Internet keeps going out

[tomster2300]

This is going to sound kind of dumb, but I'm not sure what's going on with my internet connection. It keeps going out, and it's really beginning to bug me.

When it goes out, the only way I'm able to bring it back is by unplugging and replugging the modem and usually the router as well. Just refreshing the ip address and the computer's connections on the network through ipconfig does nothing until unplugging. The lights on the modem never go out though, including the cable signal one. All the computers connected to the network through wireless also lose their connection as well.

Is there any way I could test both the router and modem separately to see if it's something wrong with them? It does it randomly, and sometimes after being on the internet or streaming online video for awhile.

[mojo]

Do the wireless computers state that they or not connected, or do you just notice that the internet doesn't work. What I'm really asking is are you losing the connection between your computers and the router, or between the router and the modem, or between the modem and the internet. Check and see if you can ping and access the web configuration page of just your router and your modem while the problem is occuring. Your router IP is the same as your default gateway, and as a pcmech member with 2k posts I imagine you already know it :). The local IP for most modems is 192.168.100.1, if not google and the model number are your friends.

[tomster2300]

It tells me I'm losing the connections between the computers and the router when it goes out. I'll double check them when it happens again, but if I'm not getting a connection I don't think it's going to show much.

I forgot to mention the internet goes out at my desktop as well, which is the only hardwired (not wireless) computer on the network.

[shadowpr]

Could be your router is going bad. Try connecting the computer directly to the modem and see if that gives you problems. If not, then I would say the router is the cause.

[tomster2300]

Well I also forgot to mention I plugged my newer Belkin G wired / wireless router up in place of the current Linksys B router and it dropped the connection as well.

I'm guessing the only way to test the modem is to plug one computer directly to the modem like shadowpr said, and see if it drops it again.

Could a bad coax cable be causing this? I'm not really sure how it could, but I thought I'd ask.

[mojo]

A bad coax cable could cause your modem to not sync with your isp, which would also cause your router to not connect, but the computer should still be connecting to the router without problems. Try the pings and accessing the web admin pages of both your router and modem next time it happens. We need to be precisely sure where the problem is.

[tomster2300]

Here's an update on everything:

The internet problem actually got worse - to the extent that we had to call Charter and have them come out and try to fix it. The tech guy laid a new wire from the street to our house, saying that the former one was too old and should have been replaced by Charter long time ago. He blamed it on sheer laziness by the last Charter tech guy who came awhile back.

Before yesterday afternoon our cable connection was split like so: the main cable line entered the house and ran up to the attic. It was then split twice - one end went straight down to the cable modem, the other plugged into an amplifier (booster) and then went to an 8-way splitter which directed it to each room in the house for TV. The Charter tech took out the first splitter and booster and routed the main cable directly to the 8-way splitter.

He unplugged our router, plugged a computer directly to the modem and got our internet to work again. The internet worked, all was well.

It then died on us three times after the guy left. The modem would show the drop instantly then reconnect itself in around 10 minutes and the internet worked via the router on all networked computers (I replugged the router after he left).

After everything was working again, the router (not the modem) randomly lost its connection to the internet and wouldn't re-establish it. I believe the router still showed a link to the modem, and the modem showed it had a cable signal. This morning I got the router to work for a few minutes, but it then stopped and now won't come back on (the network works, the internet does not - it says "Internet: not connected" in the router config page). The modem has dropped the signal 2-3 times this morning as well, usually after unhooking and re-hooking the computer's cat - 5 and the router up in different configurations. I've been trying new cords and nothing wants to work. I do get the internet when I plug a computer directly to the modem.

The man checked our signal strength and got it within Charter's parameters yesterday. He said once it was in there the random drops became our problem, and if anything else happened it would be due to a hardware issue on my end. I've watched the modem stats all morning and the downstream has fluctuated (while plugging and unplugging) from -6.xx to -10.xx. It is currently at this and hasn't improved from -10 in an hour and a half:

Downstream Frequency 681000000 Hz Max Bit Rate 11273000 bps
Downstream Power -10.79 dBmV SNR 34 dB

and upstream is:

Upstream Frequency 24000000 Hz Max Bit Rate 1049000 bps
Upstream Power 38.00 dBmV

Finally, the piece on the modem that the coax cable screws to has some play in it. It can slide out a little and also turns clockwise slightly. I try sliding it in and tightening it whenever the modem loses a signal, but the internet only came on once right after doing that - it waited awhile before. I thought this might be a problem since the modem would lose the internet after moving it around to plug and unplug wires.


So...

1) Does this sound like a hardware issue?
2) Could the signal strength from Charter be so low that the router can't establish a connection?
3) Could the play in the modem coax connection be causing any kinds of problems?

**I just ran a bandwidth test to see if it would stress the modem and it went without a hitch. 10610 Kbps down and 992 Kbps up.

[tomster2300]

I plugged the router back in and everything's been working all afternoon. Any clues?

[mojo]

It sounds like it's a weak cable signal coming to the modem. 0 dBmV is the ideal, and while -10 is technically within the acceptable parameters, it's not good. The splitter setup you had before was actually better because it gave a much stronger signal to the modem before the 8 way splitter causes so much loss. Try the splitters like before and see if your situation improves at all. It could also be a hardware issue in the modem, but this should be charter's issue to deal with and not yours if it's a leased modem. Charter should be responsible for your connection up to the modem, which means they should ensure that your reliably remains connected. It sounds like they're trying to push you around.

[tomster2300]

I bought a new linksys modem today and got it successfully hooked up. The only issue I ran into was the router couldn't locate the internet, so I made a call to India and got it straightened out. I ended up not having the MAC address of the computer hardwired to the router cloned into the router config page.

With the dBmV issue, I'm still planning on calling Charter to see about my options.

Here's a new question: I get 10,610 Kbps down and 992 Kbps up on the computer wired to the router, but I'm only getting 5834 Kbps down and 1,002 Kbps up on my desktop on the other side of the house via wireless. I've gotten the full 10 k+ down before over wifi, so why not now?

I got the 5834 down while my router was in both g and b mode, as well as g only. My wifi adapter on my desktop is wireless g.

[mojo]

Was there any other network/internet traffic while you were doing the tests? Was it a busy time of day while other people that live near you would've been using the internet? Don't take too much stock in those online tests.

[tomster2300]

Nope, I just got those results when I tried it about 20 minutes ago. I didn't have any other network traffic, and all my working wifi adapters are wireless g.

You're right about the online speed tests - they always give varying results.

UPDATE: I just got 10,518 down, so I guess someone on up the cable line was doing something intensive before. We're the last house on the street's cable line so we kind of get the short end of the stick. That also probably explains the weak cable signal.