Dropped internet connection while streaming from Netflix

[mattheww50]

I still think it is the router running out of memory. Contrary to what others have said, the router does have to store packets. It is just like any other node on a TCP/IP network. It has to hold onto the packet until the next node up the line has ack'ed sucessful receipt. TCP/IP does require that every sent packet be acknowledge, but to deal effectively with high speed transmission, and long propogation time, it can send the next packet, in fact it can keep on sending packets until the packet is ack'd. The packets do have to be ack'd in order, but It can take a long time. The obvious problem is at very high transmission rates, delays in ack of even due to just propagation delay can chew up a lot of memory in the router. The faster you make the connection, the faster the router will run out of memory, so making the connection faster will  make matters worse.

If this is in fact the case, the fix is a firmware upgrade to the router to rework buffer management, and neither will replacing the router if it has the same firmware and memory capacity.

One interesting experiment to try would be to have your ONT provisioned to be able to use the CAT 5 ethernet interface, and connect the PC directly to the ONT.

While it is configured that way, some other things may not work, but if the netflix streaming video works without the router, there is your answer. The PC has far more memory available for packets than the router. so is far more tolerant of long delayed acks.

[philhu]

What matthew2 says is right, I think, and is consistant with you raising your speeds and it happenning sooner.

The volume of packets stored before forward increased by double, causing the condition to happen sooner.

But, to rule out my idea, have them run a stress test on your line.....Easy and will rule out line corruption issues.

[Jaash]

flapbreaker,

I am having the same problems with my Netflix streaming.  I also have a new router in hand and hope that will fix the issue.

Unfortunately for me my connection drop is not based solely on Netflix streaming.  It happens quite frequently with no particular root cause that I can identify.

[flapbreaker]

Well, I received my new router but still have the same issues. Can't reach outside internet but intranet part still works. I really don't know what the issue is now. Again, this happens on my xbox too so I know it's not a Windows problem.

[skinnypuppy56]

I'm having same issue, waited my 30 minutes with Netflix support and that said "no idea" and that they are working on buffering issue. Has anyone got past this yet? Very frustrating and wonder what is up w/router to just drop like that?

JM

[flapbreaker]

Spent more time on tech support today and the only solution offered was to check and make sure my cables are connected tightly. What a joke. My next step is to see about running a new coax from the Verizon box directly to the router since all they did when they installed my service is patch into the old cable box. Maybe it's a wire issue?

[flapbreaker · Accepted solution]

I thought I'd post a follow up.  It turns out that the router that Verizon is using (actiontec) has a small NAT table. I don't understand it all but some applications can fill this up. It's not all a bandwidth issue though. Anyway, I never really got anyone at verizon to tell me this but after looking through the forums at dslreports.com it became quite clear that this is a known issue. Unfortunately with fios the solution may not be easy depending on how they set up your service. I had coax cable from the ONT (box on outside of house) to the router. Can't just replace the router with a better one since there are none that accept coax. So I ran my own ethernet cable out to the ONT and plugged it into the ethernet port out there. Then it took several phone calls to reach someone who could activate the ethernet port on the ONT (done remotely), basically you want to reach the "fiber solutions center".  Once they made the switch I was able to use my own router and no longer have the issue with netflix or Itunes. Hope this helps someone else.

[skinnypuppy56]

how did you access the ONT outside? all locked up? but after doing so you ran cat 5 cable for that to the inside to a wireless router and use that for internet and leave the actiontec in place for the TV side? did you disable anything in actiontec?

In terms of getting this done with Verizon Tech Support, we need more detail, they are stingy with helping anymore. what number did you call and what was the wording you used? i'm guessing they will say not suppoted so get lost.

JM

[flapbreaker]

You have access to part of the ONT. There's just a single screw to undo and then you can see the ethernet port. I am not sure how this would work if you have the fios TV service. I'm not sure if both ports can be active at the same time or not.  The number I called was 1-888-553-1555. It is difficult to get to the "fiber solution center" because there are no options. I usually chose options that said I wanted to make changes to my service.  I simply told them that I wanted to switch my internet connection over from coax to ethernet at the ONT and that the ethernet cable was already in place (I ran that myself). I initially still used the actiontec before switching over to my own router. It went pretty smooth but was having issues with completely getting a connection. Ironically it turned out that the ethernet port on the actiontec was faulty and I had to use my own router anyways.  You can avoid calling verizon to make the switch by posting in the following forum http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzdirect  this particular forum is monitored by verizon tech people, the actual ones that can do the switch. No one but you will have access to the post you make.  Also, you might try posting in the general verizon fios area http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiber regarding how to accomplish this when you have their TV service. You will see some posts about turning the actiontec into a bridge so you can use another router. This is not as easy though.  Hope this helps.  Kind of weird that there's no verizon techs helping on the verizon website huh?

[flapbreaker]

P.S.   They have no problem providing support even using my own router however I was told that they could not offer support if you were using the actiontec as a bridge to another router simply because there's just too much to trouble shoot.