HOW TO: Troubleshoot your connection

[Geralt]

Hi!

Since I'm working in ISP bussines I thought i could do a little guide for you how to get better and more reliable connection. Most of those steps i describe are applying to DSL types of connection but some of them may apply to other types as well. I'll divide it into couple of sections .

note:
in sync - device is synchronised with your line ( by common indicated by solid DSL light on the device)
out of sync - opposite of the above ( DSL either flashig with constant manner or off completely)

Modem/router in sync but you cnt connect:

Check if all the settings on the router are correct.Try to use wired connection ( if your using wireless). Contact your ISP for updated settings and a possible network issues. Quite often it is a fault of outdated firmware, so if possible try to upgrade firmware of the device

Device out of sync ( no DSL light):

Now here something has gone wrong big time. Your device cant get any sort of signal from the line. First try to move your device to a master phone socket. By common thats how it looks like:



Also try to disconnect any other phone sockets in the house.
If still out of sync check that ADSL microfilter isnt damaged by replacing it.
Another common issue is a damaged DSL cable. You may either replace it or if you dont have one try to connect it to ethernet port while making a call, if it will mute your phone that will indicate that the cable is ok.
Next step would be - assuming that previous ones didnt work - to move your connection to a test socket. Now picture above shows you an NTE5 socket. As you can see bottom half is removable. Inside you'll find a test socket:



The test socket allows you to overpass any internal wiring.
Only exeption of that is if you have an SSFP ( Service Specific Face Plate) socket:


That socket has an ADSL filter built into it - so theres no need of using an external one - and dosent have a test socket.
So now at this stage if your device is still out of sync grab a phone and call your ISP and do some bulling .
90% of examples of out of sync connection in my experince was fixed by following the steps metnioned above.

Intermittent connection/ slow speeds:

First - if your using a wireless connection - try your connection with a ethernet wire and see if still is the same.
Second ring your ISP for updated settings for your device ( if there are any). Then try to reset the router. Best way of doing that is by going to router confguration page , ie. for Netgear it is http://192.168.0.1 and in there should be an option to revert to factory default settings. IMPORTANT: do this only when you have a wired connection between your PC and the router beacuse this step will most likely remove any wireless configuration. Then reconfigure it with the settings that you got from your ISP. If above doesnt work try to follow the steps in out of sync section. If those wont help either contact your ISP.

In all cases when you are contacting your ISP have the device reset and reconfigured and on master/ test socket ( whichever applicable in your case) and any other phone sockets disconnected.

When rigning your ISP try to find out couple of things which are:

What is your current connection profile - it simply migt be setup to some fixed rate (ie 2 Mbps) and no matter what you do you wont be able to go higher on speeds.

What is your line Attenuation/ loop loss - this value determines how far away you are from the exchange. Critical value for UK is 63.5 . Anything above that isnt capable of giving you any reliable connection. You may get a connection but it will be droppingout ie. every five minutes and speeds will be somwhere around dialup connection

What are your SNR ( Signal Noise Ratio) margins - this determines whats the quality of your line . Critical value for UK is 6 dba. So ie. if atm your getting 2 Mbps connection and SNR is 6 you most likely wont get any higher speeds beacuse of too much niose on it. But if you have 2 Mbps and SNR is around 15 or 20 you may persist on increasing your speeds.If after an upgrade you'll be getting disconnection issues try ringing again and check what is your SNR at that stage


This Giude mostly applies to DSL UK based systems but I hope everyone will find something handy to improve their connection

Hope it helps!

Andrew

P.S Any questions??

[say what]

ok i have a quick question, in my house we have a box downstairs that has the modem and router in it, so i don't connect directly to the router. and after i get from the router, my Ethernet wire goes into my UPS and from the UPS it goes into my computer. so the flow is like this

Modem--router--UPS--computer

now im having a problem, i will randomly get the "connection is unplugged" bubble popping up in my taskbar so my internet is losing connection on and off. do you think its a short in a Ethernet wire that i have from my wall to the UPS / UPS to the computer?

[xApemanx]

To narrow it down wither its the UPS or Router you can unplug the UPS from the Router then see if the "connection is unplugged" bubble pops up.

If it doesn't pop up the UPS is fine, if it does pop up it would be the router.

[Geralt]

If it pops up randomly it most likely is the cable itself. there might be some shortage inside and thats why it pops up randomly. Also there is a chance that something is interuppting work ofyour NIC ( Network Interface Card). You may try different cable. Also see is there any IP address assigned to your PC when it shows you that its uplugged. there are three types of IP you can get:

192.168.... - all ok, it might be windows fault why its not discovering the connection

169.254.... - there is something wrong with config on your PC and its not being assigned a proper IP address

media disconnected - as it says so most likely it is cable fault ...... but also it might be config issue

the easiest thing to do to exclude incorrect config is to reset all the network settings to their defaults by:

first you would have to reinstall TCP protocol by going into properties of your connection and in there click on install, then choose protocol, then select have disk option and guide it to C:\windows\inf and press ok. From the menu choose TCP protocol and install it.

After you have done that go to command prompt ( if your using Vista open it as administrator) and type in command :

netsh winsock reset catalog

WARNING: if you have any network settings( static IP, port routing ect) you will loose all those settings!

Those two steps will reset everything to its defaults so see how you go from there. If that doesnt help I would blame the cable . Also another thing which might be happening is the fact that the firmware of the router is getting frosen. Try to upgrade the firmware which may eliminate such issue. Also chack in google coz your particular router may have overheating problem which may cause such issue as well

Hope it helps!

P.S. what steps do you do to restore your connection??