Ongoing bridge mode WAN problem

On Monday I had my Mom's Fizz internet connected.

The tech was really nice. He brought the modem, and came in to test the signal. Since mom was not with Videotron for over 5 years, they had disconnected the cable at the junction box on her outside wall. The cable inside was also all mangled, so tech asked if I wanted it replaced, and he went ahead and cut it a foott after the entry into the home, and then ran completely new cable to the modem location (with some slack just in case).

Then he proceeded outside, opened the junction box and was about to connect the cable and realized that it had a really ancient splitter. So he replaced the splitter (with a new 1-4 splitter), connected the cable and came inside to test the signal strength. It was within tolerance but a little on the low side. So he went outside and replaced the 1-4 splitter with a 1-3 splitter. There is a videotron connection for tenant upstairs, so need at least 1-2, so using a 1-3 is fine, and he even terminated the unused connection (rarely see them use terminators on the splitters). Now recheck signal and it was pretty good.

He logged in to check the specs of the tenant's modem (old videotron modem - pre-Helix - on same junction), and realized that over the last few weeks, there have been a few errors at random intervals on her modem. So he went outside to investigate and realized that the cable going from the junction on the pole, over to the junction on the house, had all sorts of damage on it (insulation exposed), probably from tree branches rubbing on it constantly, or maybe even squirrels. He proceeded to replace the complete cable from the pole, into the junction box on the outside wall. He literally spent over 2 hours outside fixing everything, tightening any junctions, and adding new clips where many clips holding the cable had come off. By this time, I had already plugged in the modem, it had booted, taken it updates over and over and rebooted it's usual 5 or 6 times, and was stable. He logged in to check the stats of the modem and all looked great. OBVIOUSLY, this is not your typical TECH. But it is nice to know some good ones that care do exist.

By doing all this, I am sure he saved me days of online chats to try to get someone to check the cables. Mom has been up for just over 48hours now, and so far, all seems good.

I eventually configured her modem into Bridge mode and used my spare ASUS router I had.

The modem at my home is also in Bridge mode (for nearly the last 2 years and have not had any issues). It is connected to my pfsense firewall and all is good.

I don't think these issues have anything to do with the Puma chipset. I think the Puma chipset issue is over dramatized. The average user will NOT see any effects. Now if you are a gamer, it can be seen under very specific conditions. I have 2 adult children that are gamers, and no complaints in the last 2 years and we often have 2 or 3 teams/zoom video meetings going on. The problem is probably the modem, but I think the issue is more the sensitivity of this modem to weaker signals. Other modems (like the thomson modems) may be more tolerant to weaker signals and will not freak out.

I would have liked if Fizz offered the "option" for either a simple modem (like the Thomson one that other ISP are using on the videotron network) - even if we had to buy/subsidize it ourselves. Or for those who for some reason prefer an all-in-one, they could provide the current Hitron if they had to offer something. Unfortunately, that is not an option at the moment (hopefully they listen and offer it in the future).

Another problem is that many people do not realize that the this modem needs to breath. Can't put it in a tight spot and cover it's vent holes. It needs air circulation or it will overheat. And considering the large heatsink is at the top, I would NOT recommend laying the modem on it's side. Convection works best if you allow the heat to rise :) I had gone over to a friends last year and noticed that their fizz modem was on its side, slid into a short 6" shelf. Needless to say that modem was overheating regularly. Barely any air circulation. And he was using the router/wifi (ie: not in bridged mode), and he wondered why his Wifi was so bad (with the modem crammed into a small shelf).

All my network equipment is on a UPS. This has created a very stable setup for me. We used to have many power brownouts in my area (and still occasionally do), and some equipment are not as tolerant to them. I also would not be surprised if many of these issues are not somehow also related to Hydro's inability to provide us with clean consistent power.

Anyhow, I hope you all find some solution to the issues you are experiencing. As a start, If you have a spare UPS (even a small one), maybe try using it on the modem. It can't get any worse :)

Hi,

On my end I use a TP-Link gaming router and I am doing fine.

BUT I did setup my router to 1GB DUPLEX (transfert speed rate) . Not automatic nor the 2,5gb duplex. So maybe try to setup a 1gb duplex in your router settings.

All the routers are different, so I can't help you to find it.