"Virtual hardwire" - my first thread here. A bit all over the place.

[devinrhode2]

I've been having some issues with video calls, zoom in particular.

Generally, I want to optimize my network as much as possible.

I have a XFinity XFi gateway (XB7) that I've set into Bridge mode (so it's just a modem). I pay for a gig connection, and by using their modem, I get unlimited data. Paying for unlimited data without this device is an extra $30/month..

Overview of network:
Router: Asus RT-AC86U (running latest "Release" merlin from 1/6/2023)
- My M1 MacBook Pro (for work)

TVs:
- Google TV Chromecast (can hardwire)
- Google Home Mini ("Ok Google" speaker) - Cannot hard-wire
- Samsung Smart TV (can hardwire)
- Roku (can hardwire)

Gaming:
- Brother's desktop (hard-wired)
- Nintendo Switch (maybe hard-wire?)

Smart Home devices:
- Nanit baby monitor (deserves especially higher priority)
- Dyson smart fan/heater
- MyQ garage door
- Google Nest relay device
- Philips hue base (hard-wired into router) + few smart bulbs

Our smartphones:
- iPhone 13 mini (mine)
- iPhone 14 pro (brothers)
- iPhone 14 pro (sisters)
- Galaxy S7 (wife's)

I have a few basic ideas:
- Prioritize my work laptop (only device in tier 1)
- Limit all other devices:
- We have a 1gig internet plan, so putting all other devices on a lower speed+lower priority level should be fine
- Netflix 4k allegedly only needs 15 Mbps, which I find hard to believe, but here it is: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306
- I suppose a default of 30Mbps would be a fine. 15 known "smart" devices could get a lower speed (MyQ garage door, google nest, dyson fan/heater...)
- Smartphones could be promoted to tier 2...
- My nanit baby monitor has been flaky for quite some time. Maybe that should be given more priority, but speed of only ~100Mbps

I am open to doing things like hiding/not broadcasting the ssid, since most devices are already connected, I don't mind going through some pain when adding new devices.

I bought Cat8 eth to run all the way to my desktop/laptop to the other side of the house, but my wife does not want to see the cable. Running the cable isn't that hard, it's making it invisible that's hard.

Most of my connection issues seemed to start when I switched from my own modem (motorola MB8600) to xfinity's XFi XB7 gateway. In particular, I've seen a lot going completely offline.

Besides that, I'd love to have the best possible connection for my primary work/gaming machine. I wish I could just tell my wife it's "required for my job" to have a hardwire connection lol. I know I could hide the wire really well.. but hard to make it seamless.

Looks like my xfinity modem might be having some low memory issues?? Screenshot: https://share.cleanshot.com/tX5Z0hsv3Fgd1BWmrgFc

 

[drinkingbird]

I've been having some issues with video calls, zoom in particular.

Generally, I want to optimize my network as much as possible.

I have a XFinity XFi gateway (XB7) that I've set into Bridge mode (so it's just a modem). I pay for a gig connection, and by using their modem, I get unlimited data. Paying for unlimited data without this device is an extra $30/month.

Overview of network:
Router: Asus RT-AC86U (running latest "Release" merlin from 1/6/2023)
- My M1 MacBook Pro (for work)

TVs:
- Google TV Chromecast (can hardwire)
- Google Home Mini ("Ok Google" speaker) - Cannot hard-wire
- Samsung Smart TV (can hardwire)
- Roku (can hardwire)

Gaming:
- Brother's desktop (hard-wired)
- Nintendo Switch (maybe hard-wire?)

