My WiFi gateway router is failing. A new one is being overnighted to me by my WiFi provider and should be here tomorrow. I assume that instructions will be included with the new gateway. Nevertheless, I printed a hard copy of the instructions from their web site just in case.
The WiFi for my laptop has been rather reliable-- until last night. Service returned this morning and has continued. However, the TV has become increasingly unreliable, frequently stopping and sometimes rebooting. I always thought it was my streaming service but now I think it was the gateway.
The new equipment should be here tomorrow. Does anyone in this august group have experience replacing a gateway and have some tips?
Couple of things to note about internet service. Over time the system needs to be restarted to keep everything in sync. If you have several times when your lights flicker, then your router needs to be rebooted more often.
Since the new router is coming from the internet service provider, there may not be instructions with the router as they are often boxed institutional (plain box) rather than retail. It’s good that you printed a hard copy of the instructions assuming they are sending the unit you downloaded. Before you unplug the old router, check the instructions against the router that is sent to you just in case it is different.
You used the phrase gateway so you are connecting either to a DSL internet service or a cable internet service. Most of the time, these are pretty much plug and play with the exception that the name of the home connection (WIFI is a SSID connection the other is ethernet connection) and passwords need to be reprogrammed into your computers, TVs, etc… On the box of the new gateway (modem/router), look for the label that has the name of the new home gateway connection, the passwords (one for WIFI and one for ethernet), the name that can access the programming (usually is admin) and the password for that name (the one associated with “admin”). The default gateway access is normally something like https://192.168.0.1 … That will be your access into the gateway settings if you want to change the WIFI and ethernet names and passwords.
Some systems may require you to connect the first computer via an ethernet connection to enter in your email and password that is your internet account and allow setup of the gateway.
That is kind of the basics. Have your internet provider phone number handy just in case you need them to walk you through the initial set up.
I know my service provider has made it pretty much mandatory that you need to have cellular internet in order to install or do anything with your cable internet, you HAVE to HAVE the app on your phone to set up your cable internet not. GRRRRRRR I am very not happy with that since cell service out here is very poor without the internet and our cell bootser. Nearly impossible even to phone them for help if the internet is down and if I can get through on the phones, they usually tell me to go to the web site or use the APP!!! Ugh.
Good Luck!!!
I am right there with @doilyboutique444 in our business we have three internet connections. Our primary is Cable, this is what we run 98% of the time. When that fails we have DSL, yes it still exists. When they both fail 1% or less of the time we turn my phone into a hotspot. The office keeps moving.
When we move, I do hope before winter, we have a fiber connection at the farm. Different from our other vendors.
That gateway says it requires ONT to function which means you have a fiber optic internet connection. It should be fairly straight forward as the ONT establishes the account connection. It shouldn’t be to hard with instructions as it should be just a router setup.
Had my choice of wired Internet with no use of smart phone, or smartphone.
It was easy because Xfinity had already set up the equipment on their end to know the MAC address of the new gateway.
At the time of installation either the old or the new gateway was potentially active.
We have had no issues with outages, our problem was equipment failure, and we could run all of our wifi devices on one of several Xfinity hot spots within the range of our location.
Not as fast as our wired connections but acceptable.
Oh Boy, your experience with Xfinity seems to be so much better than ours!!! For the Amount we are paying for our Cable TV and Internet per month I’ve been very frustrated with their service.
Yea, when they send new equipment it is already “pre set up” But last time swapping them out I still had to use the App which meant having to run out to the field to get service on my cell phone which would drop out if I took it back inside to see if the router was doing as it is supposed to.
Had to have service personnel out twice in the past year to fix things between the road and the house (apparently past contractors used the wrong splitters) And then the gateway had a problem with some of it’s either net wire ports.
Internet ALWAYS drops out if the power goes out. And when the power comes back on, Internet is not always back. Unfortunately, our cell service doesn’t let us hotspot off our phones AND the cell signal is so poor out here that we need the Cell booster using our internet in order to get good enough signal to make calls or use data in the house anyway.
Sigh, Sorry Rant over.!!!
We are urban, so that might explain why Xfinity is so reliable. As for the instructions to install, I usually ignore them. I find that they assume the user has no knowledge of how the equipment works and they offer the narrative they think will apply to the most ignorant user.
Xfinity manages by metrics, just like other inhuman companies. When we have had an Xfinity tech out to do something, usually an upgrade, they give us their cell phone number, so we can bypass reporting system if there is a problem. Have not had to call them but it reinforces the feeling that they have good people, even if the company is loathsome.
Xfinity’s technicians and equipment are better than the company is. They work as one would predict.
As for my Xfinity Mobile service, that is less reliable. The combination of Verizon’s net, the Xfinity third party vendor who modifies the Samsung phone software, and the security features built into Xfinity’s gateway - rebooting my phone periodically becomes necessary.
Of course, my own choice of antivirus and Duck Duck Go tracker blocking further complicate matters.
We are rural also and have an cell antenna with a Wilson (name when we bought it but company markets under a new name now) amplifier / indoor repeater. This got us to a consistent 3 bars and, depending on the weather, sometimes even up to 5 bars reception. The indoor repeater setup was a little pricey at the time but has been worth it.
That’s pretty much true of all internet services and usually takes at least a 5 minute reboot time to come back up after power loss. Knowing how to cycle your system back up helps in re-establishing a good connection.
This happens to us also but one has to remember that the power can be back up at your location and still down at the station / substation of the internet/cable provider (thus no internet). Thunderstorms knock out power in our surrounding areas all of the time which means we get to reset / cycle our system often. Power outages caused us to get a back up generator because one good storm can mean 4 to 8 hours of no power. With the generator and the indoor cell repeater, we can at least create a hot spot to run on for a temporary time frame.
Yea, we might need a regular cell antenna and repeater since the AT&T cell booster only works with att and when there is internet.
We are in Florida and with storms we can be without power for over a week at a time so we do have a generator and being able to have internet at least minimally when the lines are down would be nice.
It’s here! The unit included a new cord and a four-page instruction book with more details and illustrations than were on the website. I’ll be going dark now as I install the new unit. Wish me luck.
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This is not helpful to @Racing_Stripes right now, but consider buying your own router and wi-fi point(s). Then if you ever need (or want) to replace your gateway/modem, it is as simple as unplugging the cat cable from one Gateway and into the other. Bonus, if you spend a little more on your router it will support fail-over so you can have multiple Internet connections and if the primary Internet access fails, the secondary (next) will automatically be used until the primary is restored.
You know we tried that and found out that there was only one provider for our area so having two internet lines from them didn’t solve the problem. When their service was down on one line, it was also down on the other line. We wanted to find a router that could connect to a hot spot and then distribute through the system. Sadly, that was only a dream.
Until recently, I used Spectrum as the primary and Verizon LTE as secondary at home and office. Recently, Verizon began offering 5G-UW access in our area for $35 per month so I’ve dropped Spectrum at home.
Have you considered Starlink? I’ve heard nice things about them…
Look into a Ubiquity router and an Inseego cellular modem w/cat5
