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Home Optimum Online Internet timeout problems. DNS issue?

We have bottom tier 25/5 Optonline cable internet. We are experiencing this weird problem for several months now. (And maybe it is/was 2 problems)

First:
 I think it started with latency going high and internet cutting out for periods of less than 30 seconds - every few minutes to every 30 minutes to an hour. I tested this by pinging:
ping 4.2.2.1 -t
symptoms similar to trying to game while someone is ULing or DLing a youtube video. Ping times in the hundreds or low thousands.But, the ping would time out and come back oftentimes. - No-one was transferring large files though.

Second:
Wifi would also go whacky. Internet on wifi devices would timeout, but also sometimes the wifi connection drops/reconnects. This is close to wifi router where there is never usually a problem, using ipads, iphones (updated) and current laptops.

I THOUGHT I had solved it by adding a fan to my Dlink DIR 655, but it never resolved completely. So I replaced the router with a good old Linksys WRT54G2 (black thin one) ver 1.5.

Now, the current problem seems to have morphed to:

1) Wifi still whacks out - last night the wifi icon on my iphone just turned off while I was playing a live stream- I saw it stop and the icon blinked off. I went into settings and it re-detected the wifi and reconnected.

2) DNS issues.We browsers (any of them) give a DNS resolver error. I can ping anything and EVERYTHING between me and internet and everything pings:
my router 192.168.7.1
my statically assigned DNS 216.146.35.35 / 216.146.36.36 (Dyn.org Internet Guide DNS servers)
Optimum's DNS shown in my router:       DNS 1:      167.206.10.178      DNS 2:      167.206.10.179
Optimum's Gateway: Default Gateway:      24.188.48.1
AND Google's DNS: 4.2.2.1

I change my static DNS to optimum's DNS - same issue: If I try to ping any hostname, it times out (ping yahoo.com)
Using the router's diagnostics ALSO the ping times out.

Running WIndows DIagnostics, gives:
============================================
Windows Network Diagnostics Publisher details

Issues found
The DNS server isn’t respondingThe DNS server isn’t responding
Your computer is trying to use a DNS server that is incorrect or doesn’t exist. Detected Detected
Contact your network administrator  Completed
 

Issues found Detection details

6 The DNS server isn’t responding Detected Detected
 
Your computer is trying to use a DNS server that is incorrect or doesn’t exist.
=============================================

I have the diagnostic ETL file if that would help.

If I reboot the router or the cable modem or both, it resolves for a time.
If I use the router's web console to renew the DHCP lease between router and modem it fixes it.

I also went to Cablevision and swapped my modem out for a new one a couple months ago.

At my wit's end.
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i would first test things on a  wired connection to determine if they are wireless specific or related issue.

yeah, I forgot to mention that almost all of my ping tests are on my wired connection - gigabit over cat6.

then i would PING hosts by IP from nearest hosts to farthest ones in order to determine if the unstable PING results were because of any issues.

I'm not exactly sure what "because of any issues" means. What do you mean by "nearest hosts to farthest ones"? I did say in my post I pinged every step from my router out to Optimum's gateway.  I also did a trace route and pinged each router along the way. All was ok.

When the DNS error comes up, I can always ping IPs on the Internet but cant resolve/ping a hostname

pinging my router with higher than 1472 fragments the packet
same thing pinging 4.2.2.1
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I find it interesting that if I don't post here within 3 days, it's labelled as abandoned, but I have to wait days for responses and ask for moderator help before I get follow-ups or responses.


So, the problem just happened. I was using the Internet fine all morning. I rebooted my PC and reopened Chrome with all it's tabs and many of them wouldn't load with the DNS Probe Error. Some pages did load, primarily Google related sites. But I couldn't ping  or resolve yahoo.com or experts-exchange.com among many others. I made a video of what happens. I could however resolve local names.

screencast-o-matic of my problem

What the video doesn't show is me logged into the router, renewing the dhcp lease to the Optimum network. After that, DNS is back.
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Did you watch the video? It wasn't made just to prove I'm having a problem, it was made to show some of the diagnostics and their results.If you watched the video you'll know I was able to ping local hosts but not outside ones.

I couldn't run the Berkeley test yet, had to update Java and reboot. Went through some issues with that then go sidetracked with another problem. I'll run it in a few minutes and post the results.
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Thanks, Brian. Well, it goes both ways. Sometimes questioners know what they're doing as well and are providing helpful information.

gheist:
Did you run ANY of diagnostics requested?

His question seemed to indicate he hadn't watched the video which was provided to illuminate the issue as well as to answer some of the questions posed.

I apologize for not specifically mentioning before that I hadn't been able to run the Berkeley Netalyzer. I'm having problems with it. When I first tried it the site came up but Java warned it needed an update which I did. After updating Java seemed confused that it was updated and gave warnings that it wasn't or maybe that the inistallation wasnt finished, I dont know which. After rebooting a couple times and reinstalling the latest update one or two more times, now when opening the berkeley page I get:


We were unable to return you to berkeley.edu.
 
