jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Actiontec wifi loses connectivity....
I've had FiOS for coming up on 3 months. All has been well for the most part, but I've noticed that when I (or a guest in my house) am connected to my Actiontec wifi I will periodically loose connectivity. I'm still trying to troubleshoot and haven't pinned anything down yet, but I thought maybe if I post here someone would chime in and say this is what causes that...and this is what you do to fix it.
I haven't detected any regular period that the disconnect happens.
When it does, for maybe 5 minutes I can't connect to the Internet, or my LAN, or ping the router.
The wifi signal never goes away and my laptop still shows "connected" to my SSID. Netstumbler shows the wifi signal still present with no drop in signal strength.
This happens with a Dell laptop; a Gateway laptop; several Macbook Pro's, and my Blackberry Bold. The connection to the world just seems to dissapear every so often.
I don't see any errors in the router's system log that look like they're related to the problem.
Does anyone have any ideas that might help?
Thanks in advance. |
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brianmcd
join:2000-09-06
Norristown, PA
clubs: | Could be interference from a Cordless Phone in the area.
Try changing the wireless channel that your Verizon Router is using. |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| I should've mentioned, I guess, that we have 1 acre lots in this neigbhorhood. Our own cordless phones are the new 1.9 GHz DECT 6.0 and don't interfere with anything.
Plus the problem I'm experiencing happens even when the wifi device being used is in the same room with the router, where the router's signal is very strong and nothing else is in the vincinity.
I have tried various channels. I'm currently on channel 5 because it's clear of any neighbor's networks, even though none of those are very strong.
Thanks for the thought, but unfortunately, I don't think it's that simple. |
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spooky2
join:2007-09-20
Kissimmee, FL
| Long shot - do you have any type of wireless home security system?
Would yield the same result as an interfering cordless phone system.
General curiosity - if you have several devices connected at once, do they all lose connectivity at the same time? Do they reconnect on their own without having to reboot or reenter the WEP/WPA encryption?
You've got a fairly comprehensive cross-section of devices that would indicate a common problem (wireless network). Now that I've stated the obvious, I can also state I'm stumped - for now....very curious situation. |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| No home security...unless you consider a watch cat and a .357. 
Yes, if several devices are connected at once, they all lose connectivity at the same time.
And yes, they eventually all reconnect on their own. I've never timed exactly how long it takes but I'm guessing something like 5 minutes or so.
I am using WPA, btw, and have WEP disabled in the Actiontec set-up.
I too remain stumped. It occurs to me, of course, that my problem may simply be a faulty router. |
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spooky2
join:2007-09-20
Kissimmee, FL
| I've got 3 watch cats & they are always "on duty" too -- except when they're napping, of course 
VZ MAY drop ship you a router, but will probably troubleshoot with you and ask:
-does the loss of connectivity happen with a wired connection as well?
-what router light indications do you see when the problem manifests itself?
-have you rebooted the router?
-what phase of the moon does this most often occur in?
-ad nauseum
-they may have you do a factory reset of the router (pen/paperclip in button on back of router)
***You probably are way ahead of me on this, but if you do a factory reset, the router will revert back to the default admin/password login, dump any user configured settings (WPA,SSID, etc) & revert back to the default WEP key
Interesting to see what can be discovered with this one.... |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Roger on the napping, which in the case of our watch cat, is most of the day.
Wired connectivity never fails.
Router light indications are normal.
Rebooted several times, the last of which was 2 nights ago when we had a 5 hour power outage (got a new WAN IP of of that).
Haven't correlated to the phase of the moon....yet. I'm looking at that.
I've done a factory reset. It didn't seem to make any difference, except for having to restore all of my settings.
I don't have time right now to go through all this again with tech support on the phone. Maybe in the next week or 3. |
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GeekGirl1
The Medium IS the Message
Premium
join:2007-01-28
Morrisville, PA
4 edits | reply to jefe
If everything you throw at it says "signal good on PC side", the problem might be on the WAN side of the router. Try rebooting the ONT. It does wonders for weird problems.
