'Unsecured (WiFi) Network'

[martens]

Last night our internet went out for a bit, I unplugged our cable modem box to force restart, and it seemed it was all good at least for wired devices like Apple TV.

But since then, all of our Apple devices complain the WiFi is 'Unsecured'. I've checked the WiFi settings, the Security Mode is WPA2-PSK (AES). Is that considered Unsecured now, and if so, why no complaints yesterday?

Forget does not prompt for password when I reconnect, but it must be grabbing it from Cloud. And for some reason the 2.4 GHz SSID isn't showing as an option, and I cannot enter it manually. And 2.4 only devices aren't connecting.

I suspect it may be a hardware issue (or in need of a firmware reset), but apparently it's not user-updatable ("DOCSIS standards dictate that the service provider must distribute firmware to cable modem devices" -- who knew? not me).

I'll be calling our service provider to see what they may know: did they try to push an update to the thing last night? and it failed? technically I own it, purchased rather than rent it, but that should not absolve them of culpability.

 

[martens]

OMG. I called the service provider, the automated system said 'there was a service impairment in your area' and offered to send SMS when issue was resolved. To confirm, it read out my cell phone number as 'Five billion, three hundred eight million....'. It stopped my brain for a few seconds before I realized it was my number. (who programmed this thing?)

I don't know if it is related to my WiFi issue, but I suppose it could be (again if they were pushing out updates, as I suppose they will from time to time). There was no way to reach a person to ask.

I'll at least hold off on 'reset to factory defaults' (whatever that does) until they SMS me, and see if WiFi is healthy again after that.

I have been having WiFi issues prior to this, but not this blatant. A smart plug was wonky for a few days, and sometimes I just wasn't getting internet services to load even with strong WiFi signal. Switch to 2.4 band it it would start working. And later 5 would work fine. It's not in an ideal location (too close to a wall and some other electronics) so I thought that was the issue. Now I think it is something to do with the equipment.

 

[glenthompson]

Is this a combined modem/router device? I always recommend separating the two devices as the combos are usually mediocre at best.

 

[martens]

Yes, it is.

I didn't choose it: the cable modem (installed before WiFi was a thing) stopped working and they replaced it with this thing 'at no charge' as they claimed this was what they were installing everywhere (I purchased it when I saw they were adding $5 to the monthly bill, which they failed to tell me about before hand). I had my own WAP before, this was newer/better in terms of wireless standard support at the time, it reduced cable clutter, and it was working well until recently.

However, if the issue doesn't resolve, I can connect a WAP somewhere and turn the cable box WAP off. I have a fairly new one around. And maybe the new ownership (Vyve) is okay with just cable modem again.

 

[martens]

It gets a little weirder: the Unsecured message is gone, but all of my Apple devices got kicked off and I had to credential them again (I think I tried Forget with one and it must have 'propagated'). 2.4 band is still not functional, but probably okay as I don't have much dependency on it. And the service provider has still not SMSed that whatever issue they have been working on is resolved (service has terminated for a couple of minutes a couple of times in last couple of days, I assume because of whatever they're doing).