Intermittent Breaks In Internet Connection.

[derekpara]

I frequently get short breaks in my internet connection flagged up by the usual warning ' Cannot connect to Server' or similar. I've tried a few of the remedies recommended on YouTube and by Chris on AB but the problem annoyingly persists.

I have Firefox with Windows 7 and Cable internet from Virgin, who replaced an outdated router a couple of months ago. The problems began after that. Before I contact Virgin do you think the router might be faulty ?

Cheers.

D

[Buenchico]

>>> do you think the router might be faulty ?

Yes, quite possibly. My own router works well most of the time but I'll occasionally find that I can't connect to the internet, even though all of the lights on the router remain on. (It only seems to happen when I'm using both a wi-fi connection and an Ethernet one simultaneously). I was going to complain to my ISP but by logging onto my account details I could see that the connection had been showing as 'up' at their end at the times my connection dropped. Then I noticed that I was hearing a slight crackling sound in the wireless headphones I often wear (to listen to internet radio) immediately before each outage, strongly suggesting that I ought to be looking for a new router. (I can't complain though. I've had this one for ages and it only cost me £5 from a local auction room. My ISP charges £84 for new router!).

So a dodgy router could quite well be the cause of your problem. If you're going to talk to Virgin about the problem I suggest making a note of which (if any) lights go out on your router during an outage. That might give them a clue as to whether the problem is at your end or theirs.

[Hopkirk]

Talktalk gave me a new router for free when mine played up.

[SlackAlice]

Possibly, just a little while I had problems with poor d/l and upload speeds. You can cover a few problems yourself quite quickly.

Log in to your Virginmedia account using the primary account. Click on 'Service Status' and if you scroll to the right side of the page you should see a box saying 'Run Test'. Click on that and follow the prompts.

When I did that, in my case, whatever was causing the problem disappeared and all was back to normal in about 2 hrs. Problem not reoccurred.

Worth trying before you start 'phoning them ☺☺☺

[Old_Geezer]

Everyone seems to get these problems. I blame the networks and ISPs.

I wish the BT router didn't keep bringing up browser tabs telling me how I can investigate the issue when it's BT that needs to extract it's digit and make it's network reliable. It should be telling them somehow.

[Khandro]

There may be nothing wrong with the router, it may just be in the wrong position in the room, or the house.

[derekpara]

Thanks for that varied and helpful selection of answers, everyone.

The 'new' router( supplied free by Virgin during a routine visit) is in the same position as the trouble-free older one, but I'll re-position it and see what happens.

Cheers.

D

[diddlydo]

We had this problem with our BT router - when we emailed the CEO of BT because customer service were useless, someone who knew what he was talking about called us. He was surprised we could connect at all with our antiquated router, organised a new one straightaway (no charge) and all has been fine since.

[derekpara]

Thanks, diddly.

[DTCwordfan]

I've had this and been under a BT case management for the last 3 weeks, the joke being that they said their target for me was 6 Mb download and 0,3 upload - once they had the new line in and some switch flicked on, I've achieved nigh on and just over 12 and uploads of 0,9 to 1 - though this past weekend with the weather it collapsed a few times to their heady 0.3Mb and NaN.....