Westell 7500 Makes My Head Want to Explode

[whowhawhere]

I posted on here before about a problem I was having with my Westell 7500 modem/router always dropping its connection at night. This is the first time I have been able to get on here for a while (for one reason or another) so I thought I would re-do my post and see if I can fix this one way or another.

My problem is this:

At night -- starting at various times -- my internet connection will constantly drop. And by constant, I mean as often as every 10 seconds. Most of the time when my connection drops it will not come back on its own, requiring me to shut the modem off for 30 seconds then restart it.

I have had DSL for a couple years and have had this problem almost the whole time. The strange part is that for seven months my connection was flawless. It never dropped. Ever.

I have tried calling Verizon's customer support, but we all know how worthless they are. They had me do something to reset the gateway that they obviously got off of some flip chart checklist. It did nothing. It seems my only options are trying to see if one of you will be able to help me out, calling Verizon and upgrading to a different, more expensive, service (which is probably what they want you to do anyway), or dropping Verizon all together and moving on to something else. Cable, perhaps.

So, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dslr595148]

#1 Get your own RJ-45 WAN Port router.

#2 Go to http://www.dslreports.com/faq/13600

Despite the name of the FAQ, it also applies to the Westell 7500.

#3 Follow the advise in the FAQ.

[whowhawhere]

So how will buying my own port router solve dropped connections?

[dslr595148]

I do not know that for sure, but I would think so.

[mechanics600]

Did the 7 month time frame without problems begin when the service was initiated or was it between the times you have had the problem?  Have you had a trouble ticket started via tech support?  I have called tech support many times and usually get someone who can intelligently answer questions and help with some persistance so don't give up too soon.  You can request some line quality testing during the time you are experiencing the problems.  You may simply have a modem which has problems and may request a replacement and return the one you now have. There also havebeen some issues with firmware updates so you may try this avenue first.  There are some considerations regarding line quality and distance from the central office which may be the issue.

[whowhawhere]

The 7 month period without problems happened between times where I have had a problem. The period without problems actually ended with my connection going out completely and not coming back on no matter how many times I rebooted the modem/router. I had to call Verizon to get my connection back, and when it came back it was back to this problem.

I've called Verizon's tech support several times since signing up for DSL and they have had me run through the same "fix-it" solution every time. I have also tried to request a new modem but it has been like pulling teeth for some reason.

The strange thing about the possibility of the problem being caused by a faulty modem or line quality or distance from the central office is that it begs the question of why did my DSL work so perfectly so suddenly for seven months.

I'm just very confused by the whole thing and fed up with Verizon's customer service (or my experience with it, at least).

[mechanics600]

I agree that it appears not to be logical to have this problem come back after such a long period of good service.  Since Verizon did something to get you up again it infers there is some issue with them.  You deserve an answer as to what they fixed and if any specs are borderline for the service you have.  Have you been able to get a service tech to your location?  I have experienced having a number of them to resolve issues and you need to find one who really can help.  A good tech can verify everything from your location and check that there are no losses at your modem jack.  The Verizon tech line can also pull up the trouble ticket which resulted in you having the service restored.  I am in MA and have no FIOS option yet because of the cost to string all the necessary cable, so ASDL or the cable company are my only options.

[whowhawhere]

We tried calling to get a service tech to check things out when we first started having this problem but instead were forced into dealing with tech support. Haven't tried this go around, mostly because it's difficult to find a time when someone will be here. It becomes the question of which would be easier: waiting for a time when I know someone will be here in order to have a technician take a look at things, or just biting the bullet and upgrading to a better package in the off-chance that might do something?

The unfortunate thing is that where I live (also in MA) there are few other options. Switching to AT&T is out of the question since they don't offer DSL in my area yet, so my only options aside from piggybacking off of my neighbors wireless (which I can only get in one specific spot in my house rendering the mobility of a laptop useless) are Verizon and cable.

[mechanics600]

I have had issues requiring the visit of a field tech and have fortunately found them to be fairly punctual as to the time estimate I had been given.  It appears that for any service one requires, a four hour window is given for the time of visit. You probably will need to be available to get this finally resolved.  One of my calls to support connected me to someone in Canada who was able to do some line testing to verify a problem existed and pulled a trouble ticket to get the tech to visit.  Do you have a neighbor who could loan you the use of another modem for a few hours?  Then at least you would have additional data to analyze.   

[Mikhail]

If you login into your modem and go to Advanced/Advanced Status/System Logging when your connection is down and post it here then we can try to see if there is anything pointing toward your problem.