XR500 Daily internet connectivity issues

[internetbroken]

I purchased my XR500 router a few months ago.

When I first configured my router I immediatly ran into issues with all of my devices. I learned quickly that in order for this router to function as expected everything needs a static IP or else I have problems. As a result, every device in my home as a static IP.

Over the past 2 weeks I've seen my internet connectivity drop daily. Its not that the internet is actually dropping, but rather the router is not properly routing traffic, as a result QoS is terrible. The behavior I see is as follows: I'm working on my computer, suddenly my internet goes from 5 bars down to 2 or 3 bars and websites stop fully-loading or take several minutes to load or fail. The only way to fix the problem is to power cycle the router, and this does not always fix the issue. Sometimes I need to power cycle twice in order to fix the problem.

I should note that I'm a seasoned IT professional with experience in networking, systems administration and application development. I've configured numerous devices/systems in both enterprise and home environments. After troubleshooting the router I believe there are inherinet problems in how it was developed which are causing the symptoms I'm seeing.

Firmware is up-to-date. I've also factory reset the router and reconfigured.

Any advice is appreciated!

[FURRYe38]

What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO and WMM.

[internetbroken]

This is using Verizon FIOS. There is no typical modem, just a FIOS box mounted the wall.

Channel is set to Auto. ***Is there a reason to change this other than avoiding congestion on a particular channel?

Beamforming and MIMO are already turned on.

I have only a few neighbors, there are not enough routers or devices to cause congestion on any channels.

To be clear this issue I'm experiencing is recent and has only been happening the past two weeks. This issue coincides with the addition of a new network printer. The printer is a Brother MFW-L3770CDW.

My gut tells me this issue is related to DHCP, either how reservations are stored in the router or how devices interact with router. I've seen similar network issues in enterprise environments and they were packet storms caused by bad configuration or old/unmanaged devices.

[FURRYe38]

Set a IP address reservation for the printer ON the router or set a static IP address ON the printer thats outside of the routers default IP address pool, i.e. 192.168.1.37.

Setting manual channel help lesson disconnects on wifi. Auto you will loose connect as the router maybe trying to find a better channel to use. 

Is the printer wireless or wire connected? 

[internetbroken]

I already have configured a reservation for the printer and printer settings are set to use a static IP which is the same as the reservation.

I will try changing the channel from Auto to another setting per your advise and will wait to see if I experience another disconnect.

[FURRYe38]

You can either use Static IP ON the printer or IP address reservation ON the router. Don't use both at the same time. 

[internetbroken]

I'm curious, why wouldnt I use both at the same time?

The printer requires an IP address to be entered in order to have a static IP.

Alternatively If I do not set a reservation for the IP address on the router then there is always a chance the IP address could be taken by another device.

[FURRYe38]

Ok lets explain this more. Static IPs are meant for being input ON devices only. These addressses need to be set out side of the routers IP address pool. So you may need to adjust this on the XR router as I believe the default Pool size is 1.2 thru .1.254. Set this to .100 to .200. So now if you set the static IP address ON the printer two 192.168.1.37, this will fall outside of the IP address pool. Also after this you don't need or would set a IP address reservation ON the router as the printer already has an IP address. This leaves the pool open for devices that are connected and gets and IP address from the IP address pool and can be reserved ON the router for those devices. 

This is normal networking standards and configurations. Do mix the static with reserved. It doesnt' work that way. 

[internetbroken]

I woke up today and sure enough my router had the same issue. I rebooted the router and now I have internet for the day.

If anyone from Netgear is reading this I would like a refund for this router. Bestbuy will no longer accept a return because it has been more than 15 days. I'm very upset that I spent hundreds of dollars on a router that needs to be rebooted daily and randomly stops working.

[internetbroken]

I tried plugging my laptop directly into my FIOS box and my internet speeds changed as follows:

6 Mbps via speedtest.net ON ROUTER

96 Mbps via speedtest.net WITHOUT ROUTER

I spoke with Netgear support and they are going to send me a replacement device. I'll update this post when I get the new device installed.

[FURRYe38]

Be sure to set up the printer correctly with the router. 

[internetbroken]

Printer is disconnected and issue persists.

[Netduma_Jack]

Let us know how you get on with the new device, hopefully this is just a hardware related problem.

[internetbroken]

If any netgear employees are monitoring this I was to express my extreme dissatisfaction with Netgear and the products.

I was offered a new device but in order to compete the swap I need to either provide a credit card number or return my existing device first. This is ridiculous, I'm not providing a credit card and if I return the existing device then I have no internet in my home office until the new unit arrives.

UPDATE:

Finally I was able to have some LUCK in this situation, the business I purchased the router from has agreed to let me return the device and swap it for one from a different manufacturer!! GOODBYE NETGEAR.

[FURRYe38]

Thats called a cross shipping RMA. They ask for your CC information in case you don't send back the bad unit. They would send you out a new unit and while you waited on the new new unit to arrive, you would keep the current one, when the new unit arrived, you would set up the new unit and THEN return the old unit. It's only for protecting there RMA process. This is normal for most any router Mfr do do this, expecially under warranty. Been doing this for years. You should look more into next time you have problems. Sounds like this was a mis-configuration issue. 

Good luck in your endeavours. 

[Netduma-Fraser]

Sorry to hear you're going elsewhere but Furry is correct above about the process you were told about.

[internetbroken]

Respectfully this is not a misconfiguration issue. Since day 1 every device has required a reservation in order to function properly on the network- this is not normal. Then there were the recent issues with the internet going down daily.

Have any of you googled "xr500 internet down"??? Pages and pages of results

[FURRYe38]

My XR is working for me. Has been since Day 1. 

Good Luck.