NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
CAX80 won't work at all on WOW Internet; firmware update ruined it
Here's the deal. I just got in the mail today a replacement from Netgear for my CAX80. (Hindsight says I may not have needed it, but here we are.) I am with WOW Internet as my ISP in Columbus, O...
My final update:
I re-reviewed ISP prices in my area. WOW is by far and away the best I can get for the monthly price. Nothing else compares at all. Staying with WOW is the intelligent decision.
I then bought a CAX30 at Best Buy (which, for all intents and purposes, is the model that is just a step down from the CAX80, and you'll see that if you do a side-by-side specs comparison.) The CAX30 supports 1GB speed, which is the plan I have, and it has all the functionality that I will need for a proper modem/router combo unit in my household.
I activated it with WOW a couple of hours ago, and I haven't had any issues to speak of in this very small sample time. I am getting the speeds that I should. I am surfing websites and streaming videos like normal. I guess the fact that it booted right up and worked right away was amazing to me in itself, after all the issues I was having with the CAX80. I will need more of a sample size to confidently say this, but the CAX30 is likely my final solution.
As I previously said, based on everything I have experienced, and based on others' experiences, I am convinced that WOW has done some sort of update to its system in the second half of November 2021 that somehow suddenly "bricked" the CAX80. But my patience in continuing to push the issue with WOW had worn very thin, because multi-hour calls were just draining, and you never could seem to talk to someone physically in the United States. There is definitely a disconnect between what WOW has done and what info the overseas call center has.
As for my CAX80 unit, and another CAX80 unit that Netgear sent me under warranty for free with nothing expected in return (don't ask me how that happened; it just did), in the next couple of days, I will be putting them up for sale on eBay. In doing so, I'll explain nothing is wrong with the units, but it was this ordeal with WOW, and that prospective buyers that have WOW should probably avoid this unit as it's confirmed not compatible right now, and may never be compatible ever again for all we know.
I am also operating under the idea that I will be losing money on this entire situation due to having to buy a different model unit, even with the fact I have two CAX80s to sell. I will try to speak to WOW customer service on the billing side to try and get an account credit for my troubles, given the amount of times I have called them.
I hope my thread has helped some of you find comfort and realize other people are going through the same thing. Whether some of you follow my lead in buying a different model unit, or decide to switch ISPs, or decide to continue the campaign to get WOW to understand, I wish you the best of luck. And I may keep up on this thread for a while until the activity simply dies down and it isn't posted in for weeks. Maybe I'll add a supportive comment or two, who knows? Otherwise, consider this the end of my active involvement in the issue, as hopefully, the CAX30 does not repeat history and I don't ever encounter my CAX80 issues ever again.
I find this interesting that the CAX30 has been working, though a short time being online, yet the CAX80 doesn't. I believe these two models are using same modem HW and router HW sans the wifi IS different between them and sans the multi-gig port is not available on the CAX30. Find it odd that WoW can't make the CAX80 work on there network or revert back to what had been working prior to Novemeber 2021. Ya think someone at WoW would see this. :smileyfrustrated:
I admit, I was expecting the same issue for the CAX30 because they're basically very similar on paper. I haven't tried a minute-long unplug, and can't right now because I am in a work seminar, but I have updated the router firmware, and it is still working properly. The unplug/replug will happen this evening as I place the unit in its normal spot with the wiring properly hidden for cable management purposes.
I will continue to monitor the CAX30, and if I have issues, I'll post them. I will be doing a lot of work seminars and streaming, so, I am pushing this unit right away. If there's going to be an issue in general, it will show up very quickly for me, but hopefully there won't be any issues.đ Thanks for the info and feed back.
I just wanted to chime in that i'm in the Chicago suburbs and I experianced a very similar issue to what is being reported here. I'm also on WOW.
Long story as to why I do this but without getting into the details, I run a CAX80 as my cable modem, in modem mode (Router-mode = no). Everything works perfectly fine. Every few months, i usually take a little bit of time to flip it back into router mode, update to the latest firmware, then then flip is back into modem mode again. Yes, i realize that is not necessary and that if the modem firmware does not change, i'll experiance no change, but for the sake of keeping things up to date, i like to update it every once in a while. That has served me fine since the day i got this modem but this time, i flipped it into router mode and it rebooted as usual...but then never really came back, i couldnt get an IP and was unable to access the unit. So i go and factory reset it, all the LED's indicate it's up and running...still dont get an IP. I started troubleshooting and i realized that if you time it right and do an ipconfig /renew right after the modem lights go solid, you'll get an ip and you can access 192.168.1.1...just long enough to complete the initial router setup via a browser (select that you dont have mobile device so that you can access the GUI in your browser). That allowed me to go back in a set it back to modem mode. Once i did that, it came up without issue and i was able to access again.
I realize that this does not help most people, most people do not have a router/modem combo only to use it as a modem, but i feel like it's worth mentioning that this works for me and should work for others to at least get you back online if this happens to you. You wont have wifi and will have to have a spare router in order to actually get wifi connectivity back, but...for those who dont have a spare modem lying around, this might at least help you get back online temporarily if you run into this.
My CAX80 on WOW is currently running:
Firmware Version
V2.1.2.6
Cable Firmware Version
V1.02.08I'm unable to actually upgrade to Firmware version 2.1.3.5 because in modem mode, you dont have the ability to flash the firmware and flipping to router mode make the device unusable. I tried flashing the firmware during that brief window that i mentioned above but every time, just before it finishes, i lose my connection to the modem as the amount of time it takes to upload the firmware is longer than the unit will function before going into 'brick' mode.
So while i dont have a solution for those of you wanting to use this as a router/modem, if you wanted to use it as a modem while this gets sorted out, you should be able to factory reset, watch for the lights to go solid and then quickly using a wired computer his 192.168.1.1, speed through the setup and flip it to modem mode in order to get it to function as a modem. When in modem mode, it seems to continue to work flawlessly, router mode is what turns it into a brick.