The backup battery has to be out of the circuit to totally drop power to the ONT. Copied from this post: »Re: Upload speed much faster than download speeds on Fios , the description is worse than actually doing it. Remember that you'll lose your phone, internet, and FiOS TV guide info when it's down.
To do this, you will have to go to where your ONT's battery backup unit was installed. Now unplug the ac cord, and open up the BBU. Look inside and you should see a battery with two leads, one of which has a black or green pull-tab. Unplug that cable by softly pulling it back away from the casing. Let the ONT stay without power for about 10-15 minutes. Plug everything back, in reverse and let things come back up. You only need to wait a few minutes instead of 10 - 15 minutes as the post says. |
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Teasip
join:2001-05-14
Plano, TX
| reply to jefe
Regardless of the cause, be aware that this is a VERY common problem which resulted in many of us resorting to a personal router (Airport Extreme in my case) and piggy-backing the AT for TV, or vice versa. If you don't have TV you can still use your own router and be aware that the AT makes a great access site for other rooms which need internet access  . |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| GeekGirl....I have rebooted my ONT once. Maybe I'll try it again. But since I never have a problem with a wired connection to the router...I don't see how the problem can be at the ONT.
Teasip....I do have TV, and I had a personal router before FiOS. For some time I've been using a a Netgear powerline WAP to bring wifi to the other end of our house. I never had a combo wifi/router in my home office.
When Verizon gave me the Actiontec, I figured I might as well turn it on. I have it running on channel 5, as mentioned before, and my other wifi access point on channel 11. Two different SSIDs, both with WPA enabled.
So if it came down to it, I could just stop using the Actiontec wifi completely and go back to the way I operated pre-FiOS. But if there's another solution, I kind of like having maximum signal available at both ends of the house.
You'd think if this particular problem was common (I haven't read anyone else having the exact symptoms) Verizon would be pushing Actiontec for another hardware/firmware revision. |
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Teasip
join:2001-05-14
Plano, TX
1 edit | You just haven't looked back far enough, believe me. Verizon acts like you're speaking an unknown language when you call to report such an issue but there have been numerous posts of people dropping wireless access (self included) using the AT. There is a specific thread that details the adv./disadvan. of putting one device in front of the other (loss of widgets for example & VOD). At present time I've got my AE as the primary (ethernet connection!) with one AT daisy-chained off of it (LAN to LAN) to allow for TV access. I bought another AT on eBay to put in the family room for my TiVo access (using splitter) and any other device I might care to add in the future that requires internet (WIRED in this case) access such as AppleTV, PS3, etc.. |
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More Fiber
Premium,MVM
join:2005-09-26
West Chester, PA
 ·Bay Area Internet ..
| reply to jefe
If you're losing all wireless connectivity to the Actiontec at the same time, but not losing wired connectivity, then it is clearly either interference, or the Actiontec and not the ONT.
Do you lose connectivity on your other AP at the same time?
The older Actiontecs (Rev. A) are notorious for poor wifi reception. I'm assuming you have a Rev. E. There have been only scattered complaints about wireless with the Rev. E. However, the Rev. E is relatively new.
Has the problem just recently started, or has it been occurring since you got FIOS? If it just started, then it is possible a replacement router might fix the problem. You might also receive a Rev. D Actiontec as a replacement.
