I bought a new Linksys Hydra Pro 6 (MR5500) router to connect to an Arris TM1602 modem (Spectrum) and I want to cut power to the router at night with an outlet timer. The router can’t connect to the internet again if the power is cycled with the timer or even if I cycle the power switch on the back of the router.
The only way to establish an internet connection again is to also power cycle the modem or I can just disconnect the ethernet cable and plug it back in without a power cycle. I don’t know why the router is waiting for some disruption to attempt to connect again.
Is this normal behavior for a router? Should I look for a different brand if I want to power it off every night so there are no reconnection issues in the morning?
Yes, this is fairly common behavior.
Cheap routers such as Linksys and NetGear often have a hard time re-establishing the WAN connection when the cable modem is power-cycled.
You could try going into your Linksys, and manually setting up to WAN connection. If the Arris IP is 192.168.0.1 for example, manually set your WAN connection to something like this:
192.168.0.2 Mask 255.255.255.0 Gateway 192.168.0.1
Save your settings, and restart both devices.
I am a “buy a router every 10 years and forget about it” kind of guy. What brand would be considered a better brand than Linksys and NetGear? I am not interested in the complexity of mesh systems.
I am not very savvy with technology anymore but I will try to figure out how to do what you explained. Thank you!