Issues with G3100 Losing Connection

[Cang_Household]

Can you give us more information to help you troubleshoot the G3100/E3200? Can you post System Logs (with identifiable information redacted of course) when the issue arises?

[CloverGirl17]

SAME here!!  I've been on with Verizon more than a DOZEN times and now they want me to purchase or rent an extender!!  I purposely upgraded to the gig because it was the most powerful router they had, and they assured me when I purchased it that I would have absolutely no issues with my service.  Both my daughter and I work from home right now ... it is super frustrating!!  We've both been on calls where we are dropped.  Not okay!!  They can't figure it out ... I'm on my second router.  I'm about to pack it up and send it all back and move to Comcast!!  I'm so extremely frustrated.

[Cang_Household]

I am sorry for your inconvenience. But, in order for me and other CLs to help you,  please give us a more detailed description of your problem.

Call-drops can be caused by many reasons. For example, using a wireless connection instead of a wired one inevitably introduces instability to your network. From the nature of WiFi, it requires regular encryption key exchanges to ensure the security of data transfer over the air. When your device and the router are negotiating a new encryption key from time to time, your connection may be dropped for a brief moment. This factor can be eliminated if you wire an Ethernet cable from your device to the router. Otherwise, it will remain a potential problem regardless of what Internet Service Provider you choose.

Another possibility is that you left the Self-Organizing Network (SON) feature enabled on your router. If you have legacy wireless devices, SON may cause instability on WiFi. To eliminate this possibility, simply turn off SON on your router.

Switch to Comcast is unlikely to improve your situation for several reasons. First, I believe Comcast uses cable technologies instead of 100% fiber optics. Cable technologies introduce more latency than optical transceivers. For latency-sensitive applications, such as video/audio calls, you want to minimize latency. Second, Comcast does not offer symmetrical upload speeds. I believe Comcast only advertises its download speed (from the Internet to your home), not its upload speed (from your home to the Internet). When you are in a call, you not only want sufficient download bandwidth for receiving other's video feed and audio feed, but also adequate upload bandwidth to send your video feed and audio feed to others.

If you have more questions, I am happy to help.

[harley8004]

I seem to miss something with this fix. If the G3100 is having issues and the solution you're suggesting is to do all this work around, then why keep the G3100? Obviously, there's a problem that Verizon needs to address immediately with this router.  Just saying

[harley8004]

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@Zoar wrote:

Harley, Did you get a replacement 3100?  When they sent me one, I noticed that the bios version on my original one was older than the new one.   Maybe that update contributed to my 'fix'.  

If you haven't, maybe you need to try a replacement router.  Yours could just be defective.

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Sorry for the long delay. I did get another G3100 and it did the same thing the original one did, 2.4 GHz service would stop working (SON on or off) then rebooting the router fixes the problem temporarily. I reverted back to the G1100. Verizon still hasn't as I look through the posts, resolved the issue of the G3100 dropping packets. Did any also notice you can't make configuration changes that is port forward on this router? Just saying the G3100 is broken. For now, I'll keep the G1100 online. I don't know what the software version was on the original and the second router isn't powered on to prevent issues on the network. Once I recover from surgery and can get around the house again, I'll revisit this.

[Cang_Household]

I mean, all G3100 in the Verizon network virtually have the same firmware. If so many customers are having issues, I would expect the engineering team to fix the issue in a few days.

One thing I am certain is that G3100 does not work well with legacy wireless devices without special configuration. I believe G3100 broadcasts 802.11ax on its 2.4GHz band as well. So, if the clients are not coded to avoid the 802.11ax protocol, it could lead to problems. Many Broadcom wireless chipsets are 802.11b/g/n, they are not capable of dealing with 802.11ax's appearance.

Why don't you screenshot your Wireless Settings page so we the CLs can take a look?

[BruceCW]

I'm arriving to this party late, but I too have been suffering through these similar issues for about the past year. After running into multiple issues with 2.4G connection issues after loading in 20 or so smart lights and google speakers we moved to the G3100 which was great for a short amount of time. A few weeks into it we started to experience a complete loss of the 2.4G signal, while the 5G stayed up. Doing some research online I came across the disable SON approach, so we disabled it and it has been ever since. It didn't fix the problem. I've tried choosing my own channel, limiting its spectrum, and a handful of other options on the router admin pages. After 6 months or so of only being able to resolve the drop of the 2.4G connection every few days I finally got into chat with Verizon who reluctantly sent me a new G3100 a couple months ago. At least it seemed it was a reluctant step for them. Well, the new router showed up in a new black box with a ver 2.XXXX firmware over the old 1.XXXX firmware. Yes, the old one had been updated during the troubleshooting as well. Just identifying what each shipped with. As of a couple days ago, I have lost the 5G service twice. Once concurrently with the 2.4G and the other separately. The first time the 5G was lost (with the 2.4G going down as well), the router displayed the RED circle.  I resolved that with a power cycle. That has been the only time the RED circle has been displayed. During all other 2.4G and the one 5G loss, the RED circle was not displayed, it's remained WHITE. We had amber once a few months ago during a weekend afternoon, but that was supposedly due to Verizon work on a nearby trunk line. VZW hotspots saved the kids from meltdown on that one, lol. 

After receiving the replacement router, I had to get back into chat to request a return shipping label since I never received one earlier and it did not come in the box as I was told it would via the chat session to replace the original. With that chat session closing without a label being provided since it was supposedly included in the box (why couldn't they just email me a link to a new one?) I took it to the local Victra location. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised to see 4 of the 6 other people in the store returning G3100s, but I was. The person at the counter said they have been receiving G3100s as customer returns for at least the previous 6-8 months on a regular basis. I guess I'm glad I didn't choose to buy the router for 299.99 and have only lost about about 150 at this rate. Unless I can figure something out to correct the G3100 issues, I plan to try out an ASUS AX router or some other brand of AX router that is designed for multiple devices. When I get home, I can provide more details if needed. In the meantime, here is what I can gather off the top:

-Fios service: 1Gbps

-Router: G3100

-Home is wired with CAT 6. When wireless service drops, the LAN still works. 

