SOLVED: Frequent brief disconnects

johnmeyer

Wow.
I followed your advice and uninstalled and reinstalled and now I've got an inactive account since doing so.
I have wasted enough time now - over an hour - and have to go get my mind off this because right now I am truly frustrated.
I have absolutely no idea what I am dealing with with this program nor what I have learned, if anything, since installing it.
And now I'm told my paid account is inactive.
I'm gone!!

johnmeyer

C:\Users\John>tracert tpw.outages.io

Tracing route to tpw.outages.io [66.85.130.2]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms RT-AX3000-E7A0 [192.168.50.1]
2 23 ms 16 ms 8 ms 10.75.64.1
3 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms 100.120.104.48
4 15 ms 7 ms 8 ms 100.120.104.16
5 22 ms 18 ms 31 ms chnddsrj01-ae1.0.rd.ph.cox.net [68.1.5.211]
6 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms 100.120.164.139
7 20 ms 19 ms 18 ms wsip-70-166-210-195.ph.ph.cox.net [70.166.210.19
5]
8 20 ms 19 ms 20 ms eth.14.1.cr1.phx0.phoenixnap.com [108.170.0.9]
9 * 21 ms 27 ms 10.222.24.20
10 20 ms 19 ms 21 ms 66.85.130.2

Trace complete.

C:\Users\John>

johnmeyer

My accounted now shows "Disconnected"!!!

johnmeyer

C:\Users\John>tracert tpw.outages.io

Tracing route to tpw.outages.io [66.85.130.2]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms RT-AX3000-E7A0 [192.168.50.1]
2 23 ms 16 ms 8 ms 10.75.64.1
3 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms 100.120.104.48
4 15 ms 7 ms 8 ms 100.120.104.16
5 22 ms 18 ms 31 ms chnddsrj01-ae1.0.rd.ph.cox.net [68.1.5.211]
6 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms 100.120.164.139
7 20 ms 19 ms 18 ms wsip-70-166-210-195.ph.ph.cox.net [70.166.210.19
5]
8 20 ms 19 ms 20 ms eth.14.1.cr1.phx0.phoenixnap.com [108.170.0.9]
9 * 21 ms 27 ms 10.222.24.20
10 20 ms 19 ms 21 ms 66.85.130.2

Trace complete.

C:\Users\John>

OutagesIO_Support

I have absolutely no idea what I am dealing with with this program >nor what I have learned, if anything, since installing it.
And now I'm told my paid account is inactive. I'm gone!!

There is nothing wrong with your account, those are your agent statuses. What ever happened when you re-installed, it is no longer communicating now.

I have to tell you...... this is pretty frustrating. I don't have
the time for all of this.

Yes but you should not be directing that frustration toward us, we are only trying to help you. We understand that Internet connection issues like this can be frustrating but this is the world that we live in.

You either have to make the time or suffer the bad service if your Internet provider doesn't think it is an issue on their end. Or, hire someone to help you.

Internet providers will pretty much force you to make your case before they spend too much time on it unless they know it is affecting others in your area and even then, may not do much about it until it becomes critical.

Our own experiences in having to deal with such problems is why we originally built what became OutagesIO. Customers would call us, practically blaming us for down time when the problems were usually always their Internet.

We realized we needed an automated way of gathering data that we could show to the customer so they could get help from their provider.

OutagesIO is like any other tool, it is part of the information gathering process that helps us assess the situation. The data it generates along with knowing how things are connected and what you are experiencing are how we can come to some idea of what the problem might be. That said, providers typically will not admit to problems at the street level, that's just how it is.

In this case, your agent is either not installed correctly or you have something running on your PC or firewall that is preventing it from communicating properly.

nor what I have learned, if anything, since installing it.

We have been helping you with the limited amount of data that is
available. You have posted many things and we have been trying to help by sharing as much information as we can considering the limited amount of hard data that we have.

How do I finally get this program up and running properly and >determine the cause pf my consistent disconnects,
without becoming a full time technician?
Sorry if I sound frustrated - but I am.

In terms of using the program, you just install it and if all conditions were met while doing so, it just starts doing its job. There are no controls, nothing to change etc, the rest is in your reports on the OutagesIO dashboard for this agent.

