XCI55AX Latency

[Gonzo49]

Every few days I need to reboot the XCI55AX router (firmware 3.2.0.7) due to massive jumps in latency.  After reboot, the device operates perfectly for 1-2 days.  Latency down in the 20-30 range.  Fast as heck, great signal strength.  I test it from both Speedtest.net and Verizon's speed test in the mobile app.  No problems.  Then out of nowhere the latency jumps permanently and all traffic slows to a crawl until I reboot the router.  Weird thing is for about a month over the summer this did not happen at all.  I'm thinking about trying bridge mode and going back to my old wifi router, as this one has some sort of memory leak/crash/bug going on.  Any suggestions?  

[vzw_customer_support]

Oh, no! Dealing with technical problems can be a headache, especially if you are having intermittent connection issues. Verizon is here to help.

For the Internet Gateway user guide click on this link: https://www.verizon.com/support/verizon-internet-gateway-arc-xci55ax/.

We sent you a Private Note, please review at your earliest convenience. 

~Gilbert

[Gonzo49]

I replied to note.  The original tech did a factory reset and it did not solve the problem.  Almost exactly 1 day later I had to reboot as latency spiked from ~20 to 500-1500.  It's like it gets overwhelmed or something until reboot.

[JeremySF]

TL/DR: Use High Security Setting

I have had similar problems, and believe I am making progress, and have a workable system, missing two features that used to work. 

I would like to know how to relay my progress to verizon engineering, since a new firmware release would be needed to fix the issues I am seeing.

Here is the instructions for fixing. I don't know which parts can be made easier.

1. Write down your key settings (e.g. WiFi networks and passwords), also note any port forwarding rules etc. (We will sadly not be able to make those work, until there is a firmware upgrade)

2. Do a factory reset to the default setting

3. Immediately go to the Advanced/Security & Firewall/General and select "High Security" twice and press the "Apply" button

4. Re-enter the wifi information from 1.

You need to be able to connect to your router to do 3 - I use a cable, if you don't have one, I suspect it is fine to use the default wifi. With a cable, I also do 2A) as soon as the router reboots disable the WiFi - I doubt that is necessary.

It may be possible to do this and use the builtin options to restore settings - I have not explored.

e.g. this is easier, and might work.

1. Go to the Advanced/Security & Firewall/General and select "High Security" twice and press the "Apply" button

2. Advanced/System/Factory Reset/Save Options/Backup file; press "Save"

3. Advanced/System/Factory Reset/Restore Options/Local a backup file/[select your file from 2]; press "Restore"

Diagnosis

It seems to me that there is bad activity on the internet side of my router, and with "Normal Security" on IPv4, and a port trigger rule (8883:8883 => 8883:8883 - for myq), that the router gets infected, i.e. there is a firmware bug somewhere, in the "Normal Security" mode.

Observations, in "Normal Security" mode, with the port forwarding trigger rule:

• when doing a restart, I get a new external IP
• fairly quickly, e.g. an hour or two, I start seeing intermittent ping drops
  
• after a few more hours, when I go to Advanced/Diagnostics & Montoring/Bandwidth monitoring I see millions of TB an hour on the WAN both download and upload.
  
• on the same panel on the LAN I see totals of only a few MB (no video streaming etc in this period)
• the Advanced/Diagnostics & Montoring/System-wide Connections is harder to understand
  
• Under Broadband Connection (Cellular) column the numbers are enormous, and are no where close to the sum of the numbers in the other columns

In "High Security" mode, the Broadband Connection (Cellular) column shows a reasonable number for Sent Bytes (same order of magnitude as sum of other columns, GBs an hour in my case).

The "Rec'd Packets" column still shows much more going on on the WAN than the LAN, but it looks like the router is acknowledging the bad traffic in a minimal way, but not originating any, or entering into significant conversation with the remote party (who I would guess is either malevolent, or a software bug in Verizon management software).