keep DHCP server off.

[c0ntrast]

I actually tried that exact same thing frichardson. I did it yesterday, and it stops the quick disconnects every hour, but now every few hours or so I get a disconnect that requires me to reboot the modem. I'm at a loss for ideas on how to fix this.

[Brooklin_user]

I've been having problems ever since I upgrade my service in September and had to switch to the SMC modem.  Seems too much to be a coincidence.

[FormerMember]

No surprise there. The SMC is a total POS. Just do a search on these forums. The other D3s are not much better!

[torton]

frichardson/c0ontrast - If I'm understanding you correctly and you're turning off the dhcp server on the lan side of the modem, and all of your hardware on the lan side is still connecting correctly (getting an ip address) then you must have another dhcp server running somewhere on your local network (assuming all of your hardware local side is running a dhcp client).  More than 1 dhcp server on the same network group could cause a problem.  I'm not 100% though so you'd want to check with a "computer guy".  In either case, it is most likely unrelated to the hourly reconnects that last about 30 seconds.

[torton]

Just curious if there is anything in common between any of our setups.  Based on what I've read on this thread so far...

1) Location - Not city specific

2) Internet plan type - Same or different between us?  I have Extreme Plus.

3) Modem model - Not just SMC since one user claimed failure also occurs on their non-SMC modem

4.1) Modem settings - My wireless mode is disabled - Anyone different to rule this out?

4.2) Modem settings - Internal firewall enabled - Anyone different to rule this out?

5) Content traffic is somehow triggering the failure with Rogers traffic shaping servers?  Even so would be strange to cause an "hourly" impact

5.1) xbox live - Anyone not use this to rule it out?

5.2) netflix service - Anyone not use this to rule it out?

I'm confident the problem is on the rogers side of the modem.  It is most likely triggered by the firmware upgrades they do on the modems from time to time.  Some firmware versions have the setting/feature that triggers the problem we're seeing, and some versions do not.  Some users notice the 1hr connection reset problem while most users are probably oblivious to it.  

It is possible the problem is that the DHCP lease is only being issued by the rogers dhcp server for a 1 hour timeframe but I doubt this the problem.

Could be there is some other rogers network setting or test that runs every hour on the rogers side and it is contaminating the connection such that the modem loses its ip address and needs to request a new one.

Another possible cause rogers side is related to the dns lookups but some users claim that they're using the google dns servers so that should rule out the rogers dns server causing the problem.

There is clearly an "hourly" element to the problem and it is clearly on the "rogers side" of the network so next step is to get a rogers "senior tech" out with the tools to analyse the traffic (eg. wireshark).  Hopefully they've got a guru with guru network tools.  The other thing they should look at is the logs that show which users modems are reconnecting hourly (WAN SIDE) vs every 24 hours.  This might show a correlation between a firmware version, modem type, server configuration, etc.

Hopefully someone can figure out the rest because I have 23 more days of this "fine" service I've come to "love".

[Gdkitty]

My findings as to your above stuff.

1). Primarily it does seem while not city specific, but region specific. You see a majority post from Ottawa, Kitchener, etc. every user I know with on in my city, where my brother lives, etc, have not had the issues. It's probably people who are off certain nodes

2) different plans

3) smc and Cisco definitely, not 100% positive on the Hitron.

4) wireless is poor on these models and could just cause dropouts on its own, but this problem comes up with wired users as well. Some people into bridged mode has fixed but Not all.

[torton]

Modem sometimes does not recover and requires a power cycle.  Obviously annoying but makes tracking/predicting the hourly disconnect time a bit more difficult.

My 16yr old is severely upset with rogers because he plays xbox live competitively and automatically loses the game when the rogers modem drops out regardless of his score.  For the most part he has been tracking the hourly disconnect and working around it but a big match today caught him off guard and it cost him.  Between games, it is quite humerous to watch.  He'll be chatting in the xbox lobby with a dozen+ other gamers from around the world and he'll interrupt the conversation to say "r----s is crapping out in 5,4,3,2,1" and then the xbox pops up with a lost connection message.  When it returns he knows he is good for about 57-58 minutes.

I don't have the energy to deal with the support team over the phone but I'm confident there is enough info in this thread for a "Senior Tech" to figure out where to look.  No sarcasm on the "Senior" part this time.  If someone can get a tech to read this thread (minus my rant about contracts etc) and actually take ownership of solving the problem then there is a very good chance he/she will find the root cause. 

Perhaps someone could take the lead and escalate within Support that there are a number of people with the same problem as proven by this thread.  There will be many more users with the same problem that are oblivious it exists (although they might argue it is not a problem for them).

If needed, I will help with a bit of additional testing via this forum but I'd sooner go without internet all together for 3 weeks than have to spend another minute on the phone with Support.  Plus, I already have light at the end of the tunnel - New modem and provider goes live in 3 weeks.  For anyone still in a long term contract you'll probably want to get this resolved.

Good luck.

[c0ntrast]

There isn't another DHCP running. I set all the machines to static IPs once I turned off the DHCP server. Like I said, once I did that, it's no longer every hour DCs, but it still DCs randomly, but I have to actually restart the modem each time 'cause it doesn't reconnect with the DHCP server off.

I've tried turning firewall off, etc. Others have said turning wireless off doesn't help. It's not the modem because people have tried all the 3 types of modems and still get the issue. I don't have netflix or xbox live, and neither does anyone in my house.

I don't think what we are doing effects it either, 'cause it does it whether I'm gaming, watching videos, streaming, etc.

[torton]

Anyone running the modem in bridged mode with the WAN config set to google dns instead of rogers?

I'm set to google dns LAN side but not WAN side.

[mgrell]

After speaking to a Rogers rep this morning, they suggested I take in my SMC modem and swap it out.

I did that - and now home with a Hitron modem (which costs an extra $1 month btw) - and 1 hour into using it, BLIP - service dropped again.  So it wasn't the modem.

Calling Rogers again......

[mgrell]

...having a tech come out tomorrow (Tuesday).

The modem status shows that the WAN "Uptime" resets every 60 minutes - which is basically the outage frequency.

Will post an update tomorrow.

[Brooklin_user]

Do any Rogers employees read these forums? I have the SMC modem and it was an upgrade back in September or so, I live in Brooklin. Our internet connection is constantly dropping. WHy on earth do they not do something about fixing this problem for their customers? I work form home and I have to connect to our main office via the internet.

Rogers, this is very important. Please address this issue for your customers immediately.

[mgrell]

I'm in Brooklin too - same scenario.  Are you dropping every 60 minutes as well?