G3100 has two of its LAN ports going to two multi-port switches supporting the home network. One other LAN port is used for an old NAS drive. 

-When either wireless service drops, I have been able to restore it by cycling it on/off in the router admin page. If I try to cycle via the Fios cell app, it cycles the whole wireless network. 😞 

-5G connected wireless laptop hosts an ARK server. Port forwarding is setup for it to accommodate a few TCP and UDP ports for the game. 

-Wired connections: Usually around 5/26 ports active at anytime. Many of the ports are not utilized. I just ran 2 or 3 to each room as a just in case. 

-2.4G connections: Up to 19 on a regular basis consisting of lights and other smart home products, and google speakers. I guess those can be considered smart home products too. Most of the lights and plugs are 2.4G b/g/n only. Maybe the 3 or 4 GE branded lights have 5G and/or ac capability, but I don't recall having that option when setting them up. 

-5G connections: Maybe 5-10 at anytime to include one of the LG google hubs. 3 smart TVs are LG ThinQ branded, linked to the main phone app via the 5G spectrum. One Chromecast is being used on an older Vizio. It has only recently had an issue when the 5G spectrum died, so I guess it relies on the 5G for access. 

-SON is set to off. Some of the lights don't like SON when it's enabled as well. 

-WPA2 is being used. WMM is on. 

-Router channel scanner shows minimal devices from neighbors on separate channels from my own for the most part in the 2.4G spectrum, and no interference in the 5G spectrum. 

-I believe all of 'heavy' traffic is happening via wired/5G connections. All streaming platforms are wired or on the 5G spectrum.  

-There is no COAX connection. We only have the Fios Gigabit service. We get TV service through an antenna in the attic. Maybe I should have taken Verizon up on their offer to test out 2Gbps service at $149.99 a month when I had the chance, but who knows what kind of headaches could've been occurring with using their test equipment. 

--Service history: A tech has been out to the house twice in the past year. First time he replaced the ONT and mentioned it was originally installed incorrectly with a power supply adapter at the ONT even though it was apparently functioning properly according to his test equipment. He removed the battery backup in the basement since there is no phone service and changed the adapter leading to the ONT in its box on the outside. He was asking about the wireless load of the house compared to the wired load while looking at the setup in the basement and recommended moving to the G3100 over the G1100 if I was planning to have more than 10 wireless devices. Maybe it was an upsell. I am only as smart on this network stuff as I have time to read up on, and that only works if I understand it.... OFDMA???

-Second service visit resulted in nothing. The tech didn't even attempt to troubleshoot since he wasn't aware of what I describing. Different than the first guy. I wasn't charged for either visit, so I guess that's a win. 

--Other, potentially useless information: Power is provided from the 120V plug in the basement to the ONT. The router is plugged into a 10 year old (maybe older) surge protector power strip. So is other network equipment such as the ARLO hub, NAS, and downstairs network switch. I plan to change out the surge protector since I recently read it's probably not capable of protecting from a surge anymore if one were to happen and the network equipment may benefit from being on an UPS with a pure SINE wave generator(?). It's not cheap, but if it'll help I'll give it a go. The wall socket the ONT is plugged into is OG for the 90s era house and is one of the few sockets I didn't swap out when we bought the place. There's no sag in the plug, but that is due to the wire being suspended from the joist. It probably wouldn't hurt to replace the socket so it has plug retention capability again, or just run that wire to the future UPS location as well. 2.4G and 5G signal is fairly consistent throughout the house even though the router is located near the center of the house in the basement. Well, that is if the 2.4G service is functioning. The weakest signal strength is found on the extreme edges of the bedrooms where there are no items requiring Wi-Fi. We have two Ring cams fixed to trees in the front and backyard that connect without issue. The ARLOs use their own hub without issue.  

Please let me know what you think about my issue with the 2.4G and now 5G spectrums completely going offline. I have rebooted and reset the G3100 router multiple times and have tried removing different brands of smart devices in between resets to see if they were the culprits all without success. The 2.4G might last 24 hours on a good run, though usually averages 10 hours before dying. The IT department at work believes the first step is to change the router with a different brand, but I thought I'd ask here first... well, about a year later. lol. I only inquired with our IT department about this a week ago though as well. It seems like all the well-rated multiple device AX/E routers are upwards of $300, so it'd be nice to know if it's an actual G3100 issue, or operator error somehow. 

Thanks for your time. 

[Cang_Household]

Thank you for your detailed feedback.

But to resolve your issue, did you see any error logs on G3100 when the 2.4GHz band is not working? If you do, can you show them with us with personal identifiable information redacted?

[chrstfltch]

I finally had to make an account on here to explain the issues and what I think it could be. So we recently upgraded to this router and have had the same exact issue. Usually when the connection drops, it is noticed because the light on the router turns to an amber looking color. After trying to troubleshoot it I think it has something to do with the wireless technology in the router as well. After I disabled the 5GHz, everything was completely stable and there were no more drops. But recently we obtained new devices that can be connected to the network and once these new devices entered the network I can see the issue happening again. After disconnecting these devices, the connection goes back to being stable. It has to be something with the wireless functionality. 

[Cang_Household]

Thank you chrstfltch for your insight. Are those "new devices" IoTs with 2.4G 802.11b/g/n wireless standards? If at all possible, may you find out what wireless chipsets do those devices use? I may be able to consult the manufacturers regarding any hardware/software incompatibilities. Thanks.