Smart Home devices:
- Nanit baby monitor (deserves especially higher priority)
- Dyson smart fan/heater
- MyQ garage door
- Google Nest relay device
- Philips hue base (hard-wired into router) + few smart bulbs

Our smartphones:
- iPhone 13 mini (mine)
- iPhone 14 pro (brothers)
- iPhone 14 pro (sisters)
- Galaxy S7 (wife's)

I have a few basic ideas:
- Prioritize my work laptop (only device in tier 1)
- Limit all other devices:
- We have a 1gig internet plan, so putting all other devices on a lower speed+lower priority level should be fine
- Netflix 4k allegedly only needs 15 Mbps, which I find hard to believe, but here it is: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306
- I suppose a default of 30Mbps would be a fine. 15 known "smart" devices could get a lower speed (MyQ garage door, google nest, dyson fan/heater...)
- Smartphones could be promoted to tier 2...
- My nanit baby monitor has been flaky for quite some time. Maybe that should be given more priority, but speed of only ~100Mbps

I am open to doing things like hiding/not broadcasting the ssid, since most devices are already connected, I don't mind going through some pain when adding new devices.

I bought Cat8 eth to run all the way to my desktop/laptop to the other side of the house, but my wife does not want to see the cable. Running the cable isn't that hard, it's making it invisible that's hard.

Most of my connection issues seemed to start when I switched from my own modem (motorola MB8600) to xfinity's XFi XB7 gateway. In particular, I've seen a lot going completely offline.

Besides that, I'd love to have the best possible connection for my primary work/gaming machine. I wish I could just tell my wife it's "required for my job" to have a hardwire connection lol. I know I could hide the wire really well.. but hard to make it seamless.

Looks like my xfinity modem might be having some low memory issues?? Screenshot: https://share.cleanshot.com/tX5Z0hsv3Fgd1BWmrgFc

If you have 1 gig internet then I would disable QOS completely. I think xfinity is now giving 50M upload with that tier? I guess if you have something that does a lot of upload then QOS might still be useful for that, but in reality QOS is not a "good" thing to have unless you have a slow internet plan where you really need it.

If the issues started when you put that modem in, then maybe get it swapped out? Or did the issues start when you upgraded to gig (and thus got the modem along with it)?

When you say going offline, is the modem losing its connection to the internet? Often times with cable the first place to look is your coax. The run from the street (especially if aboveground) is good for 5-10 years before water infiltrates it and various parts corrode, and even within your house there may be old cable, loose connectors, too many splitters, etc. Try looking at the signal levels in the modem. If their gateway is using more channels in the bonding, or newer DOCSIS/QAM modulation, a signal that was ok before may not be anymore.

 

[A Purohit]

FWIW, I had Comcrap for years at 60/6 speed. Never had a problem with Zoom or any other video system. My wife is a mental health therapist and uses video calling for work all the time. We never had to "make sure the other wasn't on" or anything like that. I also never had to setup QOS. We do the calls on wifi (5GHz).

I never had a Comcrap modem - I had my own Motorola and my still running AC68U. I would suspect their modem first, as they tend to be pretty crappy (I used to have a computer services company so I saw customer's devices and found them to be pretty poor in the past). I will note that I tested a friend's XFi modem and found it worked pretty well, but I'll never use one myself... bridge mode or not.

On my Motorola cable modem, I was able to access the signal level screens, and I often found that their signal levels sucked. Just before I switched away from them last year (on Frontier FTTP, 500/500 now) I had them check, and sure enough they had MULTIPLE problems on the lines in my neighborhood. Clearly, they don't pay attention themselves, but with my data I was able to get them to fix it... which they did over the course of about a month. I wonder if you have similar issues?

Bottom line, I don't think the Asus is the problem, and like drinkingbird, I also don't think you need QOS either. I would suspect their modem and or signal levels to start with... they are notorious for this, in my experience.

 

[Wisiwyg]

If you're worried about not having a hardwire setup for a critical computer you can go the power line adapter path. They've gotten better and less expensive over the years. TP Link offers a 2gb renewed set for $70 on Amazon right now. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KGJ17J2/?tag=snbforums-20. One set will get your router on the power line and a pc connected to your router. Add more for additional devices. Should work unless you get into some strange wiring situations where the line phases aren't matched up.

