Router/Extenders Loses Connectivity Constantly

[tdeprenda]

We have the G3100 Router and (2) 3200 Extenders in our 3 story house. Basement houses the 3100 and the extenders are in living room and master bedroom. We have gigabit service. Over the past 6-8 months we are constantly losing connectivity a few times a week on our devices. Sometimes it's the internet gateway and sometimes the wifi signal just drops. Sometimes a restart of the routers and extenders help and sometimes it doesn't. The extenders are connected via coax. Not just one device that loses connectivity. We have a few iPhones, iPads, and windows/Mac laptops. Not sure what other info is needed to help troubleshoot. Calling Verizon is always a hassle so I thought I'd start here first. 

[dexman]

Some questions to start the ball rolling: 🙂

If services other than Internet are active (phone and/or cable TV), do they drop when Internet service goes south?

Does the front LED on the router and/or extenders change color when Internet service is impacted?

Do any alarm lights on the ONT turn on during those times?

Cabling questions:

Are there unterminated ports on any splitters?

Are all connectors securely tightened?

Are all connectors properly attached to the cables?

[tdeprenda]

Thanks for the quick response...

If services other than Internet are active (phone and/or cable TV), do they drop when Internet service goes south? No

Does the front LED on the router and/or extenders change color when Internet service is impacted? Sometimes but not always

Do any alarm lights on the ONT turn on during those times?  Not sure. I will have to check next time it happens. Apologies but is the ONT where the replaceable battery is or is it the large box outside the house?

[dexman]

The ONT would be the large box. Could a picture or two of the ONT be posted? Side note: submitted pictures go into queue for Moderator review before they appear. 🙂

I added a few cabling questions.

[tdeprenda]

Thanks! I will take pictures today when I get home. Just a note, the box with the replaceable battery is for the phone, I believe for backup if power goes out. The ONT that you referred to is the larger box on outside that coax comes into from telephone pole. Some other info, I have a few MOCA splitters that I purchased from Verizon to split the incoming coax then routed to each room. The main router is conneted via ethernet that the Verizon installer set up. The 1st floor is split for TV and extender using a MOCA splitter from Verizon and the 2nd floor is not split and uses the coax directly from the wall. Trying to think about all the variables.

[dexman]

The description of the setup seems straightforward.

Loose or improperly terminated connectors along with wide open ports on splitters can cause issues.

There is the possibility that the ONT or router could be the cause. I tend to be focused on cables.

One more question, could the Ethernet cable between the ONT and router be replaced? 🤔

[tdeprenda]

The description of the setup seems straightforward. Loose or improperly terminated connectors along with wide open ports on splitters can cause issues. I'll check to make sure everything is tight. So when you say wide open port, if I have a 4-port splitter and don't use them all, that could cause an issue? We've had Fios for years but the splitters are newer. I'll take pics, check all that.

One more question, could the Ethernet cable between the ONT and router be replaced?  Yes. The installer added an ethernet jack so the router is connected via ethernet cable to wall and wall jack is connected to ONT. I can easily replace cable to wall but not sure if I can replace cable to ONT.

[dexman]

Unused ports on splitters can cause trouble...especially with television signals.

The quick fix is to purchase 75 ohm termination plugs and connect them to the extra positions.

The better option would be to replace the splitters with units with the exact number of needed  ports.

Given that the problem only impacts Internet and not television and telephone, I'm narrowing it down to Ethernet or possibly the router itself...(but giving coaxial cable infrastructure a checkup is also worthwhile).

[tdeprenda]

Thanks so much for your help! I will try these tonight.

[tdeprenda]

Replaced the Ethernet cable from router to wall, no change. Attached pic of the ONT. Noticed that we lost wifi in Master Bedroom on second floor, extender went yellow. By time I was able to get to basement router light was white (normal). Restarted MB extender and it was fine. Waiting for extender to restart, iPad picked up wifi from probably first floor extender and was able to go out to internet. Waiting on terminators, one open port on MOCA splitter. What else can I try?

[dexman]

Sorry for the delay in replying back. ☹️

Did Verizon replace the "guts" of the ONT with the Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia) 211 or is the Motorola ONT still inside?

It looks like there are multiple coaxial cables coming out of the bottom of the enclosure. Is there a splitter inside of it? Usually there is a single "F" connector on the various ONTs.

