Strange Problem with Internet

WeeWill · August 21, 2016

Hello,

I am having a strange problem with my internet. Se we live in a rural area and we only have one option for ISP and that's a company FairPoint. Our internet always goes out when it's raining or about to rain which is strange, considering we have DSL. I'm not just talking about thunderstorms either, it goes down when it's sprinkling. Sometimes it will even go down on the middle of a sunny afternoon with no storms anywhere within 150 miles. And when it goes down, every diagnostic tool I run says the same thing: I have internet, but no functioning DNS server. However, about a 2 years ago we realized that there was no passcode for the router so anyone could log on and change settings, so we changed it. We then enjoyed beautiful internet with zero outages for about 4 months. Then it started to get worse and it settled into it's old pattern. So we tried changing it again to no avail. So we recently bought a new wireless transmitter because our router (supplied by our ISP) didn't have one and our old one died. We enjoyed beautiful internet for about 4 months again, but then it settled into it's old pattern. Our router is a Westell model 6100F (we tried to change it, but no router seems to be able to connect to our ISP except this one) and our transmitter is the latest Airport Express. We have 3 pc's, two run Windows 10, one (mine) runs Windows 7. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Ryujin2003 · August 22, 2016

DNS is a service that is provided that allows you to type address manes instead of IP addresses. Often, an ISP can provide this service,and routers are often set to obtain this. However, if the ISP isn't providing this service, then you need to point to a DNS server. I would first call your ISP and make sure the are providing this. If not, do some research and find a DNS server and input this into your router. It should be able to do this automatically, but maybe not. I'm not familiar with your hardware.

Sors · August 22, 2016

You can set your PC to use a different DNS server, like google's DNS server.

https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using

Is not complicated and you can easily reverse the changes if it causes any issues with your ISP. The changes are made in your PC, so it doesn't affect your router.

Maybe try this and see if the issue is solved?

I used to have DSL internet,and it would too fail in rainy season, because the wires would get wet and cause interference, the ISP replaced some connection boxes that were defective and the issue stopped.