Re: N450 with Time Warner Cable

cjacks · ‎2016-08-15

I was told by Time Warner Cable that this modem is supported by them. After purchase, however, they said they will not actually touch the router, but rely on me (the owner) to make any changes (firmware, troubleshooting, DNS, etc). When I ask Netgear, I am told that this model is locked down for ISP use and cannot be update by the owner. Each respective company is pointing me to the other, meanwhile I cannot update to the latest firmware, nor update to DNS servers that are required for my internal applications to work most efficiently (simply using Google DNS 8.8.8.8).

Very poor catch 22 by both companies. Please work with Time Warner to remove any Netgear from the approved "bring your own device" list that the owner cannot administer. Poor planning.

TWC Internet compatible modems

Netgear N450 CG3000Dv2 4 100Mbps
https://www.timewarnercable.com/content/dam/residential/pdfs/support/internet/twc-compatible-modems....

If there is a way to unlock this modem, I would love to know. Even if it is a Command Line guide to make some simple changes and update firmware, that would make this modem useful and not a doorstop.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

DarrenM · ‎2016-08-18

Hello cjacks

All modems that you use on a cable connection are locked down like this Netgear sends the firmware updates to the ISP they then approve it and makes changes they see fit and then push out the firmware when they want to release it. This goes for all brands with cable modems.

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25477?cid=wmt_netgear_organic

DarrenM

cjacks · ‎2016-08-18

Well, talk to TWC/Spectrum about that.. as they said they will not push out any firmware, nor assist with settings in a customer owned modem. Seems counterintuitive.

Going to poll some other manufacturers, as I would like to use Google DNS servers, rather than TWC's, as well (much faster/responsive).

Thank you for the response.

Chris

Mydogsdad · ‎2016-11-06

I get the same response from TWC/Spectrum. They are wrong and they are supposed to push firmware (including to customer-owned modems). Just nearly impossible to get someone who understands that.

JB51 · ‎2016-12-08

I had the same issue with TWC and the N450 requiring a few reboots per day. It was both a WIFI issue and Ethernet issue.

After wading through various levels of supervision with TWC, I think I understand the process. Netgear provides the firmware update to TWC, who pushes it out to subscribers as required by the FCC. So the 3.01.06 update came to TWC from Netgear and obviously there is an issue of some kind.

That being said, the hard reset process worked great for me – going strong for about two weeks now (typically 235 Mbps with 200 Mbps service).

Note: if you do the hard reset with your PC turned on, your gateway passwords (old and possibly the default) may not work (my case). After rebooting my PC the default gateway password worked fine. Performance is actually much faster than that realized after the constant reboots of the router.

chmng · ‎2016-12-17

I have been having similar issues with my N450 since about two months ago. Called Time Warner a couple times and was given the run around. They suggested it might have been wireless interference, and the second time they pushed a DOCSIS reset onto my modem, promising that would once and for all fixed all my issues. But it didn't. The real problem is everytime you call Time Warner, they waste more of your time without really solving any issue.

After eliminating all the possible wifi issues, I knew it was either a problem with the line coming into the house or it must be a problem with the modem itself -- I just didn't know which. So I bought a TP-Link cable modem and plugged it into the line. That worked perfectly fine. So the N450 was the problem. Did the modem just start misbehaviing after just a few months of service? Possible. Not likely though.

Because of the timing of this, I had a hunch it was related to Time Warner but I didn't know how. May be they changed their equipment with the Spectrum merge and that affected the interoperability of the N450 with their hardware. I tried to look for a firmware update for the N450 online. To my surprise, the Netgear forums all suggest that cable companies have the power to push firmware onto modems that are owned by their clients, which also means that I as a Time Warner customer cannot update the firmware in my N450.

Knowing it is must have been a bad firmware updat, I googled "Netgear N450 firmware time warner" and found this link , as well as a few others on the Netgear forum about the same issue. Finally, the recommended "hard reset" solutiion did finally my issues. Thanks to the community and everyone for raising this issue and providing a solution for it.

This issue has caused me I don't know how many hours of frustration in the last two months. I am a scientific programmer and have a tech background, but it still took me two months to finally stumble on this solution. What about the many other Time Warner customers who were not so lucky and are still stuck with this problem?

So here is my message to Time Warner (now Spectrum): (1) If this is a known problem with this particular modem after Time Warner pushed a firmware update onto a modem that I own, why can't they be competent enough to idenfity this issue when I called instead of wasting everyone's time chasing down a known problem, (2) Will Time Warner leave all those other clients who have the same modem but either don't have the means or don't know where to find the solution out in the cold, by not disclosing this issue and the fix? I don't know how many Time Warner customers have a N450, but that looks like it could be the basis of a class action law suit.

cjacks · ‎2016-12-17

I got fed up and purchased a TR Link Modem, as well. Works great and very fast!

Chris