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Constantly have to reboot modem

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mmollinet
Sophomore

Constantly have to reboot modem

I just had my HughesNet HT1000 modem replaced this week with a new HT1100 modem.  Since then I keep losing my internet connection and have to reboot the modem by unplugging it and plugging it back in order to regain connectivity.  Often 2 or 3 times a day. An enormous pain in the neck. This is in a vacation home so we are not always there, but we still occasionaly remotely access things in the home through the internet when we are away, such as our thermostats and security cameras.  The connectivity problem happens randomly when we are there at the house and also at other times when we are not there (we know because our security system sends a message saying it has lost broadband connection). It isn't due to weather.

We had this same problem a year or so ago with the HT1000 modem and an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router.  We never determined the source of the problem even after multiple lengthy tech support calls with both HughesNet support and Apple support.  HughesNet tech support would blame Apple's router and Apple's tech support would blame HughesNet's modem.  Extremely frustrating as a customer stuck in the middle wasting hours on support calls trying to find an answer.  It was never resolved.  We did eventually update to the latest Apple Airport Extreme wireless router and that partially solved the problem. It still would happen about once every weekend when we were at the house, but that was more tolerable than 2 or 3 times every day.  Thankfully it never happened again when we were away from the house accessing systems remotely.  

But now with the new HT1100 modem installed this week, we are right back where we were before with the same problem.  Our Apple Airport Extreme wireless router is the latest version and only about 1 year old.  The HughesNet modem is brand new this week.  They are connected in exactly the same way they were before.  All devices connected to the router are exactly the same as before.  What is going on? We need reliable internet connectivity and it is maddening having to constantly reboot the modem several times a day.  If we are away from the home obviously there is no way to do that, so we lose all remote connectivity for days or weeks until we are there again.  I am reluctant to even try calling tech support for fear we are going to go through the same issue again with HughesNet blaming Apple's router and Apple blaming HughesNet's modem.  Not to mention hours of my time wasted on calls with people I can barely understand who take forever repeating everything I say and clearly have very limited technical expertise and are just reading from protocol troubleshooting scripts.  Please help.
16 REPLIES 16
Chris11
Alum

Hi mmollinet,

Welcome to the community and thanks for posting! Are you still at the location? Looking forward to your reply.

Thanks,
Chris
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

I know it may seem obvious but have to ask if you have tried another Ethernet cable? A bad one can cause lots of strange things. Especially since experiencing the same issue with different modems.
Mark8
New Member

No, I am not currently at the location.  So ability to troubleshoot limited until I get back up there.  I was looking for some general ideas to try before I get stuck on a 2 hour tech support call with HughesNet with someone I can barely understand.

It is currently plugged into a surge protector. But we had the same problem in the past when it was plugged directly into the wall.
Mark8
New Member

I have not tried that. Although this is a brand new Ethernet cable.
bdvvdd12
New Member

Some of those "brand new" ones are not the greatest. I've seen some pretty terribly made cables. I buy Cat6, its a few dollars more but is generally a thicker cable stand and lasts a bit longer.
Chris11
Alum

Hi Mark,

We'll have one of our representatives form corporate call you to get this resolved. You will have to be on location to at least get your system up so we can connect remotely. What is a good day and time for us to contact you? Looking forward to your reply.

Thank you,
Chris
Mark8
New Member

Since it is a vacation home, I am not yet certain when we will be back there.  I can let you know when I know.  Would this be some other, more experienced tech support representative from corporate or just the same inexperienced ones that take hours of my time reading from their support protocol scripts and repeating everything I say because we can't understand each other? If it is someone more skilled that can actually communicate clearly, that would be great.  If it is the same help I'm going to get just calling in, then I guess I will have to do that and suffer through the insanely long phone call.  Please let me know. 
Chris11
Alum

Hi Mark,

Our corporate office in Maryland with representatives who work closely with engineers and departments of all levels. We mainly want to touch base with you to set up a time that is convenient for us to help you get your site back up and running. I understand it is a vacation home so the "when" is not known to you yet.

So, you can always wait and post back in this thread when you know you'll be heading to this vacation home. Then from their we'll contact our engineers who can work to resolve this for you. Once your site is up, there's actually not much you'll need to do. We can take care of it all remotely.

- Chris
Mark8
New Member

OK. Getting it up and running is not difficult.  I just have to unplug the modem and plug it back in. Keeping it up and running so I don't have to keep doing that is the problem. So should I just message back here when it is up and running and let them then do their thing? Or let them know when to call me when I am there?  How much lead time do they need from me sending a message here until they can actually call back? Are they available on weekends or only weekdays? Thanks.
Chris11
Alum

Hi Mark,

Best bet is to post here a few days before you are going to head out to this location. Then we'll move from there. 

Thank you,
Chris
mmollinet
Sophomore

Chris,

I will be up there at the location this coming Friday Nov. 20th. It would be great if an experienced technician at HughesNet could call and see if we can't get this sorted out. Preferably after 10:00 AM MST. Can they give me an approximate time window? Is there a way for me to privately send you the correct phone number for them to call? The official number on the account is not actually at that location.

Strangely our connection has come back up since we last talked. This also happened when we had this problem in the past. It would randomly lose the Internet connection and then randomly come back up, sometimes hours, days, or weeks later, even if we were not at the home and had not rebooted the modem. We have not been on site and have not rebooted the modem or done anything since I last talked to you. . There was no power outage to my knowledge that could have effectively rebooted it for us. Odd and frustrating. We really need this to return to a more reliable connection.

Thanks,

Mark
Chris11
Alum

Hi mmollinet,

Since your site is back up at this time. I've informed our engineers to look at your site. We may be able to resolve this before head in Friday so that you'll only need to test out that everything is working fine once you arrive. Once I have an update I will let you know. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we help to address your concerns.

Thank you,
Chris
Chris11
Alum

Hi Mark,

Our engineering team was able to pass a fix through to your modem which should allow it to properly configure with the airport router connected. Your site should no longer have this problem of disconnecting randomly. When you arrive to this location Friday take some time to test everything out and let us know if you run into any other issues. Looking forward to your reply.

Thank you,
Chris
Mark8
New Member

Chris,

So far so good.  I was onsite for several days and everything seems to be working OK.  It has not disconnected since you said they put a patch through to the modem. 

Thanks for the help,

Mark
Chris11
Alum

Hi Mark,

Glad to hear it. Our engineers advised me that you should be fine as well. If anything does come up feel free to let us know. 

Thank you,
Chris
longshotranch
New Member

Chris,


I could be Mark's twin.  I have exactly the same situation at my vacation house: an HT1000 connected to an apple router (which connects to another one which distributes to the house)  It will randomly hang about once per day (though just did twice in the last hour).  This has been going on for several years.    It sounds like there is a software patch that will improve this.  How can I get it?


thanks


Brad