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General discussion

Help with an internet connectivity problem, only at night

Aug 8, 2009 9:13PM PDT

Hey there,

I've called this problem in multiple times to my ISP (AT&T), though they never can really figure out what's going on with my internet connection, so I was hoping maybe somebody here in the forums could perhaps help me out.

I live in the suburbs near Los Angeles, CA, and I seem to have internet connectivity issues; however the strange part about my internet connection problems is that it seems to only happen at night time. My internet connection rarely slows or stops during the day, but at night time I can't even seem to load webpages like digg.com or facebook.com or any major websites that should be working fine. I have these "dropouts" that occur every few minutes... the connection will be fine for a minute or two, and then my connection will drop for 2-5 minutes and all the webpages in my browser will just hang.

Has anyone ever heard of any fixable internet connection problems only occurring at night? Hopefully someone has because this problem is just driving me crazy.


(also, I forgot to mention that I know this problem isn't a router problem because it still occurs even if I'm directly plugged into my modem via ethernet cable.

and also, the computer I'm using is a Mac, in case that matters at all.)

Discussion is locked

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I assume you have DSL...
Aug 9, 2009 2:44AM PDT

all I can suggest is to check for any electrical equipment that comes on at night that is not normally on during the day (like flourcent light or light dimmer switch, etc.); and if the causes are outside of your house then there is not much you can do (except maybe try cable company). I might add I know just how it is..I am an ex-DSL user. I live in Rowland Heights; my DSL use to cut off completely from about 8pm to 8am. My ISP says they have no problem on their end..so my thought was maybe it's the street light which I cannot control.

Of coarse I have cable story to tell too, hehe.

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lights
Aug 10, 2009 3:43AM PDT

Light dimmer switch? The DSL seems to have problems whether or not the lights are on or off at my home. :\ Thanks for your suggestions/help though.


There is a streetlight that seems to randomly turn on and off near my house though, could that be a problem?

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Wireless Sharing?
Aug 10, 2009 12:05AM PDT

You don't say in your post but it seems you are using a wireless router, correct? It could be that you have a neighbor that is accessing your network wirelessly and slowing down your own internet access. He or she might be doing this after arriving home from work, which might explain it happening only at night. Have you ensured your wireless network is secure?

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wireless network is secure... I think
Aug 10, 2009 3:39AM PDT

How can I be sure that my wireless network is secure? My wireless router is password protected and because I live in the mountains my wireless signal doesn't travel very far.

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WAP Turned On
Aug 10, 2009 5:04AM PDT

Check your router to be sure WAP is turned on, and not WEP. You'll either need to read the manual, or post make/model for assistance. Once that's done, you can eliminate wifi hijacking as a cause.

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post continued
Aug 10, 2009 3:45AM PDT

I don't know if there's an edit post feature, I couldn't find one, and I forgot to mention that the problem exists whether or not I'm connected through my wireless router or not; the problem still occurs when I'm directly connected to the modem via ethernet cable.

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To be_bold786. Post deleted.
Aug 11, 2009 7:12PM PDT

Your post in this discussion offered no assistance to the original poster, and the link you provided was a site promotion to a web site that had nothing to do with the problem stated.

That is why I deleted your post.

To BeachShackBBQ. Sorry to intervene, but we remove posts from members who attempt to advertise products, web sites, or services, and the post by be_bold786 was one of those.

I hope you find an answer to your internet connection problem.

Mark

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?
Aug 12, 2009 11:25PM PDT

Not sure if you updated your original post but since you say you have plugged directly into the router anything related to the wireless is not relevant.

If it was wireless I would guess a neighbor came home and turned on his router using the same channels as you.

With consumer internet the load is at night ie non working hours. If you are lucky the ISP has a piece of equipment that get errors as the load increases. If you are unlucky they have oversold their network and its just too many people trying to get though the same door.

Really depends how much effort you want to do, you are basically doing the ISP job for them but many times its the only way to get it fixed.

The real basic start is to run a traceroute to something on the internet "I like 4.2.2.2". You can google traceroute if you do not understand it. Now you want to take the first 2 or 3 locations from that trace and run constant ping to each location. This will tell you how far from your house the error is occurring.

Your largest problem will be finding a support person that can understand this and then have the access to fix it. Most the level 1 techs think that all issues can be solved by rebooting your router or PC. Most level 1 techs can only open tickets with their support who will not directly talk to you. Sometimes email works better for very technical tickets since the low level guys will just cut and paste it and the higher guys may see you know what you are talking about and contact you.

Good luck and hopefully you do not see the error in the first hop because they will blame your router even if you replace it multiple times.

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Wireless IS Relevant
Aug 13, 2009 12:21AM PDT

The OP did state that the problem does still occur when the PC is plugged directly into the modem (router?), <b>but anyone else connected wirelessly could <i>still</i> be using up the internet bandwidth and slow down access</b>. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure the wireless network is secured with WAP and not WEP. The OP may also be able to use the router's web utility to see if any other clients are connected wirelessly when this problem occurs.

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Good point
Aug 13, 2009 2:52AM PDT

If the PC is connected directly, by cable, to a 'wireless capable' router, then that wireless capable router can still connect to other wireless capable sytems nearby.

I take it you mean WPA, and not WAP? Certainly, WEP is no longer sufficient.

