Internet Service: Xfinity / Comcast

Home Infrastructure: Cable Matters Cat6 patch panel with HPE OfficeConnect 1420 switch

Old modem: Netgear CM700

Old router: Netgear Nighthawk MK63 (3-pack mesh)

New modem: Arris Surfboard S33

New router: TP-Link Deco AXE5300 (3-pack mesh)

Primary streaming interface: Xbox Series X (Cat6 wired connection)

Secondary streaming: iPad (WiFi), iPhone (WiFi or cellular), Windows PC Chrome browser (Cat6 wired)

Speedtest results

Wired: 850-950 Mbps download (20-25 up)

WiFi: 700-800 Mbps download (18-23 up)

Background / Scenario

We have Disney+ / ESPN+ / Hulu bundle streaming account.  We mainly use ESPN to watch volleyball and I periodically use Disney to watch Marvel / Star Wars / etc.  A few weeks ago, ESPN suddenly stopped working on the Xbox and giving an error message when it tried to launch the app.  Over the next couple of days, did some more testing and discovered Disney, ESPN and Hulu were all not working across all devices -- Xbox, iPads and PC browser.  Did the usual stuff, power cycled cable modem / router, devices, etc.  Still not working.  Also notable -- other streaming services (Amazon Prime, Pandora, YouTube, etc) work just fine on all devices.  Additionally, everything else internet related works fine as well -- computers, Alexa, smart switches, Ring, apps on iOS devices.  The problem seems to be isolated to Disney bundle.

Started with Disney tech support.  Went through several things with them, one of which was to take my iPhone off WiFi and use cellular data.  Disney & ESPN both worked fine on the phone over cellular.  At this point, Disney rep said it's likely a problem with Xfinity and pointed me to them.  Fair enough, based on what we had done up to that point and knowing their service worked fine over cellular data in the same location.

Contacted Xfinity tech support and went through some more things with them, most of which I'd already tried, but they did some resets for the service / cable modem from their end as well.  Didn't really make any headway and the rep finally scheduled a tech to come to the house the next day.  This was a Sat so the tech was coming Sun afternoon.  The old cable modem was a bit dated, DOCSIS 3.0, and seemed to be rate limited to less than my Xfinity service -- decided to buy a new one to have on hand when the tech showed up the next day, just in case.

Xfinity tech arrives (on time!) the next day and did a pretty good job troubleshooting.  Started from the pedestal into the house, identified some interference from an old splitter, replaced that and improved the signal.  He said he'd heard of streaming issues with older cable modems and since he was onsite it would be easy to set up and activate the new cable modem.  Had him do that and he got it up & running.  One thing he had me do after that was connect a laptop direct to the internet port on the new cable modem and try Disney / ESPN in a browser.  Lo and behold, works fine.  So that seems to indicate it's not an Xfinity problem and an issue with the router. 

Took a break, thinking my next step is contact Netgear tech support and go down the router rabbit hole to figure out what's going on.  Sitting on the couch on my phone and internet goes out completely.  Go to router and it's offline completely.  Power cycle, console in via wired PC browser to reboot, nothing.  Eventually I can't even access the console via browser and it seems to be kaput.  (It powers on but that's it.)  Reconnected laptop direct to the new cable modem and it's fine.  It's Sun afternoon and I need internet for work from home the next morning, so I run to Costco and get a new router, TP-Link Deco listed above.  Get it set up reasonably quickly and voila, everything is working, including Disney / ESPN / Hulu!  Ok, replacing cable modem & router was an unplanned upgrade but we're back in business.

Cue dun-dun-dun music and fast forward 2 weeks.  Everything had been working fine, including Disney / ESPN.  Wife goes to put on some volleyball on the Xbox, and ESPN displays the same error.  Argh.  Check Disney / ESPN / Hulu across several devices, all show the same errors as before.  I pull out my phone and take it off WiFi, works fine on cellular data.  Connect laptop direct to cable modem, works fine.  Everything else internet related works fine, including other streaming services.  I stop there since it's again late Sun afternoon -- I need internet for work Mon am and definitely not in the mood to scramble and replace the router again.  Was kinda busy during the week and everything has been working but Disney bundle, thankfully router has held up that much at least.  Have tried Disney on iPad a couple times through the week, no joy.

Now what?

I'm completely baffled at this point.  How do 2 routers from different companies exhibit the same behavior?  The new Deco worked right out of the box and we used it to stream ESPN several times over the last 2 weeks.  On the Sun that it stopped streaming ESPN, we had watched some volleyball *earlier in that same day*!  Made no changes, it didn't install any updates.

I'm not even sure where to turn next for help -- back to Disney, TP-Link?  Disney will just say it's working fine over cellular, but very strange 2 separate routers are doing the same thing.  It doesn't seem to be Xfinity since Disney works fine at the cable modem.  I don't think it's anything in the wired infrastructure (HP switch, etc) since WiFi devices don't work either.

Any ideas or directions I should consider?  Thanks for reading the saga and appreciate any inputs!