I was away from home and somehow my network was down. I spoke to the service provider and they recommended I go home and manually hard-boot both the cable modem and router.
I'm thinking there must be a way to force a reboot 'remotely'.
ANy one with a clue on how to accomplish this, with an Arduino?
Plug the modem/router into a PowerTail and let Arduino power cycle it.
http://www.powerswitchtail.com/Pages/default.aspx
Thank you, that'll do it.
I do not know your system and cannot give you a complete answer. A power tail as suggested would work, it works like a relay, but you need to cycle it with something external such as an Arduino. However the Arduino has no way of knowing if your network is down. I would consider using a either an Ethernet or wi-fi shield and ping your router on a regular basis with the Arduino. When it fails to respond for several pings that would be a good indication it is off line and time for a reset. They also make devices that can go on your phone line and you just call and enter a key code to reset it. Remember it is a good idea to hold it in the off condition for at least 60 seconds. This will give the internal capacitors time to discharge and force the units to properly restart.