Why is this not working? Modem and Router time and device connectivity.

[Krofter]

Hi, yesterday my modem was taken by my isp to change the account binded to it to a new account that I made
On returning, I saw that many of the devices in my hopuse are not getting internet from the router even if it is connected and I can even login to the router settings - but no internet.
I left it as I thought it will be over when the DHCP resets itself. Today when I woke up the problem still exists and when I went further looking, I found this


The NTP config was disabled and the time was 1970?! I enabled it and when applied, it didn't change anything, it is still showing 1970 and not updating!!
On further looking I found that the modem ( which my ISP reset) was also having the same issue and was locked to 1970 January.

I tried to manually change the date by adding NTP servers, but it still resets to Jan 1970 and not budging from that.
Now these are my questions.

1. Can only my ISP change the  modem time?
2. Are my router times affected due to this modem time? if not why is it not changing when I change it?

3. Are my device connection issues due to this time discrepancy?
4. If i tell the ISP to come are reset the time, will the devices be start working fine?

[Bombastinator]

Sounds like it’s past time to yell at your isp.  I’ve had serious issues with ISPs doing stuff.  They often do wild damage to buildings when they instal stuff and absolutely have to be watched.  Just because they are required to do something doesn’t mean they will. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

AFAIK most devices will usually get the time directly from a time server rather than the router.  Having the correct time on the router is usually more about it being useful during troubleshooting to have the time in the logs.

 

So unless your router acts as an NTP server itself, it should have zero impact on other devices being able to set their time, unless the firewall is somehow blocking NTP traffic from the LAN.

Of course if your router connects to a VPN or other enhanced functionality that involves encryption directly from the router to an online service, THEN it would need the correct time/date also.

[Krofter]

HI, the 2 people following this topic. I forgot to update anything regarding this - I apologize. 
I corrected the issue after a couple of days after posting this, thank you all for the input @Alex Atkin UK, @Bombastinator.

 

My solution -  The DNS server on my router was set to my modem's IP address. I changed it to Google's DNS and then on, it worked fine. I guess the issue as out might have been with the modem Itself from how the solution worked. The DNS allocation to the router from the modem might have broken when my ISP updated and gave it. I didn't bother wasting my time shouting at them, as I guess it is such a rare thing to happen (as I have not found any solutions online about such a problem happening before).
So anyone coming here in the future regarding this, change the DNS provider in your router from the your modem's IP to the Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1) . It might work.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Krofter]

On 8/8/2021 at 2:00 PM, Krofter said:

HI, the 2 people following this topic. I forgot to update anything regarding this - I apologize. 
I corrected the issue after a couple of days after posting this, thank you all for the input @Alex Atkin UK, @Bombastinator.

 

My solution -  The DNS server on my router was set to my modem's IP address. I changed it to Google's DNS and then on, it worked fine. I guess the issue as out might have been with the modem Itself from how the solution worked. The DNS allocation to the router from the modem might have broken when my ISP updated and gave it. I didn't bother wasting my time shouting at them, as I guess it is such a rare thing to happen (as I have not found any solutions online about such a problem happening before).
So anyone coming here in the future regarding this, change the DNS provider in your router from the your modem's IP to the Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1) . It might work.
 

 

 

 

 

 

_______Update_______



I was thinking of purchasing a new Router and I came accross this thread. I believe this was the issue all along. To be clear - the solution i did above is working fine and that is how I am getting internet right now - by as to why that happend in the first place....... It is still a theory as i am not acting on it, but anyone in future (and me also) encountering this problem, might have a chance to torubleshoot it.
 

 

[Bombastinator]

Some people auto follow everything, and only unfollow when moved to do so.  It’s actually the default.  I’ve never bothered to mess with it. I can unfollow if you like though

[Bombastinator]

What do you have now?  How many devices do you need to attach to it?