 

[heysoundude]

I pay for a gig connection, and by using their modem, I get unlimited data. Paying for unlimited data without this device is an extra $30/month.

The bastards. I'd be stark raving murderous if this were the case for me.
How much is modem rental?

 

[drinkingbird]

I have a XFinity XFi gateway (XB7) that I've set into Bridge mode (so it's just a modem). I pay for a gig connection, and by using their modem, I get unlimited data. Paying for unlimited data without this device is an extra $30/month.

What is your cap on gig? I thought it was like 1TB or something but it probably varies by region. For most people the cap was never an issue but I know they've been lowering it gradually.

 

[Tech Junky]

Comcast

Modem is usually $15/mo

$45 for unlimited = modem+$30 might as well keep using the mb8600 and bond the 2 ports to get over 1ge speeds. I was getting close to 1400/40.

I tend to place blame on their cpe though as well.

My solution was switching to T-Mobile for $50/mo all in and getting 200/70 most of the time. Most of the time people don't need gigabit downloads for the extra price you pay to get higher upload speeds. Sure, it's nice for those iso downloads to finish in under a minute but, most traffic doesn't push the DL limit most of the time.

T-Mobile though does go faster if you have optimal placement for reception. If I take it outside away from the cell antennas in top of my building the speed jumps to 600/100. There are some regions getting gig speeds from the same device.

 

[glens]

Paying for unlimited data without this device is an extra $30/month.

Perhaps it's got something more to do with quality of service network-wide via control they have over their own equipment, for example. Either that or they're thus able to garner extra income from data collection, the loss of which you must replace, hahaha.

 

[Wistuplu]

Dear devinrhode2,

Thank you for the detailed input and welcome.

You mention a gigabit plan, but you don't specify the upload. Someone mentioned 50Mbps. It makes me believe you use Cable/Docsis like myself.

About "- Netflix 4k allegedly only needs 15 Mbps, which I find hard to believe, but here it is: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306"

All the Netflix apps that I can think of (Sony TV, Panasonic TV, PS4) provide a way to see the bandwidth, for instance by pressing an i/information button. 18Mbps is the maximum for 4K HDR Dolby Vision here. More generally, the "Traffic Analyzer" on your Asus router will allow you to understand what circumstances/app use your bandwith. You will be amazed by bandwidth requirements for Zoom or Teams. Very low. However, ping/latency is the key. What's yours ? My videocalls are usually with colleagues tens of kilometres away (from a bird point of view), and possibly hundreds of kilometers way from an IP route point of view. Not thousands.

Since recently, I am on a 200/10 plan. I used to be on 125/7. You might have different usage scenarios, but my plan is already plenty for my household. So, your gigabit plan, if reliable, shouldn't require any optimization in my eyes. (At some point, I was on 400/20. It made no practical difference for us with 125/7.)

My internet is based on cable, DOCSIS 3 (or 3.1). I have been fighting/cooperating with my provider in Europe over several years before I got a reliable connection all year round, also in freezing/windy/rainy weather. One of the things that happened was replacing the modem. It didn't help.
Those modems did allow showing the levels of the line/cable. I monitored that "manually". I also used
- modmon - Source / Github - Dev: @Jack Yaz
- connmon - (AMTM) - Source / Github - Dev: @Jack Yaz
- spdMerlin (use with care, it might consume a huge volume, and won't provide much more actionable data than the others. Also, it probably won't be able to be the "source" of the speedtest for a 1Gbps connection at full-speed.)
I even adapted modmon to the modem of my own ISP: https://github.com/waluwaz/belmon. I guess, in itself, belmon is not useful for you (or anyone else actually). But it might give you inspiration. And you wrote "regardless of setup difficulty" ;-)

All these didn't improve anything, but they helped to interact/motivate with the ISP, which then brought a solution.

