I have had FIOS for about 4 years now. No issues until a week or two ago when my computers started losing internet connection during high bandwidth activities. This occurs on both of my computers (wired laptopt, wifi desktop) and phones (android). I can reproduce the issue on command by going to youtube.com and watching an HD video. After a few minutes, the internet connection is dropped. Windows troubleshooting finds the problem to be "The default gateway is not found" and proceeds to reset the local area connection adapter. This reestablishes an internet connection, but the issue occurs again once I resume the high-bandwidth activity. On my laptop, I can just run the troubleshooting as described above to resolve the issue. This get very annoying very fast. On my desktop, the machine crashes when the connection is dropped (it's an old machine).
The first time I contacted customer service, they said everything looked good on their end and concluded it must be the router (Actiontec MI424WR Rev. 1). They said they would send me a new router within 2 days. 3 days later, still no router, so I had to call back. Since my router was out of warranty, they ended up canceling the order (thanks for telling me). So I bought my own router (Netgear AC1750), set it up, and tested. The issue was still occurring.
A technician was sent, and I demonstrated the issue. The technician was skeptical and said he didn't see how that proved there was an issue with the internet. He replaced the ONT box and confirmed that all the wiring was good throughout my home. He gave me a new Verizon router as well (another Actiontec MI424WR Rev. 1). After two and a half hours, depsite the issue still occurring, he basically said he didn't know what the problem could be and left.
So now I have three working routers and no solution to the issue. Is this actually a problem with ALL of my devices which coicidentally started occurring at the same time? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Some additional details:
- Issue occurs over ethernet AND wifi
- No issue with speed until the connection is dropped
- Using multiple devices with different OSs (Windows 10, Windows 7, Android)
- No one is stealing my internet (problem occurs immediately after setting up new router, secured connection, few neighbors, decent distance between houses)
- Problem occurs even when only one device is being used
- No changes were made to my devices or in-home network since the issue began occurring.
- It is NOT the router
- Technician and customer service insist it is NOT their network/hardware