How to test your Internet connection.

It’s always frustrating when your connection goes out. It’s sometimes difficult to narrow your problem
down. Here are some troubleshooting steps that may help:

For the following tests, you can bring up the command prompt by clicking on the Windows Icon,
usually at the bottom left of the screen, and typing cmd (enter).This should bring up the command
prompt window and look something like this.

To test the internal setup of the Internet communications on your computer enter ping
127.0.0.1 -t (enter (those are zeros not Os)). This tests the setup and function of the TCPIP stack
in your computer. If this is not successful your computer has a serious internal problem or has not
been setup properly to use the Internet.
Here is an example of a successful test. (Use Ctrl-C to stop the test.)

OK. If the internal workings of the IP stack are good, the next step is to check the connection to your
router. First you will need to find the IP address of the router.
Bring up the command prompt and type: ipconfig (enter) . Your screen should look something like
this.

This shows that my current connection is Wireless LAN adapter 2:

If you do not have a connection showing an IP address then you don’t have an active IP connection. I
would try to troubleshoot the connection setup on the computer. Could be the NIC or wireless setup
on the computer. If this failed here I might try rebooting the computer, modem and/or router. If you
don’t know what this means, don’t worry about it just restart you computer.

So, looking at the information on the active connection, note the Default Gateway IP V4 Address. In
my case it is 192.168.0.1 . You should get a constant connection to it.
Type ping (Default Gateway IP Address) -t. like this: ping 192.168.0.1 -t (enter). Let it run for
about 20 lines at least (I know I only let it run 19 times. My bad.). Ctrl-c will stop it.

This indicates a solid response. No time outs and note that the times are very consistent. It should
always be this way. Your times may vary from mine but should be very consistent. If you get times
varying from 10ms to 200 ms to over 1000ms sometimes, this is an unreliable connection.
OK Now to check the connection from your router to the Internet. Most of the time your problem will
be here.
Enter Ping 75.75.75.75 -t (This pings a Domain Name server on the Internet that should
always be available)

This shows a consistent connection. No time outs and times are reasonable and consistent. If there are
skips or timeouts or the times vary widely, this indicates a problem. Problems at this point are most
likely outside of your house. I would call the provider and ask them to check it. They usually have
some techs that can test your line while you are on the phone with them. (Hopefully, they will speak
good enough English that you can communicate with them.;)
Here is an example of an intermittent connection. Notice that the times are fairly consistent but the
intermittent time outs indicate a connection problem.

If you have somewhat of a connection to the Internet you can check the speed by going to
www.speedtest.net and press GO . Here is what mine looks like : Note the graph line under the
speeds. This shows a stable connection. If the connection speed varied the line would indicate
changing internet speeds which typically is a problem.
I hope this helps.