Automatic Router/Modem Rebooter

Sybertiger

Sybertiger

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Jun 30, 2018
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Orlando
Anyone using an network monitor that automatically reboots the router/modem when the network goes down. With Spectrum Internet messing around with their system all the time I get nervous the modem may get stuck one day when I'm out of town for weeks and will not have anyone around who can reboot the equipment. This of course would mean I would not have access to the BI server remotely or the irrigation controller until I got home from a long trip. If you use one which one are you using and how do you like it?




 
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All of those device are internet connected. If your modem is locked up and needs a reboot for whatever reason, you wouldn’t be able to access those devices anyway since they are run behind your modem.

Do you normally have issues with your modem locking up when your ISP goes down? You really shouldn’t have that issue and if you do, I’d probably replace that modem.
 
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Those devices monitor internet connectivity. If the modem/router appear to be "down" due to lost service or a glitch the devices cycles the power to them to reboot them until service is restored. I think most people at some point will power cycle their equipment when said glitch happens.
 
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I use this Web Power Switch 15 Day Free Trial! - Ships overnight.
It has several switched receptacles so I have POE injectors plugged into each switched port and can log in and reboot individual cameras or if a POE switch is plugged in, a group of cameras. The biggest culprit is my AcuRite weather station. The webswitch pings the weather station and if it cannot talk to the station, it powers down the receptacle thus rebooting the station. For the router, it pings google or yahoo on the web and if it does not get a reply, it will power down that device. It can be configured to wait for several ping failures before it reboots.
 
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Sybertiger said:
Those devices monitor internet connectivity. If the modem/router appear to be "down" due to lost service or a glitch the devices cycles the power to them to reboot them until service is restored. I think most people at some point will power cycle their equipment when said glitch happens.
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If your ISP goes down, then those "auto rebooters" just keep rebooting the device that is plugged into them until the internet comes back up? If it's a prolonged outage, then your device just keeps getting restarted? Seems like a pretty hard handed approach.
 
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Sybertiger said:
Anyone using an network monitor that automatically reboots the router/modem when the network goes down. With Spectrum Internet messing around with their system all the time I get nervous the modem may get stuck one day when I'm out of town for weeks and will not have anyone around who can reboot the equipment. This of course would mean I would not have access to the BI server remotely or the irrigation controller until I got home from a long trip. If you use one which one are you using and how do you like it?




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The last one appears to be what you need...or at least its function:
It monitors the Internet and if it loses connection (probably not receiving successive replies to pings), it's reboots your router by cycling power to it.
 
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biggen said:
If your ISP goes down, then those "auto rebooters" just keep rebooting the device that is plugged into them until the internet comes back up? If it's a prolonged outage, then your device just keeps getting restarted? Seems like a pretty hard handed approach.
Click to expand...

That's EXACTLY the point. If the modem locks up due to an ISP outage it will reboot it until service is restored. The first thing that the ISP tells you do when you call about service issues is to unplug the modem then plug it back in to reboot it. If there's no one at home to reboot the modem then what?
 
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I don't have a solution, but I will share my experiences with Charter/Spectrum.....

I've had their internet service for over 20 years. I don't use any Spectrum supplied devices however as I bought my own cable modem long ago (and I've upgraded it at least once during that time). While I'm sure at some point in the last 20 years there was a situation where I didn't have internet service and rebooting the cable modem "fixed" the problem, I honestly cannot recall having to do that. Certainly I have not had to do that recently. In other words, the chances of your internet outage being caused by a "stuck" cable modem is extremely low. In the same way, it is just as rare than any "internet" outage is actually caused by my network equipment. I do run a pfSense Firewall (along with enterprise quality network switches and wireless APs) which is a lot more robust than most residential grade all-in-one routers, so perhaps that helps my overall reliability.

To be honest, I don't notice very many internet outages in the first place - perhaps a couple times a year. However in 99.9999% of the cases, the internet come back online just fine whenever Spectrum fixes the problem on their end. Granted this may be why I don't notice very many outages (because we are not home during the weekday "work" hours usually), but if so that just proves that things tend to come back online automatically. Personally I wouldn't spend a lot of time or money trying to solve this "problem" because I don't think it will end up increasing the reliability of your system and will actually cause more harm than good by resetting equipment and causing downtime on your local network for no real benefit.

I guess this means I do have a "solution"...... If you find yourself having to reset or power cycle any part of your network in order to "restore" functionality on a regular basis - you need to replace that device with a higher quality device. That is not a "normal" behavior that you should just "live with" or feel compelled to find solutions to automate the power cycling process IMHO.

Edit - please note that "higher quality" does not necessarily have to be expensive. I spent less on all of my network gear than some of the "higher end" residential grade all-in-one routers that are being sold right now. ($150 on pfSense hardware (used on Ebay), $0 on pfSense software, $125 on enterprise grade 48 port POE switch (used on EBay), $115 for wireless AP = less than $400 total).

Edit - I remembered that I actually do have one piece of Spectrum hardware in my house - a cable card that I "rent" for $4/mo. I use it to be able to view/record cable TV across my entire house. I don't even have a single cable box in my entire house.
 
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Be aware as well depending on which vpn you're using, a reboot of the router may generate a new ip and / or key preventing remote access to your cameras anyway.
 
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