Internet drops out every night between 3 and 5 AM

[doomsriker]

I’m really at a loss here. I have been up late playing overwatch a few nights over the past month or so. Every single night at sometime between 3 AM and 5 AM (exact time is always different) my internet will drop out and boot me from the match. After this happens I can unplug and plug back in my modem and after about 30 minutes to an hour I will be able to connect to the internet again. To be clear this is not just effecting overwatch as my modem says it has no connection (based on the lights on the front) and no device in my house can load anything during this time. I have no issues with the internet at any other time of day ever. I have an Ethernet cable running directly from my PC to my Comcast provided router which works fine the other 22 hours of the day. Any and all theories are welcomed and appreciated. I have not yet called Comcast but I plan to do so soon. 

[Tegneren]

4 minutes ago, doomsriker said:

 I have not yet called Comcast but I plan to do so soon. 

Yes, do that. This seems like a Comcast issue

[doomsriker]

Just now, Tegneren said:

Yes, do that. This seems like a Comcast issue

Yes I definitely plan too. Only reason I haven’t yet is that I was not doing any crucial work just gaming, and figured it would stop. But I’m finally realizing that it is not going to stop and I want it fixed. 

[doomsriker]

Oh btw this doesn’t just happen with overwatch. I have had the same issue twice while watching YouTube on my phone. So it definitely seems like overwatch is not triggering the issue. 

[Kilrah]

If the modem LEDs show it loses connection then it's pretty certainly on ISP side, not much you can do but call.

[doomsriker]

9 hours ago, Tegneren said:

Yes, do that. This seems like a Comcast issue

Ok, I called Comecast and they “assure me that the issue has been fixed”. Let’s hope they are correct as I’m not really sure what they could have done. They claimed to have sent some kind of signal to tell my router to stop doing this, is that a thing? 

[Tegneren]

57 minutes ago, doomsriker said:

Ok, I called Comecast and they “assure me that the issue has been fixed”. Let’s hope they are correct as I’m not really sure what they could have done. They claimed to have sent some kind of signal to tell my router to stop doing this, is that a thing? 

Yes, I think thats a thing they can do. Maybe the router had some update routine that normally runs in that time period that made it loose connection.

[Alex Atkin UK]

3 hours ago, Tegneren said:

Yes, I think thats a thing they can do. Maybe the router had some update routine that normally runs in that time period that made it loose connection.

While its certainly not totally unusual for a router to reboot once a day (if its a crap ISP provided router they can't be bothered to fix buggy firmware on so they get it to reboot as a bandaid), it shouldn't stay disconnected.

[doomsriker]

Alright so like I previously said, I called Comcast and they said “it is fixed 100%” and I can confirm it is 100% still happening. Anybody have further suggestions? 

[Donut417]

6 hours ago, doomsriker said:

Anybody have further suggestions? 

Considering the hours it happens I’d say maintenance. They could be pushing new firmware or config files to your modem. Every night does sound weird, but they could also be doing upgrades in you’re area as well. 

[Falcon1986]

8 hours ago, doomsriker said:

Alright so like I previously said, I called Comcast and they said “it is fixed 100%” and I can confirm it is 100% still happening. Anybody have further suggestions? 

Turn the modem off for a while during the day (at least about 10-15mins.), then turn back on.

 

Once fully booted, start recording the connection status logs to a plain text file. When you wake up in the morning, record what is logged during the night when the disconnection occurs.

 

The only way to get your ISP to address the problem is to show them hard proof of what’s going on. They might not be concerned because it’s only 3-5AM when most people are still asleep, but it can be an inconvenience for those who need good uptime for surveillance equipment, for example. So make a case and request higher-tier technical support.