See example of input I provided to my ISP in this thread (the link brings you to the end. Feel free to navigate to page 1), in French. Consistency, hard data and cooperation allowed me to get a weekly call from their top-tier support engineers at some point. And I got several on-site visits. They tended to first make minute changes to the inside cabling. Based on my insistence/suggestion, they made more "deep" changes inside (like upgrading an old stretch of cable that was in RG59 instead of RG6, see here), and finally also replaced a good stretch of aerial street cable and more fine-tuning (? street amplifier levels). I hope your journey will be faster/easier than mine.

FYI, part of the problem was as follows, the DOCSIS modem of the ISP would use 16 channels. Those channels would be selected among 20 or so available channels on their infrastructure in my neighbourhood. The selection would typically not change for several days. There were some "doomed"/unstable channels in the mix of 20. If the selection of 16 did include those, the internet connection was unstable for a few hours/days, with potentially significant numbers of lost packets. (NB: Losing one packet here and there is no cause for concern. But 3 or 5% packet loss will ruin your calls.)

Did you experiment with your cabled laptop for an extensive stretch of time? Did it show improvements ? My assumption is that it didn't improve things, or that you were just lucky.

Also, echoing one of your ideas, at some point, I cabled my gaming console because I was experimenting bad delays/latency. It later appeared that, for Splatoon on the Wii U, Nintendo would pair me with opponents on the other side of the world. The issue was not between my console and my router; but between my router and the other console 10,000+ kilometres away. I now have 2 Switch. One is cabled (through a USB adapter if I recall), the other is on Wifi. There is no noticeable difference between them for a casual gamer on Splatoon 2.

Good luck

Update: It seems your XB7 is from Technicolor, a French company, same as mine; except that we have different models (and ISP customzations). Links to user manual (Mine is CGA4233, yours seems to be CGM4331)

Update 2: Just to illustrate "external factors", after a windy rainy night, no internet (and no television) this morning until lunchtime...

 

[devinrhode2]

I've actually never posted in this forum before, didn't realize there were so many replies!

When you say going offline, is the modem losing its connection to the internet?

Not sure if it's router or modem. I'm usually just on my laptop. I wish if the modem dropped, that the router would like... redirect me or something to a "modem offline" page.
I have seen the connection drop (vertical red lines), while still having a wifi signal:

CleanShot 2023-01-23 at 15.42.40

Screenshot uploaded to CleanShot Cloud

share.cleanshot.com

(Pingr and Wifi Signal apps for mac)
This aligns with the obvious fact that issues started when the modem was swapped.

If you have 1 gig internet then I would disable QOS completely. I think xfinity is now giving 50M upload with that tier? I guess if you have something that does a lot of upload then QOS might still be useful for that, but in reality QOS is not a "good" thing to have unless you have a slow internet plan where you really need it.

If the issues started when you put that modem in, then maybe get it swapped out? Or did the issues start when you upgraded to gig (and thus got the modem along with it)?

When you say going offline, is the modem losing its connection to the internet? Often times with cable the first place to look is your coax. The run from the street (especially if aboveground) is good for 5-10 years before water infiltrates it and various parts corrode, and even within your house there may be old cable, loose connectors, too many splitters, etc. Try looking at the signal levels in the modem. If their gateway is using more channels in the bonding, or newer DOCSIS/QAM modulation, a signal that was ok before may not be anymore.

I swapped the xb7 for an Arris s33 now, but not sure how to check these things.
Here's some screenshots from the modem:
Startup Procedure: https://share.cleanshot.com/MTgfFjzx2C01cYgTVM3t
Downstream bonded channels: https://share.cleanshot.com/0BxmYvYNbR7kQX1sZDNV
(most are QAM256, one is OFDM PLC)
Upstream bonded channels: https://share.cleanshot.com/bfp3R61W1F91NGj42WVW
(all are SC-QAM)
Hardware version: v1.0
Software version: TB01.03.001.10_012022_212.S3

Config options (mostly disabled): https://share.cleanshot.com/53J3McH5xrtDGWxqxNMf

Re: Unlimited data: I was using 400mb/month at most, and my cap is 1.2TB, so I was about 1/3 of my total allotment. When addicted to xbox.com cloud gaming, the unlimited data becomes really important. That stuff uses a TON of data.

