Verizon DSL with Third-Party Modem
bcweber
Enthusiast - Level 1

I recently purchased a Netgear ADSL2+ modem and a Netgear AC1600 router to replace the Verizon Actiontech combo router-modem that came with my Verizon DSL service. I am posting this problem and solution for anyone else who is or may experience the same problem.

The Issue: the new Netgear modem would not connect to the internet. After several attempts using the setup wizard, trying different manual configurations, copying the Actiontech modem information, etc. the new modem simply would not detect or connect to the internet. The Netgear setup was getting stuck on indentifying a static IP address although the Verizon system uses a dynamic IP.

The Short Story: the solution I found was to disconnect all devices from the DSL for several hours (overnight or possibly shorter). I believe this allowed the Verizon system enough time to reset/erase the previous device MAC address, thus allowing the new device to establish it's own MAC address as well as establish a new dynamic IP address within the Verizon system.

The Long Story: this is an issue I was able to find on other forum posts throughout the internet. However, neither the Netgear tech support nor the Verizon tech support were able to identify the issue or solve it. The Netgear support was definitely the more helpful but ultimately they couldn't help me because the issue was within the Verizon system. The Verizon tech support was only able to go through their prescriptive check list before kicking the issue to the Advanced Tech Support. I was disappointed to find that this is just a ploy for getting customers to purchase a monthly subscription to tech support. What makes the situation more frustrating was that I was that the Verizon support technician kept telling me that they know the issue and could manually reset the MAC address on their end but first I would have to subscribe to the Advanced Support. The Advanced Support person turned out to be nothing more than a salesman with limited technical knowledge. The Advanced Tech Support salesman then refused to reconnect me to the standard tech support or connect me to a manager. In the end, I gave up and went to bed frustrated only to find that the device worked instantly the following morning. Hopefully somone with more tech savy can explain why...