Network issues occur intermittently during idle periods, especially when another device is inactive.
Network issues occur intermittently during idle periods, especially when another device is inactive.
Upstream is your ISP’s provider router. With two or more LAN switch ports, you can connect directly without using the Netgear device.
It seems my ISP's router was positioned higher than my Netgear. Since the gateway is experiencing latency spikes, it’s likely limited to the local network and we should focus on fixing the local network latency first. I just set up the ASUS RT -AX86U and verified the expected setup with both our computers' internal NICs. Her NIC has been inactive for about 45 minutes with no noticeable spikes, unlike before when I’d see at least two spikes. I won’t label this resolved yet; I’ll wait 24 hours and then confirm if latency remains stable. My guess is the issue involves a combination of Intel’s Management Engine and my older router. You might want to explore why the built-in Intel NIC stays on during sleep. This suggests IME could be interfering with hardware shutdowns. Not a perfect solution, but it looks like the problem is mostly behind. While swapping the router, I noticed a large plastic object rattling in the old unit—no idea when or how this happened, but I’ll mention it. Eventually, I plan to disassemble the R7000 to check for issues. Update: 24-hour ping test with the new router shows no spikes, compared to consistent spikes before. Marking it solved now.
That's intriguing; it might suggest an explosion of a capacitor, which is uncommon but could definitely account for the observed stability problems.