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Forum Discussion
N450 WiFi keeps disconnecting
Hello,
So I bought my Netgear N450 WiFi cable modem router on April 30, 2015 and in the past month I've been having WiFi connection problems. The internet works just fine, but for some reason the WiFi keeps disconnecting to any devices relying on it such as cell phones, ipads, roku etc. There will be times when I'll search for the WiFi network, and ours won't even show up. I've pretty much had to reset the router everyday and it just seems to be getting worse.
I've tried contacting Netgear but because my item is over 90 days, they pretty much said google it and hope you find the answer. I've tried contacting squaretrade, where I got my warrenty, and they just took me back to Netgear.
If anyone has had this problem, what did you do to fix it? It would be greatly appreciated.
71 Replies
Its bad on both on mine, wired and wireless. Anyways i bought a new router/modem and everything works smooth now. Sadly cant use this router anymore as it seems.
Looks like I’ll will just have to attach another wireless router, to this modem. Anyone know where to go to make the modem into “Modem” mode only. Looked around in setting but didn’t see any setting.
Thanks…
I am having this same issue. It started within the last 2 weeks. I'm suspecting it is due to a TWC firmware upgrade to the router as the interface looks different than the last time I had to manage the router. It's currently running the same version as other users are indicating.
I initially reset the wireless and rebooted the router and the devices would reconnect. Eventually within a day or two they disconnect and we have to repeat the process. This morning I tried changing the channel selection from auto (had selected channel 1) to selecting a channel 7. This did not work and in fact increased the rate of disconnect.
I contacted TWC internet support. They started a remote support session with me. They started broadcasting the SSID and changed the channel to 11. When I asked why they chose this channel they said for 2.4 band routers they should utilize channels 1, 6 or 11. I will monitor and follow-up if this works (I'm a bit skeptical) :)
good news folks, see here for a potential solution, bless the person who brought it online and good luck !!!
I work in IT so in addition to multiple factory resets, I have tried every possible combination of the settings, fiddling with firewalls, tracing wires out to the street, comparison with known good alternate routers (which work fine). Everything is pointing to the netgear N450 as the culprit, and the older posts that say this issue started after a firmware update seem like a smoking gun.
- I can confirm that simply performing a factory did not fix the issue. Disabling the wifi afterward did (of course, as it was the problematic part), but that defeats the point of purchasing a wireless / modem combo.
Joined to say I'm suffering from the same issue, and I'm convinced it's the firmware. I bought the N450 in mid June and it worked great for ~3 months. 90 days. After that point, the N450 drops my connection. Wifi stays up and all my devices stay connected, but they won't get online.
Contacted TWC/Spectrum — they've reset the signal dozens of times, and I've had techs visit 3 times and confirm my signal is perfect. Factory reset works for an hour, then it falls back into quitting every 30mins to an hour.Fix the problem, Netgear.
In a hilarious turn of events, my wifi's been rock solid since this past Sunday. My replacement Motorola router arrived Monday.
Let's see how this pans out.
- I performed the factory reset as described in the post by bobbye. No issues since doing that 2+ weeks ago
My N450 is having this same issue. Massive ping spikes once every 1-2 minutes which wont stop until I reset the power. After reseting the power the lag spikes subside for a couple hours then the ping spikes happen again.
The amount of people posting about this same problem prove that this problem is Netgears fault.
I WILL NEVER PURCHASE A NETGEAR PRODUCT AGAIN.
I've been experiencing the wifi disconnect issue as well. Noticed the issue after receiving the firmware upgrade (V3.01.06). I tried resetting the modem as suggested in the other post on this issue that reports resetting the modem as the fix. It seemed to improve a bit afterward but I may not have been paying close enough attention as it now has disconnected all devices again today.
