Blue Curve Modem/Router "drops" printers daily

[MurrayBrown]

Every morning my wife an I have to go through the agonizing routine of unplugging and then replugging in our two printers.  Some time during the night ... seriously ... the network "drops" the WiFi connection from the two printers.  I have worked with two different Shaw Reps and this is till happening.
Is there anybody else out there having their WiFi connections dropping?

[mdk]

Check the date/time/timezone settings inside the printer's configuration.

The printer uses the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) to get an IP-address from your router. With the IP-address, the printer gets a "TTL" (Time To Live) value, representing a "lease" that tells the printer the number of seconds that it is allowed to use the IP-address.

Compare to renting a hotel-room for a few nights -- you get a "lease" valid for 48 or 72 hours. When renting an apartment, you get a "lease" valid for at least one month.  At the end of the "lease" you must vacate, or get a new lease.

When your printer gets its lease, the DHC P(rotocol) is that there should be a "renewal" request for the lease, when the lease is 50% "used". Closer to the expiry of the lease, the Protocol is that additional "renewal" requests should be sent to your router.

However, if the date/time/timezone on your printer is wrong, the software inside the printer miscalculates when that "50%" time is reached. The effect is that the printer NEVER issues a "renew" request.  The lease "expires", and you must power-off/power-on the printer to force it to issue a brand-new DHCP request.

Many D-Link brand of routers have a software defect that caused the DHCP server inside those "legacy" routers to stop working correctly on 1/1/2013 -- the "leases" that it handed-out actually were "expired", as issued.  The only solution was to replace the router.

I am guessing that you are getting a "short" lease -- less than 24 hours -- from your router. So, every morning, the lease has expired, until you reboot the printer (power-off/power-on).

If you have your own router, check its internal date/time/timezone -- any Shaw-supplied modem/router will be maintaining the correct values.

[MurrayBrown]

The printers both show the correct date and time.

The D-Link items are not routers; they are D-Link DHP-309AV Powerline AV units.  They are used for our hot tub.  One is beside me, with an ethernet wire to the modem/router (it used to be connected to the TP-Link router ... more on that in the next paragraph).  The other D-Link item is wired at the hot tub to their circuitry.  Using the two of them allows the hot tub to talk to WiFi (and reverse, of course) so that we can alter the hot tub settings while away from home before we get home.  It also allows us to check on the hot tub when we're away on vacations, etc.

I have been using a TP-Link router up until Shaw convinced me to go the BlueSky route and use their new and purportedly improved modem/router.  It has been nothing but problems from Day One.  I'm almost tempted to try taking the ethernet cord from the new modem/router and linking it up to my TP-Link router and see if that works.  Sheesh ........

[mdk · Accepted solution]

> The other D-Link item is wired at the hot tub to their circuitry.

What happens if you connect a computer, instead of the hot tub, to that outlet?

From a command-line, enter: IPCONFIG /ALL

to see the date/time/timezone expiry of the DHCP settings, both immediately after connecting, and again on the next morning? Output like:

IPv4 Address ... 192.168.0.13

Subnet Mask ... 255.255.255.0

Lease Obtained ... November-30-19 08:08:16 AM

Lease Expires ... December-08-19 08:42:58 AM

Default Gateway ... 192.168.0.1

DHCP Server ... 192.168.0.1

???

[MurrayBrown]

I appreciate your assistance.  What I did yesterday was contact Shaw and was able to speak to a third ... but much more "savvy" Tech Rep .... and asked two questions.  One: Do I really need an ethernet cable from the Shaw modem/router to my PC which is wireless?  Two: Can I re-install my original TP-Link router to the Shaw thing?
Her answer was no need for the ethernet cable to the PC (which I had been told by the first "Tech" Rep that this was a definite requirement) and yes, she would disconnect the WiFi from the Shaw thing and I could hook up my own router.

She diswconnected me, I hooked up my router, and VOILA!  Everything ... security alarm system, hot tub, phones, smart lights, thermostat ... ALL worked instantly!
Bottom line ... there's something goofy with that new-fangled Shaw BlueSky modem/router.
Again, thanks for your assistance.  🙂  🙂

[mdk]

> Every morning my wife an I have to go through the agonizing routine of unplugging and then replugging in our two printers. 

> I hooked up my router, and VOILA!  ... ALL worked instantly!

Did the printers still work the next morning?

The DHCP-servers (either inside the Shaw box or inside your TP-Link router) supply both IP-addresses and TTL ("time to live") values to each device.  It's quite possible that the two DHCP-servers supply quite-different TTL values, e.g., one week via my HITRON router, versus one day via your TP-Link router, versus some other TTL via the BlueSky box. When your printer(s) TTL expires, and the printer(s) does not "renew" the lease, your issue surfaces.

So, it's good that you have bypassed the problem, even though you & I don't yet understand the differences in your two networking setups that caused your issue.

[MurrayBrown · Accepted solution]

You raise a good question.  I don't know.  After having gone through the agonizing two weeks with the Shaw modem/router and now having the issues successfully resolved, I don't want to try anything "new".  🙂  🙂

[MurrayBrown · Accepted solution]

BOTH printers have worked flawlessly day after day after day.  Phew!  🙂

[Murmar]

Same Problem Shaw won’t help saying it’s the printer. Very poor support