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Dropped DSL Connection

It's been my experience with Verizon the past few years that they will yes you to death but have little interest in actually fixing what's wrong with DSL. Verizon doesn't offer Fios where I live so DSL is the only option right now. I have been losing my connection at least 10 times a day for a few months now. For my equipment I have a new Actiontec GT784WNV modem with a dedicated shielded twisted pair line connected directly to the Verizon box. I have ferrite core filters on all the power lines near or associated with the modem. All my devices except my phones are hard wired to the modem. The Verizon switching station is about 1 mile from my house. I am told fiber runs to that station and copper runs from there out. I have spent countless hours on the phone with Verizon technicians and twice they have sent people out to my location to fix the problem. Each time they tell me the problem is fixed but nothing changes. If I'm streaming a movie I usually have to get up and restart the modem at least once sometimes more. I actually lost the connection while I was writing this and had to reset the modem. One of the technicians hinted that the old copper phone lines might be the problem. Since Verizon's push is on Fios (I have been told they don't ever plan on expanding it here) I don't believe they have any desire to spend the money to actually fix anything associated with DSL. Our small cable company has been bought out by a major player in that market. They are supposed to take over by the third quarter of this year. When that happens it's goodbye Verizon DSL for me. I just can't deal with the battle any longer.

Comments

dslr595148

Is the issue a memory leak like what is addressed in Actiontec GT784WNV router memory leak

I have had an Actiontec GT784WNV router (combination modem + router) installed for about a month now, replacing my ancient Westell modem + Linksys router combination. This new Actiontec router loses network connectivity and reboots itself once or twice a day, pretty much every day.

A Google search indicated that this might be a memory issue, and indeed if I check memory via the Actiontec status page (192.168.1.1 -> Status -> Gateway Utilization), I see memory usage of about 46% just after a reboot; then it steadily climbs to about 96% over the course of several hours before finally rebooting itself. All is well after the reboot (memory usage back down to 40-something percent), but then the process repeats.

The memory usage grows as the router is used (i.e. does not grow much at all overnight, but does grow during the day when I'm actively using my network connection), so it seems that the memory leak is directly associated with my network usage.

I have the latest firmware installed (GT784WN-VZ-1.1.22).

Or is it like as you say ?

If it not as you say and is a memory leak, I suggest the following..

#1 Get your own separate router.

That could either a hardware one like the OP of that linked thread or DIY.

If DIY NAT router could either be a pure DIY NAT router or a Linux/Unix distro designed for connection sharing (for example pfSense ).

And it could be...

a) ..Spare

b) ..New bought (HP/Dell, ETC..)

c) ..New built/assembled - (Buying the case, Motherboard, CPU, RAM, HD, ETC..) typically by your self.

#2 Make sure that the RJ-45 WAN port works on your separate router.

#3 Put that modem combo into bridge mode.

#4 Reconfigure your separate router for your connection.

a) PPPoE ?

b) Pure Static IP ?

c) Pure DHCP ?

Note: If pure DHCP in your separate router you will need to spoof/clone the WAN MAC/Phyiscal/Hardware Address of the Actiontec GT784WNV.

For example first the part of my MAC/Phyiscal/Hardware Address for my computer is 30-9C-23 (Or that could be written as 30:9C:23). While I know it is possible to spoof/clone mine and how to do that, I am not telling what the other half of it is..

#5 Profit 🙂

#6 ...That is until you get cable for: Faster download/upload, the dsl lines really dies, ETC...

#7 Note as a modem it is ok but as a router and note post 5

@Smith6612 wrote:
I would have to agree with dslr595148 on this one. When I had the ActiontTec GT784WNV in service, it would develop a memory leak between the DHCP Client and the software responsible for handling the wireless radio slowly, which was made worse with more devices on the network, and heavy upload use. I could see this behavior and log it over time by using the modem's Telnet interface.

Considering what they said, that sounds to me what the issue is.

This is not say that you are wrong or for that matter even if I am correct now that in the future what you say the issue is with the DSL line will not happen.

Good luck.

tae111

My Actiontec doesn't reboot itself. Once it loses connection it will continue in that state until I reboot it myself. Last night when I was watching a Netflix movie I lost connection 4 times. At one point Verizon thought it might be my modem so they sent me a D-Link DSL-2750B as a replacement. That modem lost connection worse than the Actiontec. When a Service technician finally did come out he gave me a brand new Actiontec. He also looked at my setup and wiring and said it was as good as it can get. I started using the new modem and was still getting disconnected throughout the day. Just in case it was an issue with the new modem I swapped it out with my old Actiontec (only a year old) but still no luck. This all started about 4 months ago. Before that I would hardly ever get disconnected. 2 days ago a phone technician had me change some values in my Verizon/ Actiontec dashboard (192.168.1.1). He also said he was making some changes on his end that should fix the problem. It did not.

tae111

Also I am not using the Actiontec modem with any other router. It is a stand alone modem for Verizon DSL.

tae111

Also my memory usage seems to run at a constant 53% whenever I check it.

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