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Troubleshooting Home Edition

This guide is directed at home networks and systems.

IT Best Practice guides dictate troubleshooting starts at the physical layer, which means ensuring all the cables and connectors are properly seated. However, as someone with 30 years of experience in the field, I say START WITH A REBOOT. A reboot will often fixes most issues.

Networking is very complicated and with Internet usage up over 40% since the pandemic started means everything at your end could be working fine and congestion is occurring upstream of you.

There has been so many changes on the technology front. Wireless devices have proliferated and the demand for bandwidth has skyrocketed. It is no surprise that many people are experiencing connectivity issues. With that in mind I have written some suggestions and trouble shooting steps that may help you.

Check your environment.

Inventory how many connected devices you have. Pay particular attention to Internet of Things (IOT) devices. IOT means any home applicances connected to the internet: doorbells, light bulbs, washing machines, refrigerators, robot vacuum cleaners and smart watches. When I did this at my home, I was surprised to discover I had 22 devices on my network. Before I started, I guessed 7. IOT devices can be quite a problem. Most are not built with any security in mind and tend to be very chatty on the network. Simply disconnecting these devices may result in improved network performance. If you disconnect the devices and do not see any improvement, then add them back and test again.
- - On some wireless routers, it is possible to have more than one SSID (wireless network). This means you can isolate all of your IOT devices on one network with a reduced priority and all your main devices on a primary network with higher priority to the available bandwidth. Routers with this capability are usually a bit more expensive, but if you have a lot of devices, they can help make a significant difference.
In your home, in the area where you work, do you receive a strong signal from your Wi-Fi? If not, can you relocate to an area that has a better signal strength? If not, can you connect to the router via Ethernet cable?
Are you near signal generators such as fans, can openers, microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc? If you are, consider finding another location or moving the appliance.
Are you near other people who are moving between you and the Wi-Fi? Bodies, being mostly water, are very good at blocking Wi-Fi frequencies (which also means that fish tanks, water jugs, water pipes in the wall as well as walls with metal backed insulation are also excellent WiFi blockers).
Last but not least prioritize network demand. Can you stagger network demand to help the people in your family who need it the most? For example, if one person is streaming a movie and another is streaming music while a third is attending an online meeting, there will likely be a problem.

Troubleshooting Section

The following troubleshooting instructions assume you have accomplished the “Check your environment” section above.

Internet connectivity or I cannot access the internet.

Reboot the computer where you are experiencing the issue. Test for results.
Check all cables and plugs to insure a positive connection.
Test another computer to see if it is the computer itself. If both systems are experiencing the same issue then the problem most likely is with network or is internet related.
Run a speed test. Click on this link https://www.speedtest.net/ and press the “Go” button. Write the download and upload speeds down. Anything less than 7 Mbps is not going to be sufficiently reliable. Move around your home and conduct a speed test to see where you get the most performance. Talk to your Internet Service Provider about improving your services if you are not receiving speeds that are at least close to what they advertise.
Reboot your Wi-Fi access point. This is most commonly a dual purpose unit that is both a router and your wireless network access point. Test for results.
Reboot your router if it is a separate device. This is most commonly a dual purpose unit that is both a router and your wireless network access point. Test for results.
Reboot your cable or DSL modem. Test for results.
Contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and ask them to reset your modem. Some ISPs let you do this yourself online assuming you have connectivity.
Check your modem for End of Life (EOL). Most ISPs who rent modems will replace your modem as it approaches EOL; however, sometimes you get lost in the shuffle. If you own your own modem do a Google search for your make and model of modem with the term EOL. If your modem is EOL, replace it.
If your Wi-Fi router is an older unit, consider replacing it with a more current system with “Beam forming” technologies or replace it with a mesh network such as eero or Google Wi-Fi mesh systems. These systems are more like enterprise systems and can greatly improve Wi-Fi coverage in your home.

Issues with a specific web site or URL

Reboot the computer. Test for results.
Clear your browser history and data. Click here for directions for most browsers then close and reopen your browser and test again.
Test accessing the site from another computer. If it is not working there then it is either an issue with the web site or your firewall may be blocking it.

Issues with Google Meets

Reboot the computer. Test for results.
Keep browser tabs to a minimum: no more than four on a Chromebook. Close all applications that are not actively in use.
Note the Google Meet code and contact your Schools IT department. Ask them to check the “Meet Quality Tool” and give them the Meet ID . This tool shows statistics for every member in the meet and can help determine if the bottleneck is occurring at your end, at Google, or somewhere in between. This step can occur hours or even days after the meeting as the statistics for every meet are retained for a significant time.
- If the “Meet Quality Tool” indicates the issue is on your end, please revisit the "checking your environment" section above.
- If the tool indicates the issue is external to your home, you can try sharing the statistics with your ISP to see if they can mitigate the issue. You may not be able to affect change but sometimes just knowing it's not you helps.