trying to diagnose my network: is it my router, computer, or ISP?

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dmehling

Member
I have been having major issues with my Internet for several weeks, and I'm trying to narrow down what the source of the problem is. I use a fixed wireless service. I have an antenna on my roof facing a transmitter two miles away on top of a water tower. My ISP tells me that they can't see any problem on their end or with the installed hardware, and they think it's either my computer or my router. Going through my router or bypassing it and going directly through my computer doesn't seem to make a difference. It will be out for several hours and then come back for a few hours, but it's always very intermittent when it does reconnect. I might get a good speed for a few minutes and then it will dip down real low for several seconds. I used the DNS settings they told me to put in my router, but I changed them to recommend settings from OpenDNS. That really helps but doesn't totally solve the problem. It never goes down now for hours at a time, but it does frequently go down for less than 10 seconds which makes it almost impossible to use programs like Skype or music streaming services. I'm not really sure what to do next. How would I go about determining whether the problem is with my router, my computer, or my ISP/wireless hardware?
 
The only way you can tell is by using a different computer and then a different router. Self diagnosing is required in a situation like this. However, are you connecting wirelessly to the router or are you using an ethernet cable?
 
My desktop connects through ethernet cable, but I have two other computers in my home that connect wirelessly. I don't seem to notice a significant difference between having my desktop connect to the Internet through the router, and plugging in the Internet cable directly into the desktop.
 
So both the wireless and wired computer lose internet? If so then its something with their equipment or your router. What router do you have?
 
I forgot to mention that I don't seem to have a problem connecting any of my computers to the router, in particular the ones with wireless connections. My network seems to be good internally. Is it possible that only part of the router has issues, such as the interfacing between the Internet connection and the internal network connection? In other words, could the network work fine and the Internet also work fine, but something is wrong in how they connect to each other?
 
Yeah, anything is possible. But usually its the wireless that goes out and the lan ports keep working but sometimes its the other way around. So if you think its the router, then you'll need to try a different one.
 
But why do I still have problems when I plug my Internet cable directly into my computer and don't use the router? That would tell me that either the router doesn't have a problem, or is not the only thing with a problem. Either way there must also be something wrong with my computer or my ISP. How would I tell the difference?
 
dmehling said:
I forgot to mention that I don't seem to have a problem connecting any of my computers to the router, in particular the ones with wireless connections. My network seems to be good internally. Is it possible that only part of the router has issues, such as the interfacing between the Internet connection and the internal network connection? In other words, could the network work fine and the Internet also work fine, but something is wrong in how they connect to each other?
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Well, you confused me with this statement. If you are still getting disconnects when the router is disconnected then its definately something with their end. Have you tried connecting all 3 systems directly without the router just to verify its not just one computer?
 
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