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My 14mo old SB8200 has started dropping the internet a couple times a day in the past week.  I see in other posts that I should follow a procedure to check the cable power levels, to make sure that part is OK.  First step is to do a direct ethernet connection to my laptop.  

I don’t have an ethernet port or an ethernet-USB adapter.  Is it essential?  Can it be done wirelessly?

Probably unrelated, but my ISP (Cox) is in the middle of “upgrading” and say they will take me offline today for a few hours.  Might there related “fooling around” be causing my recent connection problems?

When cox is “upgrading” it can cause issues/drops. It can also cause the line powers to be off. 

A screensnip of that cable connections page and event logs help check those drops. 

the direct connection is nice if you’re testing speeds that way you can rule out the router being the bottle neck. Is it needed? Not really. But is nice to have on hand if you’re concerned about speeds and where the bottleneck is. 


By connecting the modem directly will help us to isolate the problem that if the internet drops on the Wi-Fi router or with the modem when connected to devices like a computer.

And checking the cable signal levels would be the best course of action as cable signal levels in modems refer to the strength and quality of the signals being received and transmitted between the modem and the Internet Service Provider.

Please find the below link, where you can steps to check the cable signal levels. 

http://arris.force.com/consumers/articles/General_FAQs/SB8200-Cable-Signal-Levels

Could you also help us with your subscribed internet speed plan?


Thanks...it seems the Cox “upgrading” was responsible for my woes.  I never noticed a prolonged down time (as their email to me the day after my OP said I would see that day), but have had no problems since.  I think ISP-blame is right.


glad you have it working!


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