Internet Keeps Dropping But Downloads Keep Running

[Dynasty]

Ok this is weird.

Im on a Belkin N1, never had a problem since we got it about 2 years ago.

These past few days, my net keeps dropping off and coming back on by itself.

This can happen every 30 seconds, or sometimes it wont drop for hours.

But this is the weird thing; anything downloading or buffering in the background keeps doing so. I will still get 200k/sec on something downloading, even though I get nothing from Firefox or IE.

Then just like that, it will spring to life, then die again seconds or hours later.

Ive noticed the frequency of drops does seem to increase at night, but it still happens during the day.

Every time I reset the router, it works, then drops again and round we go in circles of repetition.

All my wireless devices (iphone, PS3, ipod touch) have a signal from the router, but no pages will load. Then suddenly they all start working together, and then all die together, so I know its not just the laptop.

I checked the router settings and nothing has changed from the settings I wrote down the previous time we had problems.

Any ideas?

I'll try calling the provider tomorrow and get them to do a line check, preferably when Im not getting anything.

 

[giant384]

yea, sounds like a bad cable line or modem. maybe your area is overloaded?

 

[Naph]

Yeah I've experienced this lately. Everything works nicely except my browsers.
I'm with Optus but I don't think the problem is within their hands or mine really, it's a rare happening which I cannot explain why.

 

[VirusType2]

Terrible trouble shooting.

>Does this happen for wired communications too?
I take that as NO.

We'll, it's your router or interference with your router then.

 

[arch5]

Try updating your router's firmware.

 

[Naph]

Check your router logs, you may be getting some packet traffic.

 

[Dinnesch]

Same problem here, since a few days. A lot of people in Europe seem to have this problem at the same time.
My dad(who is a networking expert) recommended me to try other ISP's DNS servers, gonna try that out the next time I have trouble.

 

[giant384]

Terrible trouble shooting.

>Does this happen for wired communications too?
I take that as NO.

We'll, it's your router or interference with your router then.

He still has signal from the router but the internet connection is being dropped....

 

[VirusType2]

Resetting the router fixes the problem for a while, he also said. That pretty much means it's the router, right?

He didn't really elaborate enough for me and he didn't say whether wired worked, that's what I meant (terrible troubleshooting!) He also said resetting it fixes it for a while - how long? Is that for sure what fixed it or did it just come back on, as he seems to imply it does - all on its own.

Then just like that, it will spring to life, then die again seconds or hours later.

Finally, he didn't say whether the download was torrent/P2P. A torrent can still show that is downloading for like a minute or more after the router has been completely unplugged, that doesn't mean that he still is getting new data. It's just delayed to write it to disk.

I will still get 200k/sec on something downloading

 

[Dynasty]

Any downloads are from the likes of rapidshare, megaupload etc (yes I like many others download alot of music and films.

It has been working fine all morning until about 20 minutes ago.

Its so strange. My browser loses and gains a connection, I always have a signal from the router (as do all my other bits of tech), yet during the time I couldnt connect, I was playing online on my PS3 without a problem.

Shut the PS3 down, turned it on again and got no net connection.

Ive tried wired (which im doing as we speak), and it doesnt make a difference.

Resetting the router doesnt always work either. Turn the power on and off, sometimes I get a connection, sometimes not.

The router never dies, none of the symbols on the router change or disappear, everything stays as it is, I just get no connection, but the signal never drops.

Its been working fine all day up until now.

 

[No Limit]

I would suspect a DNS issue if your existing connections don't crap out. Write down a known good IP address such as the one for hl2.net: 69.28.175.116

When this next connection drop happens open up command prompt and try to ping that IP address by typing ping 69.28.175.116 .

If you get a reply try pinging halflife2.net directly by typing ping halflife2.net .

If you get a reply for the IP but not halflife2.net it's more likely than not a DNS issue. If you don't get a reply either way it's something else.

Does this happen on all devices on your network or just your PC? When you said the PS3 worked when your PC didn't did that include the internet browser (if you didn't try it try it the next time it happens)?

 

[Dynasty]

All my devices on the network get full signal but cant browse or connect to anything on the web.

I was playing online on the PS3 and didnt get kicked.

I can also play L4D2 on the PC with no kicks, even when my other devices cant browse anything on the web.

This however only happens if I can connect at the time. So if my net is working (i can browse etc) and I quickly go into L4D2 and start an online game, it works and I never get kicked due to a connection failure, but my browsing ability on my other devices wont work even though im playing online perfectly fine at the same time.

Thats why im finding this issue so weird.

 

[No Limit]

That sounds like a DNS issue. The way DNS works is when you type halflife2.net for example you first connect to a DNS server which then gets you the IP address of halflife2.net. Your computer will then connect to that IP address as well as cache it. So if you are already connected and the DNS server goes down no problem since you don't need the DNS server as you already have the IP address. However, if you try to make a new connection while the DNS server is down it will not work as you have no way of looking up the IP address.