The 3100 keeps log files of various errors and statuses. Those files may contain clues as to what the router itself is seeing. Other forum leads are better versed in reading and decoding the information contained in the logs than I am. Also, Verizon Support can log into the ONT and check to see if it is picking-up errors of some sort.

Could a picture of the inside of the enclosure be added? 🤔

If the terminators don't resolve the issue, I would try reaching out to Verizon support and have them pull the logs in the ONT & router to see if they point to something.

[tdeprenda]

No worries. I’ll open up the box and take a pic so you can see what’s going on.

[dexman]

Temporary coaxial cable runs could be done but checking the logs might yield a faster result. 🙂

[tdeprenda]

How do I check logs?

[dexman · Accepted solution]

This should lead to the logs:

Open a browser.

In the address bar enter 192.168.1.1

When the not private warning message appears, select Advanced.

Select "continue to 192.168.1.1"

Enter the router's Admin password in the box. (Note, this is a different password than the WiFi password). The Admin password is found on the back of the G3100.

Once logged in select "Advanced"

Select "Diagnostics & Monitoring"

Select "System Logging"

From there, the various logs can be checked by clicking on the corresponding tab.

[tdeprenda]

Here are pics of inside of box as well as the system log. Thanks!

[tdeprenda]

It would not let me upload the whole text file so let me know if something else is needed. Thanks!

524K buff, 52000K cached
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] CPU: 25% usr 70% sys 0% nic 0% idle 0% io 0% irq 4% sirq
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] Load average: 8.62 8.86 8.98 17/242 30475
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ %CPU COMMAND
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 15711 1 root R< 25772 6% 8% /usr/sbin/arc_muap
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 4706 1 root R 2900 1% 8% eapd
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 9074 1 root S 32592 8% 4% /usr/sbin/arc_tr69
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 15665 1 root S< 19416 5% 4% /usr/sbin/owlmap
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 23728 1 root S 15112 4% 4% /usr/sbin/arc_lcmd start
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 30416 30409 root R 3260 1% 4% top -b -n 1
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 15724 1 root S 58292 14% 0% owl -conf
2022 Sep 25 04:20:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] 29533 27059 root S 41772 10% 0% /bin/shgw_fpid
2022 Sep 25 04:25:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] Mem: 334492K used, 93508K free, 0K shrd, 712K buff, 52500K cached
2022 Sep 25 04:25:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] CPU: 41% usr 58% sys 0% nic 0% idle 0% io 0% irq 0% sirq
2022 Sep 25 04:25:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] Load average: 8.69 8.89 8.97 12/243 6663
2022 Sep 25 04:25:00 info resource_usage: [SYS] PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ %CPU COMMAND

[tdeprenda]

Sorry, first pic I uploaded had a serial no. and was rejected by admin. Here is the inside of ONT.

[dexman]

Ah...The ONT is a Motorola, which supports gigabit Internet (although Verizon no longer installs that model). I noticed the Ethernet cable plugged into the jack. That should go to the back of the router. 

A few more questions (sorry if they are repeats...lots of info discussed so far)

Is it known if devices connected to the router itself disconnect or is it limited to ones connected to the extenders?

If the trouble impacts the router & extenders, could another Ethernet cable be temporarily run from the ONT to the router? The idea is to isolate the existing Ethernet cable. If the problem remains, that will point to either the router or the ONT (I don't think this is an upstream issue).

I'm not well versed on the information presented in the logs, so I'll have to defer to others on that. My suspicion is that the ONT, given that it is an older model and is located outside of the house, is the problem...again, just a suspicion. 🙂

Nowadays, Verizon looks to install ONTs inside whenever possible. The sheltered/protected environment helps to prolong the life of the electronics. The Tellabs 611 ONT that Verizon installed in our basement lasted roughly 13 years. It was swapped out with an Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia) 211 when I bumped up to gigabit Internet service.

Verizon support can access the logs in the ONT for review. 

[tdeprenda]

Yes, you are correct regarding the speed… we have gigabit and the Ethernet goes from ONT to wall port and Ethernet cable connects router to wall port.

[dexman]

Ah! I remember that now. Before looking at a temporary Ethernet cable run, contact Verizon Customer Support. The ONT logs (not accessible by the public) might yield some clues. 🙂