 
 
   
Internet Explorer has stopped trying to restore this website. It appears that the website continues to have a problem.

What you can do:

  Go to your home page  

  Try to return to berkeley.edu  

More information  More information  

When a website causes a failure or crash, Internet Explorer attempts to restore the site. It stops after two tries to avoid an endless loop.
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I uninstalled and reinstalled Java AGAIN (ugh!) and now it's working.

Results:
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I'm sure you'll see the DNS part and tell me what you think of that.

This part really makes sense to me, though probably unrelated to my exact question here:

Network buffer measurements (?): Uplink 540 ms, Downlink 320 ms –

We estimate your uplink as having 540 ms of buffering. This level can in some situations prove somewhat high, and you may experience degraded performance when performing interactive tasks such as web-surfing while simultaneously conducting large uploads. Real-time applications, such as games or audio chat, may also work poorly when conducting large uploads at the same time.

This happens a lot. I'm uploading a photo album to FB or a video to Youtube an my kid's gaming pings go to hell. I just expected that was normal and thought I should upgrade to Optimum's 50 or 100 Mb service levels, but maybe it's due to their buffering.

Related to that - or maybe unrelated - when I'm watching videos oftentimes, and watching my ping speeds (ping 4.2.2.1 -t) When videos load up, I'll see my ping times drop from a normal 10-15ms to 200-400ms easily and many times to 2000-3000's and then the ping times out for 5-10 cycles or more and then it comes back.
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Are you asking me? or was that a rhetorical question?

If it is the ISP I'd like some reasoning based on the results, because then the next step is obviously dealing with Optimum tech support and I'm sure you can imagine how that would go if I call their support line and tell them, "Your DNS resolver at 167.206.10.178 could not process the following tested types, Large ~3000B TXT records fetched with EDNS0".

They'll be like, "What I am needing you to be doing is to unplug the power cable to your cable modem... " (I put the gun in my mouth at that point)... you get the idea. How am I going to possibly explain what we think the issue is to them? Do I just immediately ask for higher level tech support?
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I mentioned early on that I have always used Dyn.org's dns servers:
 216.146.35.35 / 216.146.36.36 (Dyn.org Internet Guide DNS servers)

I had the problem when using those as well. It doesn't seem to make a difference if I use theirs or Optimum's DNS servers.
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I have no mail filtering firewall. Standard Windows 7 Pro install, Avast free AV, Malwarebytes Pro and a standardly configured Linksys WRT54G1 firmware 1.5.01.

Maybe it's Avast filtering email. I use Gmail so am not concerned with mail filtering myself. I'll disable Avast and analyze again, then again with Malwarebytes turned off.

Also, when Internet goes out, it goes out for everyone in the house.  Probably 20 devices over 4 people. Desktops, laptops, iphones, ipads, MacBooks, AppleTVs, Foscam IP cameras, you name it. So any configuration filtering on my PC wouldn't affect them.
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I re-ran the test with Avast disabled. The hidden mail proxies are gone so that was the source apparently. But I don't see how that would affect the entire network of devices.User generated image
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User generated imageI can believe an AV, and Avast specifically, can cause issues. I've seen it before - an update comes out and it affects a certain PC for some reason, but can you explain a theory of how that could affect all devices on an entire network?

I'd be willing to uninstall Avast and put in something else temporarily to test.

Also I ran NameBench and it suggested some faster servers, but it actually confirmed that Optimum's 2nd DNS server is fastest and I should use it as Primary, the a Google DNS as Secondary and what I was using as Optimum's Primary I should change to Tertiary.
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Really, since you have changed out the router, the only other thing is some common service both routers were using, your modem, or something at your ISPs end. When the same thing was happening to me, it was a modem problem.

I would agree, except masnrock I think is suggesting an antivirus on one PC could cause network wide issues on my LAN? I've never seen that. I'd be interested to hear the experts' thoughts on that possibility. Good chance or low chance?

I'll call the ISP and post back.

I've since learned about "bufferbloat" which seems to be the cause of my high ping times and timeouts when I start a big upload or download. That would explain part of my problems.
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@RickNCN - I'm *not* suggesting one PC... What is unknown is whether most, if not all, computers are on the network are using Avast. The worst case with Avast I've had had to do with several computers that happened to be on the same network, and just those ones were screwing up. You'd have to tell us.

Well... we may be conflating a couple different issues here. The main issue is that every so often, the Internet just goes "out". Everyone in the house experiences it. 3 PCs with Avast, one work Surface Pro without, a MacBook, 5 iPhones, 5 iPads, 3 AppleTVs you name it, whatever anyone is using at the moment - it goes out. So we don't have a situation with one piece of software on multiple PCs only.

I guess I can't exactly say if that issue is always concurrent with the inability to resolve hosts. I don't think it is - because when the Internet goes "out" I'll see my ping to 4.2.2.1 just blank out- multiple timeouts. But when the DNS issue hits, my pings to 4.2.2.1 continue, I just can't resolve.

