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Forum Discussion
medicalschoolhq
Aug 27, 2021Aspirant
Orbi RBK852 Drops Connection Everyday
I have an Orbi RBK852 system connected to a Comcast 1gb modem. My system loses connection to my Comcast modem about once a day, requiring me to go into the app and reboot the Orbi. The modem never se...
CrimpOn
Aug 28, 2021Guru - Experienced User
medicalschoolhq wrote:
My system loses connection to my Comcast modem about once a day, requiring me to go into the app and reboot the Orbi....
. Thoughts on what to troubleshoot?
I do not own one of the new 'AX' Orbi's, so this may not be useful advice....
Do these service interruptions match up with when the IP address lease is due to expire?
i.e. on the Orbi web interface, the Advanced Tab home page, click on the blue box "Connection Status".
This will show how long the IP lease granted by the ISP was for and how long before it is due to expire. (take the current time and add this duration to get the approximate time when the lease will expire).
What is supposed to happen according to the DHCP standards is that the Orbi will begin requesting to renew the lease when it is half expired. For example, Spectrum grants my Orbi an IP for one day (technically 86,400 seconds). When about 43,200 seconds remain (12 hours), my Orbi sends a DHCP request to renew the lease and Spectrum gives me another 24 hours. This is all explained in the standards documents and a Wikipedia page has good presentation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol
DHCP relies on UDP packets, which are not guaranteed to be delivered. I have this crazy notion (and I appear to be the only person who has this thought), that some ISP's do not perform this function as well as they should. If the full lease period expires without the ISP granting a new lease, the device must quit using the IP address, and thus has no access to the internet.
Rebooting the Orbi causes the DHCP process to start from nothing.
Before going down this rabbit hole with me, it would be useful to determine if there is any consistent relationship between when your Orbi drops the internet connection and the time when the DHCP lease expires. If so, (as Sherlock would say) "The game is afoot."
If not, I have wasted your time and not provided any help.
- medicalschoolhqAug 28, 2021Aspirant
Wow, this is probably one of the best explanations and seems logical. I'll see what happens. According to router, the lease expires in 3+ days. That doesn't bode well the issue since the drops are much more frequent. I'll post back with how the day goes today.