Let ’s be honest : not one of us loves our internet serving provider ( ISP ) . I wish well it were n’t so , but ISPs have some of the worst reputation in the intact tech manufacture .
But my own situation was n’t just an occasional annoyance . Increasingly , my home internet was growing nearly unusable , with my connection dropping off up to 50 times a day . You get wind that right — 50 clock time . All the while , I was baffle in a contract with an ISP that was always brushing me off .
feel reasonably powerless , I finally did some research and stumbled upon a shockingly simple tool that helped me establish that I was the victim here , not the job .
The worst connection I’ve ever had
provide me to loop you in on my grim taradiddle of fighting my net connection — or should I say , my net supplier .
I cultivate from home and I ’m a huge gamer . Both of those things make having a stable internet connective a necessary . It all started a few month ago with the occasional gulf here and there . My cyberspace would randomly go down , often at unmated hour of the night , for a few minute at a prison term . It happens , I thought , chalking it up to maintenance . niggling did I know , things were about to geta lotworse .
The odd disconnects became a daily occurrence . I ’d lose connection on every twist in the sign for anywhere between 2 and 30 proceedings , and this happened a few times a day at first , and then with increase frequency . It mother to the compass point where my mobile cyberspace — as in , plugging in my phone and using a 5 G connexion on my PC — puzzle out better than the fiber that was presuppose to be fast and stable . My fiber function down dozens of time every single day .
Before I ever turned to my supplier , I triedtroubleshooting , but I had a hunch that the problem ran deeper . After all , if it was an issue with my PC , then surely the internet would ’ve work on just very well on my telephone or my laptop computer … but it did n’t . Whether Wi - Fi or Ethernet association , both go down constantly , often at the bad possible time .
When I contacted my ISP , their first idea was to replace my modem , which they did . Then , they changed all the cabling in my apartment . And then , they tell me that my cyberspace was exercise great and everything looked o.k. on their end . They forebode to post a technician over to verify my connecter once again , but it never find , and they basically haunt me for calendar week . call them produced a generic “ you have to wait for us to call you ” reception .
gratuitous to say , I was frustrated . More than that , I felt somewhat powerless . Working was a painfulness ; gambling was insufferable . Locked into a two - year contract , I almost resigned myself to the approximation of having to pay my ( highly incompetent ) ISP for something that did n’t even cultivate .
It ’s a well thing that I did a Google lookup first .
An unexpected rescue
I feel pretty done with trying to explain to my ISP that , no , my internetdoesn’twork fine . A quick slam through their societal media told me that many other mass were deal with the same frustrations as I was , so it all seemed like a lost reason . I want to turn out beyond a shadow of a dubiousness that the issuance was n’t on my end .
My first thought was to begin indite down every disconnection , but even night bird of night like me go to kip sometimes . My punctilious note of hand only scratch the surface of the problem . In addition , there was no easy way for me to leaven that the internet was down on my ISP ’s end and not in my local area web ( LAN ) . Fortunately , a quick hunting lead me to a tiny tool calledNet Uptime Monitor ( NUM ) .
final Uptime Monitor is a tool made to help users track the reliability and stableness of their internet connectedness . It ’s also super simple , so much so that , at first , I feel unbelieving as to whether it could do the job . What it does is precisely what it order on the cannister — it checks whether your net is make or not by send out periodic “ Ping River ” to three different server .
A ping is a small information packet targeted at a server that measure out how fast the host responds ( and whether it responds at all ) . Since NUM Ping not one , but three servers one after another , even if one waiter is down , it ’ll be capable to unite to the other two , thus turn out that your internet is working . If all three do n’t respond , it indicates total net failure .
NUM ’s invariant monitoring essay to be pretty astonishing for my needs , but it also has one other crucial constituent — it differentiates between LAN failures and ISP failures . The putz test the local meshwork first , tally the so - called gateway equipment ( such as a modem or a router ) that touch base your personal computer to the connexion offer by your ISP . If the gateway respond properly , NUM generate a message : “ Local web is OK . ” The 2nd part of the test is what looks into the connection between your local gateway and your ISP , as well as the internet at gravid .
It was final Uptime Monitor that at long last offer me tangible substantiation that my LAN was okay . It was n’t the modem , or the cabling , or my PC . It was , without a doubt , my ISP .
Lightweight as it may be , NUM still has a few interesting circumstance . you may vary how often it sends out pings , and how long a failure need to be before it ’s log . At this point , as I was collecting receipts to show to my ISP , I chose the low-pitched possible intervals of two seconds for both of those thing . you could also adjust whether you require the tool to toy a strait when your net goes down and reconnects .
verbalize of gross — perhaps the beneficial thing about NUM for masses in my billet is the log characteristic . The peter lumber every single failure in a textual matter file , noting whether the LAN was fine or not , how long the loser lasted , and the exact clip it admit seat . This made all the difference . Instead of showing empty - handed , I had plenty of proof to show my ISP just how risky their service was .
One thing to remark here is that Net Uptime Monitor is devoid , but only technically . It can ladder for 30 to 60 mo in the gratis interlingual rendition , at which item you ’ll need to start it up again . As I want to monitor my connection around the clock , I chose to devote for a one - time lasting licence . It be me $ 10 , and I consider it money well spend .
This little tool have me what I call for . I was finally capable to present data to my ISP without have to observe down every single bankruptcy ( which , given the frequency , get tedious real quick ) .
Did it help ? Well , yes and no .
A (kind of) happy ending
With the logs , my provider finally admitted that there was an issue , and it was n’t just in my apartment — it was in my entire building . Despite this , they were still unable to give me any sort of a solution or a hope as to when they ’d set my connection . It was all the same honest-to-god same old : “ We ’ll call you . ”
After dozens of calls and a couple of in - person visits , I collapse up on my ISP ever sterilise my internet . I necessitate a stable connexion , and I was n’t willing to wait for many more months for it to befall . Instead , I bite the slug and found a unlike ISP and I can now at long last work and game in ataraxis once again . It ’s running beautifully , and my current NUM logs serve to demonstrate that .
Even though I gave up on my provider , the logs from Net Uptime Monitor still came in handy . If not for them , I would n’t have been able to break my contract with the sometime ISP in front of sentence , at least not without pay several hundred dollars . Fortunately , since I had solid test copy that my internetwasdownright terrible , I was able to part ways with that ISP at no cost , two years before the contract would have lapsed .
If you ever find yourself in my locating , there are many thing you could do . you’re able to grease one’s palms abetter modemorrouter , you’re able to try totroubleshoot your Wi - Fi , you’re able to even just call your ISP directly and get them to come fix it for you — that ’s their job . However , if they ’re being as difficult as mine was , try out Net Uptime Monitor and come back with receipts . For me , it did the trick .