1-Modem:  ARRIS TM822
totally agree on ISP reusing broken crap, I've long wondered and worried about that, but what are the chances of getting a second modem of a different make/model that exactly replicates the problems of it's predecessor?

2- I live in a fairly rural area. I *can* pickup about 6 other outside wifi sources from neighbors but none of them really strong enough, especially inside the house to be any competition to mine. Now, I am using 2 other routers as WAPs (turned off DHCP and using the LAN port only), but before you jump on that, I've tested with those turned off. And I've set them on different channels anyhow. I've tested with the entire LAN disconnected except for my PC, router and modem and I was getting the dropouts - I don't think I was getting the dns problems back then.

3- is this what the first respondent was talking about - pinging WAN and LAN with different packet sizes? I responded to him on that:
pinging my router with higher than 1472 fragments the packet
same thing pinging 4.2.2.1
Or was there something else I could do?

4- I haven't had them check signal strength. I can, but this is one area I'm more confident in because they've retrenched our cable twicein 15 years. The first two times - years apart -I was having similar issues, but it turned out there was a barrel connector in the cable outside my basement wall and it wasn't protected at all. I think water slowly infiltrated. Anyhow, the last time they did it, I was there and made them put the end of their thick underground cable (RG-what?) right through my basement wall - no extra connectors - made them terminate it inside right to a 2 way splitter (one of theirs) then one side of the splitter goes to my modem with good short cable and the other side to a 4-way splitter for the TVs. So, I'm blasting the modem with as good a signal anyone can get I think. That said, I know how to get into the diagnostics page on my cable box so I could always report the signal levels if someone tells me what to look for. Or I'll just screen shot it. Of course that would be levels after a 4way splitter.

I want to call Optimum support but I have a busy couple of days coming up. I hope to do it by Sunday.
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We just had an outage. I was on my iPad. Was playing a youtube video fine 5 min earlier. Picked the iPad back up and used YT to search another video, found it, clicked on it, ad started playing, hit skip ad then the video should have loaded but didn't. Waited, tried a reload. nothing. Used a ping app on the ipad, pinged to 4.2.2.1 fine, but unable to ping yahoo.com. cant resolve. Went to my PC (on wire) where I had already- yesterday- changed the DNS to the namebench suggestions and also had same symptoms. Wife also having same issue on her PC (also on wire, not wifi).  The only thing that fixes it is restarting the router or logging into it and renewing the DHCP lease with the modem.

So I did that - logged in to router, hit release or renew - I forget which, it did release, but it wouldn't renew right away. My experience with routers in general as well as PCs is that renewal only takes a few seconds, whereas this took much longer, I want to say 30 seconds.

I want to say I see a pattern of it going out as we try to load something more demanding like a video. It doesn't seem to ever go out when we're just browsing web pages. IDK I could be wrong about that.
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This router is unable to log to a syslog server. IT has it's own internal log display which I just enabled.

I may switch back to the DIR-655 which I think has syslog ability
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A little more anecdotal evidence if it helps at all. Just had the same outage but my wife was still able to work on her work Surface Pro bc she's on her company's VPN so all her dns is going through them.

Interestingly, on her and my PCs we could use a browser to do a Google search (address bar search in Chrome) and Googles results would come up for any search but clicking on a link would result in the dns error. I could not resolve google.com by pinging it though! Very strange!
Do you read experts comments or just roll ahead waiting for appreciation?
DID DSLREPORTS IDENTIFY BUFFERBLOAT AS A PROBLEM
PLEASE ANSWER YES OR NO ASAP.
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gheist. A good expert can listen as well as speak.  If you don't find something I've posted is useful, feel free to ignore it. I don't need BULLYING COMMENTS FROM YOU IN ALL CAPS.User generated image Please relax.
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Ok you can go away now gheist. Bye bye. You can't tell when you're not liked or needed.
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In the end, what I did was upgrade to Optimum 50 and get a new router, which seems to have fixed the problem.
I purchased a Netgear Nighthawk 7300.  Note: This is the BestBuy Geek Squad co branded model. I was somewhat suspicious  of the BestBuy/GeekSquad crap, but the features and the wifi extender package seemed like a good deal. I don't LOVE the router after several months, but it has seemingly fixed my problems. The 5G wifi performance seems to have issues with my iOS devices so I don't use it.

I'm pretty sure the routers were the problem because:
1- when I changed from Dlink to Linksys router the problem changed. (I think the Linksys had a problem too - it was not a new router)
2-  When I added a fan to the Dlink, it improved the issue somewhat.
3- I had a client with very similar if not the same issues using the same Dlink router which was diagnosed just after I suspected and removed my Dlink. I replaced theirs and problem solved there as well.

I can't really choose a "Best  Answer" because none of the  answers really predicted this was the solution, and there were so many  suggestions that were similar from different  people.  SO, I divvy up points based on the percentage of column-inches of  input each expert gave.  gheist: 140 pts - 70 pts for inflated ego issues = 70 pts, Brian: 160 pts +25 from gheist = 185, Masnrock: 180 pts + 40pts from gheist = 220,  Bing: 20 pts + 5 pts from gheist = 25.