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misterocto

4 posts

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#323821 20-Jan-2026 17:22
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Has anybody else had issues with their Skinny "Smart Modem" randomly starting to make constant chirping sounds? Started happening to us a few days ago (sounds like a mosquito sending a telegram), and at first there were no further issues beyond the annoying sound.

 

A couple days ago, the internet dropped out. Surprisingly, this doesn't happen to us all that often, so it seemed a bit coincidental. For whatever reason, after an outage, this modem always requires being set back to factory default settings (another issue for another time), so I did all that and got our internet connection back. Then it dropped out an hour or so later. I did the same again, and it seemed to work fine.

 

While the chirping continued, a day and a half later, the internet dropped out again. I did the modem reset process again, and the internet connection came back... but only for about a minute. I did this again about four times before I got it to stay connected in a stable manner again.

 

I'd already been using Facebook Messenger to explain the chirping and suspiciously coincidental internet outages to the Skinny chatbot (ugh, I hate both the FB Messenger requirement and talking to bots), and the message I got back was that there's an issue with "the internal components" and they would send me a new power supply to resolve the issue. Note that the chirping is coming from within the router itself, seemingly on the opposite side from where the port for the power plug is. I'm no electrical engineer, but that sounds odd to me. Very happy to be wrong, though.

 

So after the outages again today, I just called Skinny's 0800 and talked to a real person. They also told me that this is a common issue, and they "guaranteed" that it would be resolved by swapping out the power supply. I told them that "guarantee" is a strong word, but held them to it.

 

I'm concerned that I'm going to be waiting for 3-7 working days for a new power supply, which might not even work, while I just hope that my internet stays connected while both my partner and I are attempting to work from home. I unfortunately don't have any other 12V 3A plugs sitting around (I've got an old Spark modem power supply, but it's 12V 2A and didn't work).

 

Anyone had a similar experience? Does the replacement power supply actually work for this issue?

 

Edit: "Glad" to hear it's not just me. I went ahead and plugged in my old Spark modem, unticked the VLAN setting and that's working perfectly. Now I can just wait for the Skinny power supply replacement in literal  peace.


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RunningMan
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  #3454681 20-Jan-2026 17:26
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Power supply is the most probable failure point, and a failing power supply could certainly cause the issues you describe.

 

 




Stu

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  #3454682 20-Jan-2026 17:27
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Had the same issue. Spark SM3. They sent a replacement power adapter after I convinced them to do so (it's a common issue). No problems since (knock on wood).





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Nate001
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  #3454683 20-Jan-2026 17:28
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Colleague had same issue. Skinny sent them a replacement power supply and no issues since.  




misterocto

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  #3454686 20-Jan-2026 17:34
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Thanks for the reassurance. Glad to know that it might actually just work as they've said. Makes me wonder why they can't, like, get a modem model that doesn't have a commonly failing power supply.


mattwnz
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  #3454689 20-Jan-2026 17:47
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I have had a lot of spark modems fail. Only last for about a year or so before dying. Think I now have the latest model.


shermanp
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  #3454691 20-Jan-2026 19:02
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Same thing happened to my "Skinny" (Spark) Smart Modem 3, which I was using for WiFi. Gave me an excuse to buy an Access Point that worked with my router instead, so I never bothered to try and get a replacement modem or power supply. 


 
 
 

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mattwnz
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  #3454728 20-Jan-2026 23:33
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Also when my spark modems have failed, it wasn't the power supply, it was something inside the modem, as they didn't work with a replacement supply. Luckily they have replaced it, as they now have quite a high price to purchase them which I wouldn't pay for based on their reliability to date. 


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