As long as I have a working LAN (wired or wireless) I shouldn’t need a working Internet connection to watch live TV, right?
Well, you shouldn’t but that’s not how your tablo works, very sad and seen as a design flaw by some.
https://www.tablotv.com/blog/tablo-faqs-do-i-need-internet-use-tablo-ota-dvr/
There are several post in the Community Forums if you just search by using on the 
Sorry I should have been more specific. I’m aware of the reasons for periodic Internet connectivity. What I’m noticing is that short- term loss of Internet services (like the bandwidth going way down) seems to freeze the Tablo. Why would this be the case?
No, you don’t need the internet to actually watch your show in house.
Your question is vague and generalized beyond that. what internet services are your tablo unseeing? Bandwidth is your local network (unless using remote connect)
tablo freeze? or video one device/app freeze? or every device/app? How is your tablo connect to your network? How are your “viewing” devices connected to your network?
If freezing is comparable to buffering maybe this can help
This probably isn’t it, but has some useful info
Here’s tablo’s (Nuvyyo’s) take on WiFI info
This talks about video starting and stopping (freezes then doesn’t)
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It shouldn’t. But that begs the question - what is causing your drop in bandwidth? If it’s something internal to your network, then that could also be causing the stream from the Tablo to buffer.
I agree, this is one of the worst “features” of the Tablo product value proposition.
I have noticed that sometimes a device will stay connected or re-connect if internet is down. Other devices disconnect immediately. No pattern is discernible.
Tablo support claims that they are working to improve this feature but as of now it really is a pain when weather or fiber cuts cause outages.
I have my Antop connected to the Tablo. But I keep a Winegard Flatwave attached directly to another TV for use when the Tablo will not connect. Luckily this is very rare where I live but is a problem that should not be…
It is sort of stupid. Defeats the entire wireless to TV forcing someone to run coax from the antenna to all the TV’s. So if internet crash and burns no tv period unless coax run to entire house.
Also defeats free OTA, if you need a paid service.
The OTA is free, that doesn’t mean the DVR is free too lol
https://www.tablotv.com/products/
The DVR for Cord Cutters, Tablo lets you discover, record and stream free, local OTA HDTV broadcast programs on any device, anytime, anywhere in the world — without the expense or commitment of cable or satellite contracts.
That’s just some of the marketing referring to free HD OTA :shrug:
What you find so unbelievable or overly complex - this is how may people have and still do watch TV!
Even in “modern” homes, or those who converted to satellite, coax it run throughout the house. Options include isolating just the runs you need, or maybe a distribution amp.
There are whole bunches of people* what use their TV… like an old fashioned television.
*I don’t have stats, so I’ll just say whole bunches.
I would like some clarification on this topic please.
If my LAN is still up, DHCP is working and I’m watching a show are you saying the show will stop playing for some reason if the Internet were to go down?
Another scenario, most of the house is without power, backups on firewall etc. are exhausted while the backup on the Tablo is keeping it running, will my shows all still record even with no Internet and/or link to the Tablo?
Not that I’m worried much with dual redundant connections, but to be fair my Firewall could go down.
Which app are you using?
I know my gen 2 fire TV sitck OS goes down(blows you out to the internet config screen) if the internet goes down.
And if you are using the ISP DHCP on a ISP router it usually goes down when the internet goes down.
I’m using all Roku based apps with Cable and DSL coming into the house going into a Netgate branded PFSense firewall. This does round robin load balancing and auto fail-over for the two Internet connections.
I also have 5 network switches around the house, the Internet is independent of the LAN. Well actually make that 6 VLAN’s 
Just don’t reboot it! It doesn’t have an internal clock and needs NTP at each start up to set the time from what I understand… and it will only record shows for the next 2 weeks, since that’s all the guide it has 
Gotcha, if I’m without Internet for more then a few hours I’m out of work and probably dealing with divorce lawyers as well
As for watching content, it varies by device. Technically, “you need internet”.
From what I’ve been reading, again depending on device and network setup, if you don’t loose your device to device connection you should/might be alright, at least for a limited (or not) period of time.
There are variables, mostly how often change your aluminum foil hat… you know “they” work their way through the wrinkles eventually. 