Connected but no internet, a lot lately

[arapahoepark]

Has anyone else been experiencing slow internet lately? The last few days I have been getting disconnected a lot along with notifications saying that I am connected with no internet and/or going to many sites, some of which never connect and others just fine.
Any tips? The modem was tested and seems fine. Is it last minute online holiday shopping traffic?

 

[Logan]

Connected to what? Your modem? Does the modem show it is connected with something like a globe? Can your ISP see your modem online? Could be ISP problem or external cabling problem due to weather changes and expansion and contraction of connection points but it sounds like something you should ask your ISP about.

 

[arapahoepark]

Both wired and wifi have been going in and out. Most of our devices show that they are connected even though sites are not responding or getting kicked out of games. I have not yet asked the ISP.
I was told that this problem coincidentally occurred after a power outage last week. Our internet company is due to get scheduled maintenance tonight, so we'll see.

 

[Logan]

Just as an explanation:

You have an ISP.
The ISP communicates with your modem and connects you to the wider web.
Your modem communicates with your router.
Your router communicates with your devices.

These are all links in the chain getting information from the web, to you, and vice versa.

Your devices could be connected to your router, and the modem be completely off or disconnected. Or your devices could be connected to your router and your router to the modem, and the cable going into the modem from the wall could be disconnected. Or all of that could be connected and on and the ISP is down for whatever reason.

All of these would result in the same scenario. Typically, though, it would be a problem with the ISP having some issue either with their cables getting from there. If you contact your ISP, or look at your account online (depending on the service you use) the ISP should be able to tell whether it can "see" your modem. If it cannot, then it the problem is likely between the modem and the ISP somewhere along the line.

Another "tell" would be powering off and on your modem and watching the indicator lights. If the "globe" never lights up (depending on the model), it's not communicating with your ISP.

Contacting your ISP is the thing to do.

 

[Grimmson]

Trent, has your issue been resolved?

 

[arapahoepark]

Trent, has your issue been resolved?

I'll need more to contact my ISP but no it hasn't.
Some sites, like the PB seem to load up fine typically, most others still don't load.

 

[83r17h]

Both wired and wifi have been going in and out. Most of our devices show that they are connected even though sites are not responding or getting kicked out of games. I have not yet asked the ISP.
I was told that this problem coincidentally occurred after a power outage last week. Our internet company is due to get scheduled maintenance tonight, so we'll see.

I had similar issues on my home network for a little bit. Have you checked your DNS server addresses? It may be that your ISP or router is using a weird DNS lookup service, which results in the computer not knowing where to send connections. As soon as I switched my computer to use 8.8.8.8 as the DNS server, the problems disappeared.

Another consideration is security. I use a firewall on my router as part of the network security, and it was initially set too strict on its regulation. If some websites sent a webpage that was missing something expected (either due to transmission error, or older websites), then they would find themselves blocked automatically for the next several hours. So you could consider checking the firewall on your computer, and on your network, and see if they are blocking anything and why.

Beyond that and the potential connection problems that Logan outlined, it's difficult to diagnose. If the ISP was supposed to do maintenance last night, it would be best to ask them if there are problems on their end still.

 

[Edm]

Mine does that all the time. I assume it is because I am in the basement office and my router is upstairs.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Too many issues could cause this to give you a definitive answer. I assume you are not connected directly to the modem but through a router.

If it's an all-in-one modem-router then the router itself could be locking up.

It could also be the DNS that your router is using.

I had more problems with my router locking up a while back but since I upgraded my home to a Unifi wireless system I rarely have problems now.

 

[arapahoepark]

It was an all in one.
We got a new modem yesterday. Seems to have done the trick so far...a couple times after installing it there were hiccups but so far nothing since.
I wonder if the outage last week was due to a surge and fried it.