Internet Drops

[Oll]

Hey guys,

Need a bit of help here, have a fairly good internet connection at home however it intermittently drops out, both wired and wireless, sometimes coming back in a minute other times needing to reboot the modem before I get a signal again. Usually happens everyday and really infuriating. Have been on to my internet provider (Virgin Media) with no luck so far, as the problem is intermittent they find no fault, I'll get charged €40 when a tech comes out and finds the signal fine.....at that time.

Anybody here have any ideas what the problem could be, or troubleshooting advice.....or where to look so that I have proof that my signal does indeed drop out? 

Thanks! 

[Samfisher]

You reboot your modem, not your router?

[Oll]

Sorry router

 

[Naeaes]

Swap routers with a friend for a week or however it takes so that you can be relatively sure that the symptom presents itself. If the fault follows the hadware to their place, replace the router. If neither have issues, you might be dealing with some weird compatibility issue. If you keep getting drops, it's either your connection or a computer at your place causing it.

[Oll]

At the moment using the providers combined unit: 
which makes it a bit hard to get a replacement with the satellite style connection. Haven't seen any for sale locally, but will have an ask around and see if anybody else has the same.

[urworstnit3m3r]

Before we start: I worked for a cable provider as a troubleshooter in the field for just under 3 years.

 

First, all of the wireless modems suck, I absolutely refused to install them because I would always end up having a team member have to go back on my jobs that i used them on. So take that as it is.

 

Now on to troubleshooting.

 

When you lose connection what do the lights on the modem look like are the up(Tx) and down(Rx) lights blinking/off? If you can provide a picture of the front of the wireless modem when you lose service.

 

Depending on the above answer will depend on how we move forward.

[TechFnatic]

Sounds like a router or modem issue. The problem is occuring between you and your ISP, something in between is wrong. Now I'm going to assume that the ISP has no fault in this and you're dealing with a dying router or modem the only way to figure this out is to get a new one and test it. Usually ISP's will give you a free modem / router so ask them for one and hook it up for a week, see how it goes.