Spectrum as Gateway

richlife

We are a new Spectrum fiber/TV customer with a new Spectrum Wi-Fi 6 router. I use that router as internet gateway for my existing 5 year old Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router which manages most wired and wifi connections. Our tested fiber internet speed is 400+ Mbps. (I used the same bridge with my previous CenturyLink DSL router and later a Verizon wireless internet router but got really low speed connections with them). Everything seems to work well with this Spectrum setup, but every night my wired gateway connection is lost which drops all devices to the Spectrum router (set for backup) and requires rebooting the Nighthawk to re-establish internet. Multiple attempts to simply reseat the wired Ethernet connections at either end do not work. Swapping out the cable does not help. Before investing in a new router, I wanted to seek advice.

I don't particularly suspect the Spectrum router because rebooting the Nighthawk always resolves the issue -- until later in the day. I prefer to "front end" the Spectrum router because of the limited connections it provides and the limited control that Spectrum allows. Only my TV is also directly connected to the Spectrum router.

Paul_B

It sounds like you're on the right track with the DHCP being the culprit of the issues you're experiencing. If both the Nighthawk and the Spectrum router are both being used as routers, as opposed to one being used as a switch that could be the root of the issue. Using 2 routers is generally not recommended due to connectivity issues that you would likely experience like what you're seeing.

What I would recommend is setting up the Nighthawk as a switch only which should resolve the issues you're seeing. I found this post on the Netgear Community which details how this might be able to be accomplished.

Configure R7000 as a switch - NETGEAR Communities

Alternatively, you can always purchase a true switch so that you have those extra LAN ports. I use a similar setup at my home with the Spectrum WiFi6 router and a Netgear switch and it works with no issues whatsoever.

I hope this helps.

richlife

Thanks to you and Renee_T for the responses on DHCP. With that in mind, I opened the Spectrum app for more info. The app updated, and when I explored I found new options including setting a fixed IP. I'm not positive it was new to this update, but I've explored that app previously an never saw that and a couple of other options. So I asked for a fixed IP on my Netgear router. This morning my devices are still wifi connected to the Netgear and all looks good. Obviously, I'll be monitoring, but I'm quite hopeful.

Renee_T

Hello @richlife

Welcome to our community! I'm sorry to hear about the connection issues. It sounds like there may be a couple of things happening here, but my first thought is that it may be an issue with the DHCP renewal for the modem. Most of the time this will happen at night, so that if any reboots or updates are required and it is possible that the IP address will either change or refresh, which would require any devices connected to reach back out for updated IP information. While this process is automatic with our equipment, if the Nighthawk isn't reaching back out to update the IP address/extension it is using, that could explain why the connection is dropping. Rebooting the Nighthawk would force it to grab a new IP from the connection which would restore things.

Are you able to connect a device to the Spectrum router's WiFi network overnight to see if that device drops the connection along with the ones connected to the Nighthawk?

richlife

I have a TV with wired connection to the Spectrum router. As far as I can see, I had never lost connection. When my phone, laptop, etc. which are wifi connected to the Nighthawk lose connection, they automatically re- to the Spectrum router. It appears the DHCP renewal is the likely problem. How do I keep the Nighthawk connected (or re-connected through that process?