So try the tests above, that should tell you wether or not it is a DNS issue.

 

[Dynasty]

Tried both tests above, thanks by the way.

Tried both when I could browse, got responses and a result.

Tried both quickly when I couldnt browse, got responses from both and results.

I also tested my iphone to see if I could browse there, got nothing. Tried the ping tests on the PC at the same time and was getting responses. No idea how thats possible.

 

[No Limit]

The IP might have been cached. Did halflife2.net work during this time while other sites/services didn't?

 

[Dynasty]

Just tried again, and used google, hl2.net and facebook's IPs, all got responses.

[edit] I should mention I went round to my cousin's house last night for a SC2 session. As SC2 has no LAN, we were playing with and against each other over the net, his net which is a BT hub, for a very long time. I had no problems connecting, no drops, my iphone was browsing fine, I was browsing the web on my laptop fine, good times.

Second I got home and fired up the laptop again, connection issues occured on the laptop and iphone.

Therefore I can safely conclude I have no viruses or issues on the laptop and that the issue is either router based or service provider based surely?

 

[No Limit]

But eventhough they got responses were you able to pull them up in internet explorer?

When you ping halflife2.net what IP address do you get?

 

[Dynasty]

I can ping the address of halflife2.net when halflife2.net wont respond.

So if im in google (using firefox) and go to halflife2.net, I get nothing, just sits saying ''connecting to halflife2.net'', the says it took long to respond. Or sometimes it will sit on connecting then suddenly load the page after a few minutes of nothing.

So if i ping halflife2.net when I cant connect to halflife2.net (when initially on google), I get;

Pinging halflife2.net [69.28.175.116] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 69.28.175.116: bytes=32 time=193ms TTL=49
Reply from 69.28.175.116: bytes=32 time=197ms TTL=49
Reply from 69.28.175.116: bytes=32 time=193ms TTL=49
Reply from 69.28.175.116: bytes=32 time=192ms TTL=49

Ping statistics for 69.28.175.116:
Packets: Sent = 4, Recieved = 4, Lost = 0 <0% loss>.
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 192ms, Maximum = 197ms, Average = 193ms

 

[No Limit]

That is odd, the IP address is correct which is good since I was starting to worry you could have a virus. So you are connecting to the DNS server fine, you can ping servers fine, but HTTP traffic won't go through. The next step in the troubleshooting process would be to disconnect all the devices on your network but one and see if you keep having problems.

If you do you will want to eliminate the router and connect directly to the modem and see if it still happens.

I know it seems like a pain in the ass but this could be a million different things and without being able to sit in front of your computer you have to go through these troubleshooting steps one by one.

 

[Dynasty]

Spoke to my provider yesterday, went through pretty much the same motions you suggested, he was impressed I knew what to do, so he was impressed with you No Limit basically.

He thought it was extremely weird that;

A - they have no record of drops in the last few days.
B - that I can ping their server IP address and get a return.
C - I can ping URL and IP addresses and get returns even though no pages will load.

But it seems my own actions have fixed the problem.

For some reason I plugged the router into the master socket in the hall without taking the faceplate off. Now that it's plugged into the test socket with a filter on it, Ive not had a single drop all day.

So I think I can narrow it down to the socket in the study being faulty, which isnt a problem.

It might just be the socket or the wiring in the attic.

I'll keep fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong again now. Theyve sent me a test router which should arrive tomorrow which i will be posting straight back.

Thanks for your time though No Limit. Appreciate it.

 

[No Limit]

When you say filter are you on DSL?

 

[Dynasty]

As far as I know, yeah.

 

[No Limit]

In that case you will want to make sure those filters are plugged in to all your telephones assuming you still have land line telephones in your home.

 

[Dynasty]

Yeah, every telephone plug we have in the house has a filter on it.

If we fail to have a filter, Sky doesnt work nor do our phones, as well as the net (obviously).

 

[No Limit]

Ok, to be honest I never really knew how those filters worked, and I never had issues without them. But the fact everything works when you plug your modem in to one of them is odd. Could be the socket as you said or something else.

But glad it's working, post back if you have any more problems.

 

[Dynasty]

Well every house has a main socket for their line. The line that feeds the house from the exchange in your area. If you were to connect any device to that line, you would bypass all the wiring within the house that's used to connect that line to other sockets in the bedrooms, studies etc.

Because it's DSL, the filter basically seperates the, I want to say analogue and digital but I dont think thats right, telephone..signal from the broadband..signal. Thats all it does really.

Any engineer that comes over would go straight for the master socket, then test each individual socket for potential problems.

That socket in the study has always caused us problems. We were initially getting a 5mb speed from that socket when an engineer did come round a few years back, and he fiddled around and got it to recieve 8mb. We only used that socket because it was the least unsightly place to put the router.

So it will now stay by the front door instead as, well, its working now and I will petition the parents to fix the socket in the study if they complain about the router location when they come back.