PS4 / Internet (Charter) / Cisco router troubleshooting

This is 100% a first world problem..

So my kids are home this summer, and as kids do.. they're gaming with friends on the Playstation 3 and 4.

Last Friday the fast wifi conection to PSN (sony playstation network) that's been fairly rock solid since Christmas went bananas.

Connection goes: Charter high speed cable internet --> Linksys (Cisco EA4500) N900 dual band wireless (fairly new, relatively mack daddy) router --> house full of wifi devices (macbook, android phones, iphones, kindles, Rokus, PS3, PS4).

All worked great for months. Then the PSN network threw a rod, kicked 'em out and can't log back in. (Everything else still works fine, thanks).

A weekend of Troubleshooting phone calls and chats yielded frustration. Reset.. reboot.. hey, try hardwire.. nothing allows the elusive login. Everything else still works fine. PS4 grabs an IP address and connects great, just can't login to PSN.

If your playing solo (offline) no problem. Works great. But gaming with friends in their basements is busted.

I spent probably 10 hours last weekend rebooting, configuring, testing, resetting, unconnecting, hardwiring, rewiring, entering new DNS, port forwarding... in hell basically.

Sony blames Linksys and Charter. Says "change your ISP". Sure.

Charter blames Linksys and Sony.

Linksys says "just do a facory reset".

Nothing fixes the PSN login problem.

I'm pissed at my kid, but he didn't do anything. He just wants to play an hour or two or eleven per day with friends.

Twitter appears to say the Sony PSN network is E36 M3, but their support techs are told to admit nothing.. it's ASSCAN from them...

Act

Surprised

Sound

Concerned

Admit

Nothing

But then on Tuesday, Sony website announces they are having network problems. This lasted 4 hours then it's back to "status=good". But it's not at my house.

Does anyone have tips for who can troubleshoot this?

Is this something the Best Buy Geek Squad can figure out?

Because I'm worn out.

Thanks for reading all the way through.

Run only Ethernet cables to gaming consoles......wifi is garbage for gaming.

In your case, psn could have been hacked again and be down for a few months......

I am hardwired to the PS4 with Cat5e.

I think the "hacked again" suggestion is quite likely.

One issue I was having was my neighbors were blasting their WiFi on the same channel as I was. I changed the channel, and we're back to our usually good performance.

Charter technical support was of no help with this issue (no surprise, it's one of their weaknesses).

In reply to OHSCrifle:

Ahh, gotcha....well that takes one issue away from the possible problem.....

Sad to see Sony's support so useless, must not be up to snuff with XBL due to lacking an incentive for so long(paid service) Hell, I was on the phone with XBL support for over 2hrs one night awhile back, but that was due to port forwarding an Apple router and eliminating the moderate & strict NAT settings I was stuck with. Hell, the gal I had for that duration still plays GTA5 with me every now and then.

OHSCrifle wrote: PS4 grabs an IP address and connects great, just can't login to PSN.

Your network is working just fine. PSN is the issue.

Sony just told you that when the engine runs fine, and you can't shift into gear, there is clearly a problem with your ignition system.

N Sperlo wrote:

OHSCrifle wrote: PS4 grabs an IP address and connects great, just can't login to PSN.

Your network is working just fine. PSN is the issue. Sony just told you that when the engine runs fine, and you can't shift into gear, there is clearly a problem with your ignition system.

This makes alot of sense to me, and matches my thoughts exactly.

Log into the PSN network in a web browser on a computer. See if there is a new Terms of Service you have to agree to before you can login. I fee like that happened to me once for something.

Update

Disconnected router.. unplugged (cable) modem. Wired PS4 directly to modem, waited 10 minutes and fired it back up. Conected to Sony gameserver just fine.

So it seems my router is the boondoggle. I think I may go pickup a new router at Walmart. Hook it up and see if PSN is still happy.

If yes, then I keep it I suppose. If no, then I know it's not just my current router, and I will just return the new one.

Linksys/Cisco has earned my scorn....

What brand should I get? Netgear.. D-Link.. Asus.. Zyxel?

Keep in mind I have a E36 M3 ton of wireless devices, but the PS4 will be hardwired.

Hmmm... can you set it up to use a specific port?

Do you mean setup the PS4 to use a specific port?

I dunno.

http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Cisco/Linksys-EA4500/PS4.htm

Yep. Have done all that.

Pretty convinced the Sony server(s) are fubar. But their support chat techs are toeing the company line, with useful tips like "you need to change ISPs". A couple times they suggested all may not be perfect on their end, but the status site says everythings just dandy. Such BS.

I think.

Router looks like a decent piece of hardware, consider switching to an OpenWRT based firmware if it's giving trouble.

I suspect this is a problem on Sony's end though.

Try changing the channel on your router.

Did charger make any changes to (push any automatic updates) your router?

Comcast did that to me middle of last year and blocked my vpn to work. Of course they never admit to it, but I go out and buy my own router and get vpn back (after multiple calls, trade ins to new Comcast routers, and techs coming to the house).

I'm pretty convinced that isps are starting down the path of limiting data (or blocking things or slowing intentionally) to try and get you to pay a higher rate for 'better' servoce. Tough to prove though.

A year or so ago I was having issues with PSN not working over my Time Warner connection. After some digging around it seemed that TW DNS servers were crap so I switched them for one of the free DNS servers and have not had any trouble since. That maybe something to try.

In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit:

Good idea, set DNS manually on PS4 to 8.8.8.8 primary, 8.8.4.4 secondary (that's google DNS), that never hurts.

dj06482 wrote: Try changing the channel on your router.

Did that. No effect

In reply to rcutclif:

Router is mine. Charter says no recent changes.

Sony made major update to PS system on July 1 though...

I think they're getting hacked all day every day, and finding out worldwide data network security is serious business.

(....Says the dude opening ports on his router in search of gaming).

Kenny_McCormic wrote: In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit: Good idea, set DNS manually on PS4 to 8.8.8.8 primary, 8.8.4.4 secondary (that's google DNS), that never hurts.

Have been on the Google DNS since the 2nd day.

Still convinced it is Sony..

RossD wrote: Log into the PSN network in a web browser on a computer. See if there is a new Terms of Service you have to agree to before you can login. I fee like that happened to me once for something.

Tried. Can't connect (using my router). I did successfully connect to both the ps4 and the website with my Verizon mobile phone. No new terms...

Good idea though. Thx

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Router looks like a decent piece of hardware, consider switching to an OpenWRT based firmware if it's giving trouble. I suspect this is a problem on Sony's end though.

Good idea, if it's possible. I may try that this weekend.

If you know enough to play with DNS servers early on, you probably know enough to run custom firmware. Though a little *nix knowledge doesn't hurt, it's far from required. I'm a fan of Gargoyle, DD-WRT can get confusing/complicated fast.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: If you know enough to play with DNS servers early on, you probably know enough to run custom firmware. Though a little *nix knowledge doesn't hurt, it's far from required. I'm a fan of Gargoyle, DD-WRT can get confusing/complicated fast.

I looked into flashing it with Tomato, but it seemed not to be compatible on this router. I will do some more research...