You do not have to become a tech, we are happy to help explain what we're seeing as we have been. From here, it looks like your own router might be part of the problem along with signal levels in your area.

I suggested you connect the PC directly to your providers router then let the agent run for a day or two and see what we get from that.

At this point, I don't know what else to suggest because the agent is no longer communicating. You were able to ping an OutagesIO device so it seems like something on the PC is preventing the agent from working right.

You mainly need to figure out that part, get the agent working and we'll be happy to keep helping you with the information we're seeing.

First, go into your programs and make sure that the agent is uninstalled. Make sure there is not a second program that somehow got installed. Re-install the agent by following all of the help that is made available in the installation steps.

Alternatively, try to find a friend that is tech savvy to help you with this part so that we can get good data and can help figure out what is wrong with your Internet if additional data shows up.

johnmeyer

Somehow, after several more tries, I got the agent running again.
I also reran the command:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\John>tracert tpw.outages.io

Tracing route to tpw.outages.io [66.85.130.2]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms RT-AX3000-E7A0 [192.168.50.1]
2 23 ms 16 ms 8 ms 10.75.64.1
3 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms 100.120.104.48
4 15 ms 7 ms 8 ms 100.120.104.16
5 22 ms 18 ms 31 ms chnddsrj01-ae1.0.rd.ph.cox.net [68.1.5.211]
6 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms 100.120.164.139
7 20 ms 19 ms 18 ms wsip-70-166-210-195.ph.ph.cox.net [70.166.210.19
5]
8 20 ms 19 ms 20 ms eth.14.1.cr1.phx0.phoenixnap.com [108.170.0.9]
9 * 21 ms 27 ms 10.222.24.20
10 20 ms 19 ms 21 ms 66.85.130.2

Trace complete.

C:\Users\John>

OutagesIO_Support

Hi, yes, we see that it's back online so good going on that.

One problem is that the agent is still not sending hops which means something is blocking it. At the same time, you can ping our network so that is very odd.

When we see things like this, we check other agents to make sure that there isn't something going on from our end and there isn't so I can't answer why your agent service is not able to get the same traceroute as you are able to from the command line.

johnmeyer

@outagesio_support
I verified that I am running as administrator and my Norton 360 does not appear to be blocking.

OutagesIO_Support

I have sent an email to the dev that works on the agent to see if he has any ideas because I'm stumped on this. I've never seen that before.

johnmeyer

@outagesio_support
Thanks

johnmeyer

@johnmeyer

Could it possibly be the browser (Firefox) that I'm running the agent from?

Can I simultaneously log in from Chrome to test this - or can I only be logged in from one browser at a time?

johnmeyer

I'm now logged into my agent on both Firefox and Chrome.

is that making any difference
is it okay to be logged in from more than one browser or not?

OutagesIO_Support

Sometimes, one browser can show something while another might not but in this case, that's not the problem as we're seeing the same thing as you are in your reports.
Hops have no relation to the browser and are sent by the agent software.

johnmeyer

@outagesio_support
Yeah, I realized that after I sent it because I don't even have to be logged in at all for it to still be sending pings.

You mentioned something several posts back about my maybe having to enter some firewall command(s) manually. Can we try that? How difficult is it to do and are there any potential risks?

johnmeyer

My disconnects have gotten worse. I have to get the cable tech out. Before he comes, I'd like to understand something:

My graph of speed tests for the last 50 attempts, between 4 am and 11 am, show over 40 outages.
Since the computer that is running your software is connected directly to the cable, being plugged into the back of the router, and is not running wirelessly, doesn't this graph alone prove that the problem is not in the router but in the cable?

Thanks.

OutagesIO_Support

@johnmeyer said in Frequent brief disconnects:

@outagesio_support

You mentioned something several posts back about my maybe having to enter some firewall command(s) manually. Can we try that? How difficult is it to do and are there any potential risks?

No harm what so ever, it's just one rule to allow the agent only to communicate. This is assuming the rule is not there.

https://support.outagesio.com/topic/77/no-hops-no-pings-in-my-dashboard

Check the above post and see if you have such a rule in your firewall. The image is showing a Windows 7 I think so yours might look a bit different.

johnmeyer

@johnmeyer said in Frequent brief disconnects:

My disconnects have gotten worse. I have to get the cable tech out. Before he comes, I'd like to understand something:
My graph of speed tests for the last 50 attempts, between 4 am and 11 am, show over 40 outages.
Since the computer that is running your software is connected directly to the cable, being plugged into the back of the router, and is not running wirelessly, doesn't this graph alone prove that the problem is not in the router but in the cable?
Thanks.