Mark

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Thanks.
Aug 13, 2009 8:21AM PDT

Yes, WPA. Thanks for the correction. Happy Hope that I didn't confuse the OP.

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thanks for the great suggestions
Aug 13, 2009 5:05AM PDT

Thanks a lot for the great suggestions.

@sunwatcher: I actually have a separate modem and router, not one of those combined gateways. I went into 192.168.0.1 (router setup) and checked what kind of wireless security I had, and it was set at WPA (I didn't actually see an option for WAP, so I was hoping you actually just meant WPA). Thanks for the solid advice and for contributing to this thread, I really appreciate it.

@bill091: Thanks for the suggestion. I'm currently reading up on your traceroute method at the moment. Hopefully it can do something for me. And I also completely agree with your comment on Level 1 techs, it's absolutely frustrating when they keep asking if I've powercycled the modem and restarted my computer when that was the absolute first thing I've done before even calling...

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gah, really wish there was an edit post feature...
Aug 13, 2009 5:13AM PDT

@MarkFlax and sunwatcher: I spent about half an hour going through my router's setup pages and stumbled across a page that kept a history of the computers that have had access to my router, and they are all computers from my home: macbook pro, macbook air, and two iphones. So at this point I think I've ruled out the idea that somebody else could possibly be gaining access to my wireless signal and bogarting it (though I wish it were that simple). :\

I really appreciate your comments, thanks again.

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Editing posts
Aug 13, 2009 5:29AM PDT

I agree it is a nuisance. Once submitted, these posts cannot be edited. If you have some content you really must remove, you can always alert us using the "Report Offensive post" link at the bottom of each post.

I have learned through my own errors to always "Preview" the post first, but even then I make mistakes, Happy

I've just noticed you are using a Mac, and as I am a Windows person with no knowledge of Macs I will need to pass. If others here cannot help you find a solution, why not post again in one of our Mac forums available from the [bAll forums list.

We usually prefer members not to post duplicates, but there are occasions where doing so may help.

See what happens here, and good luck. If you do decide to repost in a Mac forum, be sure to explain that I suggested that to you in this discussion. That way you won't be thrown out! Devil

Mark

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same problem here!
Oct 8, 2009 4:51PM PDT

I am having the same problem for about a month now. I am on a PC using XP Home...regular router and a motorola surfboard modem(the black one not the white one) and Cox is my ISP. My connection is great during the day but about 8:30 at night til about 8:30 or so in the morning it drops in and out every few minutes. I called Cox and got the usual reset your modem and router routine which I have done many times before I even call. I have tried new wires and cables and new router...tried with just the modem connected and nothing helps. I had a tech out this morning and he took 2 splitters that werent being used off the cable line which boosted my signal according to the surfboard page. Tech said nothing wrong with cables, nobody sharing off my line outside at the box(he even put a new lock on there just incase). He said call him if it happens again...what tech is gonna answer his phone at 9 or so at night?! Tech also said night time is the really busy time and lots of people are on the net...that shouldnt make me drop off constantly! I dont know what else to do...I do all my business at night because the kid is asleep and its the only time I really have peace and quiet....not to mention my Warcraft addiction lol. Ive tried all the suggestions listed here and I still am stumped. Anyone else have any ideas at all? Please!!!

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oh..
Oct 8, 2009 4:55PM PDT

oh and I live in Tucson Arizona...sorry forgot to mention that!

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the solution to my problem
Oct 8, 2009 6:10PM PDT

i should've went back and posted the solution to my problem to this weeks ago.

before reading all of this rhondak1973, i have to say that i'm pretty sure my solution may not apply to you, since it seems you've already had a tech swing by your place and also because i'm pretty sure cox communications is a cable internet service, not DSL, unless it's different out in arizona.

i called at&t back again to report my connectivity/slow browsing issue and they ended up having to call me back after monitoring my internet connection for a few hours. a tech called me in the morning and suggested that either it was a modem issue (which it was not), so i requested that a technician swing by my place to check the telephone jacks at my house.

the technician came by and told me that the quality signal was dropping inside my house for some reason (though i don't quite remember the figures, he was saying it was dropping from 7000 bits to about 3000-4000 bits inside my house (also, not sure if he said bits or bytes, if at all. could've said something else, there was a lot of tech jargon and so i don't remember too well). after inspecting my phone lines, he found two problems.

one problem was that there was an unnecessary (spelling?) filter placed over the line that ran from my modem to the phone jack. simple solution: remove the filter so that the line running from my modem plugs directly into the wall.

the second problem, after further inspection was that some of the clips on the phone wires inside the jack i was plugging my modem into were old. after replacing those, my connection jumped right back up to 7000 bits.

the first night after the repairs my connection weren't fast instantaneously, but seemed to grow faster after the days passed.

now my internet connection is fine and dandy. no more cutouts/slow downs during my nighttime surfing and video streaming sessions.


the most important thing to note, i must say, was that this visit by a tech costed me nothing. my family pays something like a five dollar insurance plan per month just in case phone line repairs are necessary, so before rushing to call a tech to come over and inspect your lines, try to make sure that your repairs are covered or you might end up paying a lot of money out of pocket to cover your repairs.


good luck to any others of you trying to find a solution to your internet connectivity problems. if all else fails, having a technician come by your house or switching providers just might be the solution.