@Wistuplu - connmon and modmon look really interesting!!

On a general note, it seems that the ping with the arris s33 modem is actually worse than with xfinity's xb7 modem. It's now generally around 35-45ms, when it was closer to 21-30 before with the xb7.... I wish Pingr recorded ping data for last 7 days...

ping is 33ms at best next to router, with fresh connection to 5g wifi

 

[devinrhode2]

Still getting dropped connections with new modem...

 

[devinrhode2]

> Powerline
I looked into powerline a bit. I'm weary of the reliability/stability. Also appears that the speeds may not even be better than wifi.

Overall hoping that wifi 6 over 2.4ghz works for now. If not, I could add some more 5.9GHz "checkpoints" that are closer to me... but idk...

I did buy a AX-11000 Pro yesterday, shipped today, hopefully that makes a difference...

 

[drinkingbird]

I've actually never posted in this forum before, didn't realize there were so many replies!

Administration -> System -> Enable WAN down browser redirect notice will have your browser notify you if the WAN is down.

If your new modem didn't solve the problems I would log into the modem stats (usually 192.168.100.1 but may be different for that one) and compare signal levels to what they should be (you can find dozens of sites on google showing safe range).

The router logs should also tell you if the WAN port went down.

If you are still on wifi when it goes down then either your wifi signal is getting a lot of interference (you said something about using 2.4, that is definitely a congested band, 5ghz would be much better) or your modem is dropping. My guess would probably be modem as unless there was massive interference it likely would not totally lose all pings.

 

[devinrhode2]

wow... already have the "WAN down" page enabled...

When I am losing connection, my wifi signal does appear to at least be WEAK...

But still baffling as to how I'm losing the entire connection...

 

[drinkingbird]

wow... already have the "WAN down" page enabled...

When I am losing connection, my wifi signal does appear to at least be WEAK...

But still baffling as to how I'm losing the entire connection...

I think it may require the WAN to either be physically down or possibly a certain timeout. If your modem is losing signal the port won't physically go down so maybe it just isn't down long enough to trigger the notice. Have you logged into the cable modem? You should be able to see both signal levels and log messages there.

Are you using 2.4ghz wifi - if you're saying the signal gets weak when it goes down, there could be some interference happening. You can try toying with the channel settings (or try auto if you aren't already to see what it picks), make sure you are on 20Mhz at and not 40 on the 2.4 band.

Also disable "universal beamforming" and definitely "airtime fairness" on the advanced wifi page. You can toy with universal beamforming on and off, in some cases it helps but often it hinders.

Explicit (AC) beamforming doesn't even apply to 2.4 so that setting shouldn't change anything, not even sure why it is there. Defaults to enabled.

 

[devinrhode2]

I have some screenshot links with signal levels above (See "Downstream bonded channels", etc).

Here's all the logs on the modem:

Date Time    Event Level    Description


31/12/1969
18:00:16    3    CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change:Init, 5-42MHz.
18:00:21    3    SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing;;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
18:01:17    3    SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing;;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
18:01:17    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-21.2, 258MHz.
18:01:17    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-21.3, 1002MHz.
18:01:17    3    CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-21.1, 42MHz.
18:01:20    3    No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
18:01:33    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-84.2, 108MHz.
18:01:33    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-84.3, 1002MHz.
18:01:33    3    CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change:TLV-84.1, 5-42MHz.
18:00:16    3    CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change:Init, 5-42MHz.
18:00:20    3    SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing;;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
18:00:22    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-21.2, 258MHz.
18:00:22    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-21.3, 1002MHz.
18:00:22    3    CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-21.1, 42MHz.
18:00:27    6    Honoring MDD; IP provisioning mode = IPv6
18:00:35    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-84.2, 108MHz.
18:00:35    3    CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored:TLV-84.3, 1002MHz.
18:00:35    3    CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change:TLV-84.1, 5-42MHz.