My suggestion would be to buy a third-party router and connect it to the Actiontec (turning off the wireless in the Actiontec) as an AP to cover that end of the house. It shouldn't be necessary to do this, but it is unlikely that VZ will acknowledge any problems with wireless are the fault of their router. |
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Teasip
join:2001-05-14
Plano, TX | Good clarification. I was in the scenerio where we would be hollering at one another throughout the house that "I'm not connected" but wired access would always work. Since changing out I've had no further problems. |
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drdumont
join:2007-05-07
Grand Prairie, TX
| Had the same problem. Disabled the Actiontek wireless, put in a Netgear WAP, problem solved. My Actiontek is downstream of my router/VOIP device through a switch. My third Actiontek in two years, I might add. Worthless drek, IMHO. If I didn't need it for the MOCA to the STB's it would be gone. |
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jammmin
join:2000-12-14
Upper Marlboro, MD
| said by drdumont  :Had the same problem. Disabled the Actiontek wireless, put in a Netgear WAP, problem solved. My Actiontek is downstream of my router/VOIP device through a switch. My third Actiontek in two years, I might add. Worthless drek, IMHO. If I didn't need it for the MOCA to the STB's it would be gone. Did a similar thing. I turned off the wireless in the Actiontech and attached the Trendnet WAP device. Problem solved as well as getting much faster Wireless N speeds with the Trendnet versus Wireless G with the Actiontech. |
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VirtualSlew
join:2008-01-18
Ambler, PA
 ·ooma
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to jefe
I had a similar problem with losing the wireless periodically. The devices would stay connected, but the wireless traffic was not being going anywhere. The only way to restore the wireless traffic was to reboot the router. I narrowed the problem down to one laptop that had an older Linksys B Card. For whatever reason, the Actiontec did not like the traffic coming from this card and would occasionally just lockup. Since I removed that B card from the network, I haven't had a problem. |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to jefe
More Fiber....no, I do not loose access on the other AP at the same time. But, then, the Actiontec is seeing that as a wired connection.
I do have a Rev. E router. And maybe I'll do that....just connect another WAP to the Actiontec. I hate to start trying to fix other things that aren't broken, and everything else is working well.
Drdumont...roger that. I would've left my own RVS4000 in place if I didn't need the Actiontec for TV too. As I said, I may do the same thing you did...another WAP.
VirtualSlew...you are describing my problem exactly...devices still connected but data not going anywhere. But I have my Actiontec set to wifi G only, and all devices connected to it are G devices.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I've been a little busy for the past few days, and will be for the next few, but I'll get back to working on this issue when I can. |
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rickpc
join:2009-07-06
Wylie, TX
| reply to jefe
Reading about your problem, I noticed you are using the wpa encrytion.
I wonder if the same problem exists if you use wep? You may know the answer to this already but regardless, if I had this problem, I would try the following.
Log into the router, go to advanced and then save your configuration file so you don't have to go through the setup again. That way you can just reload the config if this dosen't pan out for you.
After you've done that, do another hard reboot on the router. Leave it powered up, press in on the reset button for a minimum 20s (has a keep alive of 12s) and then let it come back up on its own. If after 2m, you don't have all your lights back up, turn off the router with the switch (again for 20s) and then power it back up.
Log back into the router and it should be back to the out-of-the-box settings. Log back into the router to make sure.
Check the wep key that is listed in the router under the wireless settings. You may find the wep key listed in the router uses lower case letters in the wep key. But on the outside of the router, the wep key is listed in UPPER CASE. These are not the same values but are close enough to make it work.......sometimes. And then it will drop the connection.
Make sure when you put in the wep key on your network devices, you match the case (usually lower case) that is IN THE ROUTER when you type it in on the device. The other thing that happens is that people will type in a o instead of a 0. Big difference although usually it won't connect at all if that happens.
Anyway, try it out and let us know how it works. I know its not the encryption type you want to use but lets see if this works. |
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More Fiber
Premium,MVM
join:2005-09-26
West Chester, PA
·Bay Area Internet ..
| @ rickpc
Mismatched encryption keys would not explain successful connection, then intermittant dropouts.
@[jefe]
As i was reviewing one of your earlier threads, I noticed you indicated you were running both APs on the same channel. Have you tried putting the APs on different channels to see if you still have the problem with an intermittant connection to the Actiontec. Use the same SSID with both APs and your PCs should pick up the stronger one.
I also noticed you said you would have liked to have kept your RVS4000 as your primary router. I'm sure you've read enough posts here to know that it is possible to run your own router with the Actiontec behind your own router. The best way to do that is with a cat5 connection from the ONT. However, I would not recommend using the RVS4000 as a primary router. According to smallnetbuilder.com, the RVS400 is only capable to 14Mbps download, which is not adequate for FIOS. |
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rickpc
join:2009-07-06
Wylie, TX | Actually, I see mismatched encryption keys every day that cause this exact problem.
No wish for a debate. Just trying to help.... |
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