For a little over a year I've been using a C1000A VDSL2 modem configured to transparent bridging. Several times a day it stops working, in that it passes no traffic, even though it claims that the DSL link is up. I don't think it is overheating as others have suggested, as it still responds to pings to its management interface. I think line noise has somehow confused it, and it should retrain automatically, but apparently doesn't.
The phone line would become unusable every time it rained or snowed, even for voice, so it was clear that water was getting into the line somewhere, but every time CenturyLink sent a technician out, it was working perfectly. Finally in March they happened to send a tech during a snowstorm, he identified the problem, and fixed it by switching me to a different pair. (That had been tried once previously without fixing it, so apparently there's more than one bad pair between me and the FTTC.) Now it works just as well with rain and snow as with dry weather, but still stops working several times a day.
I tried a second C1000A, which behaves in exactly the same way, so I think it's a design flaw rather than a failure of the particular modem.
I've now got the modem plugged into an IP Power 9258 which will power-cycle if it can't get a ping from the CenturyLink PPP gateway address for more than 30 seconds. However, I'm still dissatisfied with the modem. Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem with the C1000A? Is there any more reliable VDSL2 modem that I should try? It looks like it's difficult to find any other VDSL2 modems available for purchase. I'm tempted by the Cisco 877, but I'd rather not spend that much money for a router when all I need is a transparent bridge.
It astounds me that this kind of problem still exists. I've had similar problems with DSL modems and cable modems since first using DSL with Pacific Bell and an Alcatel 1000 modem back in 1999. Having been a firmware engineer for networking products for over 20 years, I fail to understand why they release products with firmware that can't detect when the connection has stopped working and retrain automatically. I guess it's like any other consumer product; once it sort of basically works, the engineering is done and it's shipped to the customer. Pathetic.
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