However, there is another disturbing issue that I've noticed in my logs, I'm seeing remote access to my modem on the SNMP port (161) from IP's emanating from Russia, Sweden, Israel, and the like. This is extremely troubling as it points to a remote vulnerability in the firmware that is probably being exploited by hackers. I suspect that my modem may be geting commandeered for a botnet or worse. Not sure if this is related to the wifi issue but it may be. For those of you experiencing the dropped wifi - can you please check your logs to see if your modem is being remotely accessed on port 161? If so, please report back. Thanks.
If there is a vulnerability in the SNMP stack of the N450 Netgear needs to fix this asap as owners have no control over the WAN facing side of the N450 (which I'm not happy about) so we are vulnerable as long as they don't address this.
BTW - if you see foreign IP's remoting into your modem, you can check there country of origin by doing an IP lookup (google that) on them. Hope this helps.
Hi Johnny,
I'm having this problem too. I posted about it a couple days ago, but got no response. Here's the post.
N450-CG3000dv2 "LAN access from remote"
Hopefully this will get resolved soon.
Robin
Same problem as so many others.
Using N450 with mainly apple products and Time Warner. Wireless simply locks up and stops responding every 10 - 15 minutes, especially when surfing accross many different sites. Interestingly, streaming to a smart TV to watch netflix seems to be immune to these locks. Firmware Version V3.01.06. Turning wireless off and on again sometimes jogs it back to life but most times the router needs to be turned off and on again to restore wifi. What a waste of money and endless source of frustration.
Netgear... fix this or recall this model.
Also... reseting to factory defaults helps for about a day, then the router goes right back to disconnecting every 10 minutes.
Guess what? Same issue. Every 14-16 packets there is a lag spike during ping tests AND intermittent request timed out issues. The device worked fine for the first six months I had it, but once I received the firmware update it has been nothing but trouble.
I thought I was going crazy until TWC came out on the third try and said it was the modem/router combo.
They replaced it with one of theirs, and lo and behold, the issue disappeared.
Netgear, either fix it the firmware with the ISP or I would like this replaced under the one year warranty. This is ridiculous.
I also believe my VERY frequent disconnects started with new firmware pushed out by TWC (I don;t think Netgear has the capability to do that, and I have not taken ay action for firmware change on my own).
I got helped from TWC agent twice. The first time, the guy sends signals to the cable modem and claims it should work find. Did not. The second time, the guy had me reset the N450 and claimed that will fix the issue, and it has not. I think both Netgear and TWC likely share the blame - Netgear for creating a faulty update, TWC for using it without testing, and both for failing to solve the problem so long.
I hope someone from Netgear support is checking these forums and complaints...I have realized 90-day customer support is insufficient, and my former LinkSys Wifi Routers were a lot more reliable, so I am unlikely to buy any device with 90-day customer support in future.
Update on the above.
After two more interactions:
- My first reset of pressing the reset button for 10 sec might have been inadequate; need to press button for a full minute for reset.
- Reset still did not improve situation much
- TWC agent said there was poor S/N ratio, or too much noise or poor signal in TWC signal into my house (suddenly?)
- Situation has improved and there are still disconnects, but fewer. A TWC technician was to visit hom, for now I have deferred that visit
I am a reasonable consumer who almost never complains about any product no matter how awful it is, I typically just decide not to buy from that manufacturer again, but I have become so livid with netgear that I am now absolutely ready to make it my life's work to cost them as much money as possibe at any cost of time or legal expenses to me personally.
The N450 is defective, Netgear knows it, and they are still selling it. That's reprehensible, and if they think there will be no legal consequences to that, they are living in la-la land.
In the unlikely event that readers of this forum ever hear back from netgear, do not listen to any of their "support" team's excuses or attempts to fob you off with a replacement unit of the same model, becasue the replacement will certainly be just as crap as the one you have now. The problems with this router are not limited to a few isolated machines, it's a systemic issue that probably affects 100% of units used with most cable internet providers. The Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act specifies that you can opt for a refund instead of a replacement. Feel free to look up the relevant US laws: 16 C.F.R. Part 700.