Question Internet issues - bridge tap or ISP issue?

[DirtyDiaper]

Hi,
Ive been experiencing intermittent internet connection issues for several weeks now.
I contacted Telstra support – who apparently ran some tests and said I had a bridge tap issue. They booked a technician to come have a look – and no one showed up. Rescheduled for another time – again, didnt show up.

I again contacted telstra and put in a complaint – they then replied saying they will monitor my internet for 24 hours – I just got a text saying there were no issues detected.
There 100% is a problem, as the connection randomly just cuts out for 5/10 minutes, then returns and works fine for a few hours – and this repeats on and off.
It will be working fine, then randomly it stops and a website takes forever to load – and I get an error message.

Error messages would range from:

• "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT"
• "ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED"
• Sometimes another tab would open with "Access to www.msftconnecttest.com was denied" (HTTP ERROR 403)
• Sometimes a tab would open with "www.gstatic.com" HTTP ERROR 403

I am on a PC connected straight to the modem via ethernet. Family members on mobile devices (phone, laptops) exerience the same thing with WIFI. My house is connected via NBN FTTN

This is very frustrating as I am a student and I have online exams coming up in a week.
What could the problem be? What should I do?
Thanks in advanced!

 

[bill001g]

I know almost nothing about the hardware being used but in general there is not much you can fix yourself.

If it is telephone cable between the modem and the wall you can to a point check that there does not appear to be any damage to the wires. Depending on how the wire is run there might be a connection on the outside the house or inside where the wire first comes in. Maybe hook your modem there or run a longer cable over the floor. It is highly unlikely it is the wires inside the house but it is pretty much the only thing you have have control over.

None of this applies if you have a direct fiber connection, you do not want to mess around with the fiber it tends to be very fragile.

I assume you have some way to log into the modem. Maybe there is a log that shows a outage. It might also show signal levels etc but hard to say what they should be in your case. The ISP can remotely see these most times.

Intermittent problems are extremely hard even for the ISP to find. They would have to be testing it right as it fails. It all depends on what is logged in their equipment to tell them what to fix. If no other customers are affected it tends to be either the wires/fiber coming from the node to your house or the modem/router. Everything else is shared with your neighbors so they too should see a common issue.