Internet is dropping every 10-20 seconds, what troubleshooting steps shall I follow?

[lukekarts]

Context: Technicolor 589 Router/Modem, installed a month ago. Yes it's probably terrible but it's supplied by the landlord. I do however have the login details for the device. 5 people live here.

Internet has been fine for the past two months since it has been installed, but since Monday it has been dropping. This presents itself as:

1) Streams dying/buffering (and sometimes only resuming when the pages is refreshed)

2) Web pages either lagging out, or returning a 'cannot connect to server/DNS error/network error' (as presented by different web browsers, Chrome and Firefox predominantly.

3) any games being played lose connection to server

The internet drops for anywhere between 5 and 30 seconds, then resumes.

Issues are consistent across multiple devices and operating systems. We have a desktop PC, 3 windows laptops, 1 mac, 4 Android devices and 1 iPhone showing the same symptoms.

I've no idea the meaning of most of the network stats, but I've done the following so far:

- reset the router
- turned the router off for 5 minutes and rebooted
- checked all the connections, replaced the filter etc.

The router doesn't display any red lights to indicate the connection has dropped.

I'm currently pinging google via Pingplotter and this is what it shows:

Many thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

 

[Ralston18]

Problems start with 62.72.148.128.

Ran "whois". IP is Daisy Communications, LTD, UK.

Is that your/landlord's ISP?

I would start by requesting that the landlord contact them for a service check. May take several calls so be sure that someone keeps a record of the calls, dates, times, who was spoken with, and some notes about the discussion and actions.

 

[lukekarts]

Problems start with 62.72.148.128.

Ran "whois". IP is Daisy Communications, LTD, UK.

Is that your/landlord's ISP?

I would start by requesting that the landlord contact them for a service check. May take several calls so be sure that someone keeps a record of the calls, dates, times, who was spoken with, and some notes about the discussion and actions.

Thanks for your reply, it is much appreciated.

Yes, I understand Daisy to be the ISP, I have made contact with the landlord (yesterday) but unfortunately the landlord is pretty useless and slow to do anything, so I was hoping to do what I can with the troubleshooting so if/when I eventually get somewhere I've at least got something done.

Out of curiosity, should pinging my router through the above tool show corresponding drops, or should that connection be consistent? For example, I've just done this now, and I interpret this as showing me my PC receives no response from my router periodically (this mirrors the second tab, where it shows no response to google at the same time). This just might be my ignorance when using this tool though, and not understanding what I'm seeing.

 

[Ralston18]

The key is to identify (or perhaps "locate" is the better word) the source of the interruption.

Not ignorance - this stuff can get complicated and all sorts of weird things happen. I always appreciate someone else following along any given thread - may pick up on something I misunderstood or overlooked. We all learn. WIN-WIN. Could well be that someone else will chime in with a comment or an idea or two. Fine with me.

Pinging the router should be consistent. If not, then you must eliminate possible variables in the environment; e.g., someone else on the network and/or on the internet.

If you are experiencing network communication problems within your network along with communication problems outside of your network the "ping" data will naturally be quite inconsistent and confusing.

And ISPs (along with most manufacturer's/vendors/service providers) will be more than happy to find a reason to blame someone else.

Good news is that you have, for the most, control of the goings on within your network. I.e., the Ethernet cables being used, the router LAN ports being used, the network adapter configurations - so on and so forth.

Very methodically swap out Ethernet cables with known working cables. Check Ethernet wall jacks if used. Or power line adapters if that is the case.

Your goal is to discover that with some device or configuration "x" there is a problem. Without "x" then all is well.

Might mean that you have to carry around and swap network components here and there. Just temporarily for testing purposes.

Ensure that only one variable at a time is being tested. Keep everything else constant. Even a computer doing some update could skew the results.

And having a long Ethernet cable is very handy. I use a 100' cable to make direct connections between computer and router. Or anywhere else as needed and warranted.

Just to eliminate possibilities....