Internet connection keeps on dropping randomly for short periods of time

PhillipCZ

Reputable
Mar 10, 2014
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4,540
Hello,

My internet connection sometimes drops for no apparent cause. Sometimes it works just fine though. I do not usually notice this, but when I'm playing an online game or using RDP (which I do quite often for work) it becomes really annoying. I contacted my ISP and they were very cooperative and changed pretty much everything including the transmitter for the entire village, but they too do not know what to do, since there is no one else having this kind of problems (in out village). The problem occur on both wireless connected and wired PCs (and phones etc.). The connection is received wirelessly (is that even a word?) and then it goes to the router.

Now I've been thinking that the possible cause could maybe be some sort of electromagnetic interference. Is that possible? Is there any way I could check for that? What else could I try?(except for changing ISP, which I doubt would help.)

Thank you for your suggestions.

(Not a native English speaker.)
 
I would start with the basics:
1. Observation - is there a pattern to the drop in connection? For example, when the cordless phone rings (assuming you have one, that is) or did you recently move your computer closer to something that uses the same frequency (microwaves, cordless phones, RC devices, etc) or either 2.4 or 5 GHz?
2. Are you using a secondary router, or did your ISP provided you with a modem with a built-in router? If you're using a secondary router, you may need a firmware update or possibly even need to replace the router.
3. A distant third possibility is that there is someone nearby practicing some Denial of Service attacks on your network - again, very unlikely, but still within the realm of possibilities.
 

PhillipCZ

Reputable
Mar 10, 2014
33
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4,540


I will try to observe some patterns, but as far as I can tell, it's completely random. I am using a secondary router, but that one got replaced 3 days ago. I think it's a completely different manufacturer. The firmware was updated as well. I remove the secondary router and get some tests running to make sure it's not that router causing it for whatever weird reason. Thanks for response.
 

DeadlyDays

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Mar 29, 2013
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10,960
Interference/Low signal quality is most often the issue on wireless problems. It could also just be being too far or too many things in between you and the source as well. Are you physically farther, or are there things physically between your received and the transmitter than everyone else? Are you sure they would even notice the issue if it were happening? Small outages are typically not really noticeable if you are just checking email, browsing the web.