How I Automated My Airtel (ZTE) Router Reboot to Fix Packet Loss & High Ping

How I Automated My Airtel (ZTE) Router Reboot to Fix Packet Loss & High Ping

If you’re like me and rely on a stable internet connection for work, gaming, or streaming, you know how frustrating it is when your router starts acting up. My Airtel (ZTE) router, unfortunately, doesn’t have a built-in scheduled reboot feature. Over time, I noticed that if I didn’t manually restart it every day, I’d start experiencing packet loss and high ping—making online activities nearly impossible.

After struggling with these issues for months, I decided to automate the process. Here’s how I built a solution using Python, Selenium, and a bit of scripting magic.

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The Problem: No Scheduled Reboot, High Ping & Packet Loss

Most modern routers offer a “Scheduled Reboot” option, but my Airtel (ZTE) router doesn’t. After a day or two of uptime, the router’s performance would degrade—causing:

• Packet loss (dropped connections in games and video calls)
• High ping (lag and delays)
• General sluggishness

The only fix was to log in to the router’s admin panel and manually reboot it. Doing this every day was tedious and easy to forget.

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The Solution: Automated Router Restart Script

I created a Router Scheduled Restart Automation script that logs into the router’s admin panel and reboots it automatically. Here’s how it works:

1. Automating the Browser with Selenium

Selenium is a tool that can control a web browser programmatically. I wrote a Python script (Airtel-Router-reboot.py) that:

• Opens the router’s admin page
• Logs in using credentials stored securely in a .env file
• Navigates to the reboot section
• Clicks the reboot button
• Waits for the router to come back online

2. Notifications & Error Handling

The script sends notifications to a Discord channel using a webhook, so I know when the reboot starts, succeeds, or fails. It also takes screenshots at each step for troubleshooting.

3. Scheduling with Cron

To make the reboot happen automatically every day, I set up a cron job on my home server. This ensures the script runs at 4:10 AM daily, when nobody is using the internet.

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Step-by-Step: Setting Up the Automation

Prerequisites

• Python 3
• Chrome browser and ChromeDriver
• Selenium, python-dotenv, requests Python packages

Installation

1. Clone the Repo & Install Dependencies

    git clone https://github.com/Harshraj9812/Router-Restart-Automation.git
    cd Router-Restart-Automation
    sudo apt update
    sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pip unzip wget curl xvfb
    python3 -m venv venv
    source venv/bin/activate
    pip install -r scripts/requirement.txt
   

2. Install Chrome & ChromeDriver

    wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
    sudo apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb -y
    wget https://storage.googleapis.com/chrome-for-testing-public/136.0.7103.94/linux64/chrome-linux64.zip
    unzip chrome-linux64.zip
    sudo cp chrome-linux64/chrome /usr/local/bin
    sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/chrome
   

3. Configure Environment Variables
   • Create a .env file in the scripts directory:

     touch scripts/.env
     

   • Add your credentials:

     AIRTEL_ROUTER_USERNAME=your_router_username
     AIRTEL_ROUTER_PASSWORD=your_router_password
     DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL=your_discord_webhook_url
     

4. Run the Script Manually

    python3 Airtel-Router-reboot.py
   

5. Set Up the Cron Job
   • Edit your crontab:

     crontab -e
     

   • Add:

     10 4 * * * /path/to/venv/bin/python3 Airtel-Router-reboot.py >> /path/to/scripts/Airtel-Router-reboot.log 2>&1
     

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How It Works

• The script logs in to the router’s admin panel using Selenium.
• It navigates through the UI just like a human would.
• It clicks the reboot button and waits for the router to restart.
• It pings the router to confirm it’s back online.
• It sends notifications to Discord at each step.

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Results

Since setting this up, my router reboots every morning before I wake up. I haven’t experienced packet loss or high ping since. The automation is reliable, and the Discord notifications give me peace of mind.

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Why Not Just Use a Smart Plug?

A smart plug could power-cycle the router, but a graceful reboot is safer and avoids potential file system corruption or other issues. Plus, this method works for any router with a web interface—even if it doesn’t support scheduled reboots.

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Conclusion

If you’re struggling with an Airtel (ZTE) router (or any router without a scheduled reboot feature), this automation can save you a lot of headaches. Check out the Router Restart Automation repo for the full code and setup instructions.

Happy surfing—without the lag!

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Repo: Router-Restart-Automation
Main Script: scripts/Airtel-Router-reboot.py