OutagesIO_Support

@johnmeyer said in Frequent brief disconnects:

My disconnects have gotten worse. I have to get the cable tech out. Before he comes, I'd like to understand something:

My graph of speed tests for the last 50 attempts, between 4 am and 11 am, show over 40 outages.
Since the computer that is running your software is connected directly to the cable, being plugged into the back of the router, and is not running wirelessly, doesn't this graph alone prove that the problem is not in the router but in the cable?

Thanks.

As mentioned, the reports don't indicate IP outages as the main problem but something else. It could be anything from a bad cable connection, failing router or with your provider such as signal levels issues.

The only IP outages you've had are all with this 192.168.50.1 device. The rest of the problems are something else. This is of course a lead. It means you should definitely try another cable as well.

When you say your Pc is connected to the cable, I assume you mean directly to your providers cable modem?

Your speeds have gone as low as 5.44Mbps which is incredible considering you said you have a 1GB connection.

The highest speed test recorded was 108.61Mbps which is almost 900Mbps less than what you are paying for. This leads to wonder if your PC has a 100Mbps card install and not a 1Gigabit card or that your router has 100Mbps ports rather than 1Gibabit.

You should take a look at what speed your PC network is running at. It will look something like this.

In terms of the black speed test result bars, we think there is a bug in terms of those outages based triggered speed tests.

We think that what is happening is that the agent triggered a speed test when it sees disconnections while it is supposed to trigger them only if there are confirmed IP outages.

It's not a bad thing, it's just not as clear as we'd like it to be for members.

johnmeyer

Thanks.

My desktop is fairly old and the card is 100mps - which explains the slower speed on that computer. I do all my work, etc on my wireless tablets and phones which are newer.

The desktop is cabled, with a new cable, to the 1 gig port in my new router which is AX3000, about a year old, high end

I have two optional cox cable leads to the modem (also new and also mine) and the results are the same with either cable. The last Cox tech out told me each of the cables to the modem are receiving 1,024

When you say the speed test is being triggered by disconnections, then that means all those black bars represent disconnections, no?

thanks

OutagesIO_Support

My desktop is fairly old and the card is 100mps - which explains >the slower speed on that computer. I do all my work, etc on my >wireless tablets and phones which are newer.

That's fine. People should not be testing full speeds all day long anyhow. What we really want to know since it's shared bandwidth is that we have enough to work with. Your bandwidth seems fine then, at least very consistently usable but there is some other problem with the connection. This also leads me to believe bad cable or signal levels problem / bad interface on the providers side IF you determine it is not on your side.

The desktop is cabled, with a new cable, to the 1 gig port in my >new router which is AX3000, about a year old, high end

At this stage, your PC should be connected directly to your providers device to eliminate anything that is yours. If the problems continue (on the PC of course) and since you are connected directly to the providers device, that would show that the problem is with the provider.

The last Cox tech out told me each of the cables to the modem >are receiving 1,024

Remember that they are testing bandwidth to the street. It's all they are obligated to do but bandwidth alone does not mean your service is not experiencing problems which you obviously are. They need to check more than speed.

When you say the speed test is being triggered by >disconnections, then that means all those black bars represent >disconnections, no?

The black bars represent a speed test triggered by the agent. It means the agent algorithm noticed a change drastic enough to quickly trigger a speed test. The agent cannot know initially if the disconnection is just that, a disconnection or at actual IP outage;. It only knows there is a problem so it tries to run as many tests as it can as quickly as it can.
The black bars can be generated by either disconnections or outages. You can know the difference if there is an outage around the same time as when a black bar came in. If there is no outage but there is a black bar, it means there was a disconnection without an IP outage report.

There is a difference between an IP or non IP outages.
These can help a bit.

The nature of tcp ip and internet connectivity
About cable and wireless services

That section of the forums contains other information you might find useful.

Information and Support

SOLVED: Frequent brief disconnects