internet Internet cutting out

neverwinterkni · October 20, 2019

I'm not sure if this is the place for asking this kind of question but it's a troubleshooting, and I figure it can't hurt.

I am living in a rooming house with a few other people, this house has DSL internet through a modem/router combo thing that my computer is directly plugged into. The router is the verizon version of the Actiontec GT784WN.

Product page if this helps: https://www.actiontec.com/products/wifi-routers-gateways/dsl/gt784wn/

Link to verizon's specific version: https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/equipment/actiontec-gt784wnv

The internet works well most of the time, but will randomly cut out. I have had my computer pinging www.speedtest.net constantly through the command prompt for the last few minutes, and the problem appears at seemingly random intervals for 7 request time outs, and that it continues normally. This appears to mostly happen mostly in the evening. All of the relevant lights on the modem are lit up all the time, but the "DSL" light begins flashing when the internet goes out. I have tried resetting the modem, and replacing the phone cable(which plugs directly into the wall, with no splitters or DSL filters inbetween). In addition there are no landline phones in the house.

My landlord is the one who would need to solve this problem if it is the ISP's fault or a hardware problem, and as he is not at all technologically savvy(he still uses a flip phone that has an extendable antenna), I would prefer to not have to consult him on this. ATM it looks like a dead modem to me, but any input from anyone who is better an networking than me would be greatly appreciated! Let me know if you need any other info.

Thank you!

kirashi · October 20, 2019

26 minutes ago, neverwinterkni said:

All of the relevant lights on the modem are lit up all the time, but the "DSL" light begins flashing when the internet goes out.

This indicates the modem is losing connectivity to the outside world along the DSL phone lines running from the modem through the house wiring, out to the telephone pole or pedestal box, or even further upstream along the lines going to the node serving your area. Contact your ISP and have them check for outages or drops on the node serving your neighborhood, and also have them run tests on the modem, if possible. They'll be able to see if multiple other houses in the area are impacted or if it's just your address, after which you can start narrowing down where the problem exists.