Intermittent bad packet loss with RAX80

Question

Got the RAX80 last October and suffered through strange random sluggish internet problems for months - e.g. web sites would initially fail to load but then load on the 2nd or 3rd try, randomly. Finally started troubleshooting and discovered the issue (or one of them) was packet loss in the 10 - 25% range, sometimes. When things are working, 0% packet loss. Plugging directly into the cable modem (Netgear CM1200 with Wave Broadband in the CA bay area) during one of these episodes, there is no packet loss, no problems that I can see. It isn't the WiFi either - a wired connection to the router has the same packet loss when it's in that mood.

I have randomly found that the problem resolves, for a while, due to some kind of setting changes in WAN Setup but it is not deterministic. Disable Port Scan and DoS Protection is currently checked since I think doing that fixed it a while ago. Despite it probably not being a good idea, NAT Filtering is currently Open again because this seemed to fix it a while ago. The packet loss started again today though, so I randomly tried checking Disable SIP ALG. No packet loss currently. The thing is, none of these settings seems to definitely be causing or fixing it. It is stochastic. It may just be every Nth restart that fixes it, I don't know. It is maddening. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Recently updated to Firmware Version V1.0.3.98_1.0.46 but it was happening long before this, possibly since I first turned it on in Oct 2019.

I'm using EMCO Ping Monitor on my desktop to quantify the packet loss, and Ping Tool on an Android phone on WiFi (again, no discernible difference between wired and WiFi). For giggles, along with toggling various wireless settings, I also tried completely disabling the wireless radio under Advanced Setup/Wireless Settings, no effect. Toggling Disable SIP ALG, or that particular resulting restart, fixed it this time. For now.

Rudi

KariJackson · Answer

I am watching for someone to give you an answer because I have what seems like perhaps the same problem.

Beginning August 10th, I started having horrible internet performance (ethernet, not WiFi), off and on, with my brand new Nighthawk router that had been working beautifully since I installed it on May 3. Notice that it stopped working exactly 1 week after my phone support expired. My internet service provider (Optimum) had problems in my neighborhood that day, so at first I thought the problem was theirs. When Optimum's problem was fixed, mine was not. As soon as I returned to my old router, the problem vanished and I cancelled my Optimum service appointment.

I have since returned to the new router, and back to the old again, a few times, and every single time, the old router works well and the Nighthawk does not. I have a relatively reliable internet connection with the Nighthawk, but it's just that the packet loss is so common that I just cannot work productively. (I'm connected to my company's corporate network in Raleigh and have been working from home since April of 2019.) If I can't work productively with the Nighthawk, then I cannot use it. It was way too expensive to just stick on the shelf to use as a backup in case my main router dies. Which was what I did with the other router I bought in April that didn't really satisfy me, and thank goodness I did keep it for that purpose because I sure need it now!

I made a backup of the Nighthawk's settings, and did a factory reset. That didn't help so I restored the backup. I upgraded the Nighthawk's firmware, and that didn't help. I turned on QoS, that didn't help. Many times I have rebooted the cablemodem and router, that sometimes helps but only for a while. Most times it doesn't help at all. The old router works all the time and it was like one third the price. (On the other hand, the Nighthawk worked all the time, too, for the first 3 months + 1 week.)

My packet loss ranges from 10% to 60%, rarely 80% or 100% with "Ping request could not find host www.yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again" in between responses having only 10% packet loss. And there are spells with 0% packet loss too. With the old router, I sometimes experience 10% or 20% packet loss but without any of the loss in productivity, my Remote Desktop session communicates with Raleigh at perfectly acceptable speed.

JoeyH223 · Answer

I have also determined over the last few months that this router does cause packet loss. After replacing the router with other brands and working very closely with COX on an FCC complaint this router causes 2-10% until reset. Once reset it will resolve for a few hours then start dropping packets.

KariJackson · Answer

Yeah, I hereby rescind my apology to the RAX80, several days ago.&nbsp; I have had an Optimum internet problem intermittently which led me to believe that the rest was not the router's fault, but it is.&nbsp; The problems I have when the RAX80 has NOT been attached to the cablemodem since the cablemodem's last reboot, are very minor in comparison to the problems while the RAX80 is or has been attached.&nbsp; Also, the problems with the RAX80 have continued getting worse and worse.&nbsp; And I have now spent way more $$$ worth of my time, troubleshooting this thing, than the ridiulously high amount of $$$ I paid for it.&nbsp; Up on the top shelf of the closet is where it goes now, for use in case of absolute emergency.&nbsp;&nbsp;For several consecutive days I put the RAX80 back onto my network at 6PM and it dropped only a few packets.&nbsp; By 10:30PM some wifi devices in the house had lost connection, some of which stayed down all night.&nbsp; By 7AM I was losing so many packets even on ethernet-connected devices and even after rebooting the router, that my VPN connection to Raleigh was no longer usable so I had to disconnect the router from the cablemodem and plug my PC into the cablemodem directly.&nbsp; If I didn't reboot the cablemodem when I did that, then the packet loss continued (a lot less, but still bad).&nbsp; If I rebooted the cablemodem first, then very little packet loss all day, and connection to Raleigh behaved just fine all day.&nbsp; (As if the use of the router actually corrupts the cablemodem somehow???&nbsp; Seems nuts.&nbsp; But that's what the behavior seems to point to.)&nbsp;Whereas, if I reboted the cablemodem at 6PM and plugged the old tp-link router in instead, then for a couple of days no wifi devices got disconnected except the dropcam for very short periods, and packet loss was still there, rarely, but behavior of the VPN connection was flawless.&nbsp; The only reason I said "for a couple of days" is not because the problem started returning after that, but because that's when I would try putting the RAX80 back online.&nbsp;Same result on multiple iterations of that experiment.&nbsp; So I'm done.&nbsp; The RAX80 problem is much, much worse than the Optimum problem.

atomictortoise · Answer

That's really interesting - after hours of googling, I thought I might be the only one to ever experience this problem with the RAX line.&nbsp; When using the pinging app on my phone, I too find that it often aborts completely due to timing out.&nbsp; I find even packet loss around 10% to have significant consequences, e.g. pages sporadically not loading, apps like internet radio thinking I'm offline, but since the internet appears to remain connected overall and speed test apps still work, I was at a loss (couldn't resist pun) as to the problem for a very long time.&nbsp; I'd bet that many other RAX owners do have this problem but lack the technical knowledge to get even as far as us in troubleshooting.&nbsp; Hope someone has some advice.

KariJackson · Answer

Hey guess what!&nbsp; I found out that Optimum Online internet service has been giving these symptoms to dozens of people in the Stamford area even though they tell us that the problems (from tropical storm Isaias) have all been fixed.&nbsp; (Maybe hundreds or thousands, but most people just haven't figured out yet that the problem is not their own equipment.)&nbsp; So with that enlightenment, I tried the experiment a bunch more times, and started finding that indeed my old router has the problem too, not only the RAX80.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Like you said, each time you change a setting, there's a likelihood that it appears to fix the problem, but that's not due to the setting you changed, it's due to rebooting the router.&nbsp; A freshly rebooted router suffers less from the bad Optimum service, than a router that has not been rebooted recently.&nbsp; It was only coincidence, that it seemed to look like the other router didn't have the problem and the RAX80 did.&nbsp;I apologize for blaming you, RAX80.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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Intermittent bad packet loss with RAX80

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