23/1/2023
16:53:32    3    Failed LAN WebGUI login attempt from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/23 at 4:53 PM.
16:54:09    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/23 at 4:54 PM.
16:56:35    6    DS profile assignment change. DS Chan ID: 32; Previous Profile: ; New Profile: 1 2 3.;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
**Activated service to new modem, I'm online baby!!**
21:03:30    3    Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
21:34:48    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/23 at 9:34 PM.


24/1/2023
11:19:15    3    Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
11:23:24    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/24 at 11:23 AM.
11:26:04    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/24 at 11:26 AM.
20:28:37    3    Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
20:38:52    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/24 at 8:38 PM.
20:39:38    3    Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
20:40:56    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/24 at 8:40 PM.


25/1/2023
09:13:51    3    Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=Redacted_1;CMTS-MAC=Redacted_2;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
09:17:45    3    Successful LAN WebGUI login from REDACTED_IPv4 on 23/01/25 at 9:17 AM.

I was using my `_5G` (5ghz) connection yesterday, fingers crossed 2.4 is more reliable today.
It's using the 20mhz channel already (without changing any settings).

Kind of sad that it's using 802.11n, but thankfully new router is on the way.

But wait there's more!! Already dropped with 2.4g this morning, as I was writing this!

 

[devinrhode2]

Now.. onto updating some settings...

I wouldn't want to disable "Universal beamforming" if your reasoning is "not sure why it's there", but open to disabling if you insist.

"Airtime fairness" is already disabled. I flashed merlin firmware earlier this month.

I am going to make one change.. set the 2.4ghz to "N only" since I don't think I have any b/g devices..

 

[devinrhode2]

here's relevant settings page - these are still all set to the defaults:

And here's page where I'm changing to "N only"

 

[devinrhode2]

Also: it's fair to suspect my little bar chart in the menu bar (Pingr) isn't accurate.

I've had at least 50 drops total, and often times, if I'm using messenger.com or reddit.com (modern SPA's), they'll also show little "You're offline" or "You're back online!" banner notifications when Pingr shows I'm offline.

It's never more than about 6 seconds, but it's just enough to disrupt a conversation.

 

[drinkingbird]

Now.. onto updating some settings...

I wouldn't want to disable "Universal beamforming" if your reasoning is "not sure why it's there", but open to disabling if you insist.

"Airtime fairness" is already disabled. I flashed merlin firmware earlier this month.

I am going to make one change.. set the 2.4ghz to "N only" since I don't think I have any b/g devices..

I said for AC beamforming (Explicit beamforming) not sure why it is there. Universal beamforming is supposed to be there and is an outdated technology that doesn't work well for many so disabling it may help. I disable it on both 2.4 and 5Ghz bands and leave Explicit enabled on 5ghz.

N only is good, disabling the B/G rates, though if there are none in the area it probably won't matter. On 5Ghz I have mine set to N/AC mixed to disable A.

Did you check the signal levels in the modem? A few errors in the log that could be nothing or could be related to bad signal. You want to look for downstream/upstream power and downstream SNR (some will report upstream SNR but that is not common).

Best thing to do would be to ping your router LAN and your ISP default gateway (as reported by the router WAN DHCP lease) when the issue occurs to see where the drop is happening. You could even ping your router WAN and something reliable on the internet like google.com too, but the first two are a good start.

You can just run a couple command prompts in the background with continuous ping to them all and see which ones have issues.

Some say to disable MU-MIMO too, but my router doesn't support it and haven't played with it much.

I also disable TX bursting but that should only impact legacy clients (but I still disable it anyway).

If your router LAN pings but the ISP's gateway doesn't, it is almost certainly an issue with your modem link to the ISP. You can further confirm this by pinging the router WAN just to make sure the router isn't dropping stuff internally for some reason, but that's unlikely.