Home > Technobuddy > Archives > 2007 > February > 23
Friday, February 23, 2007
Making the connection - broadband
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My Internet service goes out more often than my stepdaughter.
Both my DSL and voice telephone service arrive at my home over the same wire. But that’s where the two part company. While my telephone service almost never fails, the DSL connection is a sometimes thing.
Don’t feel cocky if you have cable. Before I had DSL, I used a cable modem, and it also went out on a regular basis.
There’s no way your Internet service - at least for the immediate future - will be as dependable as your telephone. But I can help you ease many of the problems you are almost certain to encounter.
One problem I often see with both computers and networks is the devastation caused by fixing something that isn’t broken. So keep in mind that your connection can slow down for all sorts of reasons beyond your control.
For instance, just as on I-85, traffic can jam things up at a Web site. Too many people logging onto a site can bring speed to a crawl or put it out of business temporarily.
Your Internet provider can also have problems. If you go to the main Web page for your provider, you’ll usually see a link to a page that offers reports on any network problems. Keep in mind that some problems only hit part of your service. For instance, an e-mail server at your provider can have problems even though the Web part is just fine.
You’ll also find a telephone number to call if problems persist. The help you’ll get depends on the provider. In some lucky cases, you’ll get help tracing the problem - even if it’s in your own system. But at other providers, you won’t even get sympathy. If that’s the case with your provider, it may be time to take your business elsewhere.
To make things even more complicated, the Internet itself can slow down. If you’d like to check that, just head to an Internet traffic report here to get a traffic report. High traffic or equipment problems at one of the main server locations can slow down things for everyone.
But there are times when the problem is in your house, and there’s a trick for that. It’s way too simple to seem like a big deal. But using it can restore Internet service more than half the time. It should be your first move when your computer can’t connect using either DSL or cable.
Simply turn the modem off. Let it sit that way for a few moments and then turn it on again. You’ll be pleased at how often that works. Here’s why: Your modem must be in sync with the modems at your Internet provider. Restarting the modem requires it to establish that synchronization. (If you want to seem like a genius, move everyone from the room while you do this and make some impressive noises. No one needs to know how easy it is.)
The nice thing about this fix is that, even if the problem isn’t at your home, it does no harm at worst and can be a lifesaver at best.
Some problems aren’t as obvious or as simple to fix.
Last week, for instance, my connection slowed to a crawl. I ignored the problem, figuring that it was a temporary glitch on my DSL provider’s end. But things got worse, and finally my computer couldn’t connect at all. I tried unplugging the ethernet connectors both at my computer and at the router, thinking they might not be seated correctly. That didn’t help.
So I traced the cable along the wall to the router and noticed that it had developed a kink. Since I often make changes in hardware and move the desks around to do it, I probably created the kink when I pulled the desk away from the wall to get working room.
Keep in mind that this wasn’t a visible break in the cable, just a sharp bend. A bend like that can break one of the tiny wires inside the cable. But even when a wire isn’t broken, a sharp bend can still create enough interference between the wires to slow or stop a connection. Simply replacing the cable fixed the problem.
But since I have a beagle that considers cables a chew toy, I also used wiring molding to cover the cable for most of its run. Besides protecting it from the dog, the portion of cable that is covered will never kink.
The day may come when Internet service is just as reliable as the telephone. But that day is so far off that you can’t see it from here.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns
