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Testing Broadband Connections

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by rickporritt35 2 views

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(For general home use) is there a hardware device for testing if an ADSL broadband connection is live and if it is up and running okay?

It would save a lot of time when troubleshooting a PC or modem/router when sometimes it's just a case of the service being down. To be able to test the line first would be so much better than phoning the ISP, which isn't always an easy option, what with being held in queues or being charged by the minute to wait! How else can I test if a connection is okay before spending time looking for a problem with the computer?

7 replies

by hal 9000

Not an easy answer here the obvious one is if you pick up a phone and have a dead line that will tell you that the service is down defiantly.

Although recently I had a DSL outage with the service being down and the only thing that I picked up here was that the last LED was orange not green so the Modem/Router wasn't syncing with the provider. When I run into these I unplug the Modem/Router and leave it for about 20 seconds and then plug back in and see what happens if the unit will not sync with the provider I tend to believe that the Service is out and leave it particularly if it was working previously.

When the cable provider installed the Internet service at my sons house they had the same problem and spent ages on a company supplied Mobile to see if the other end was working and then changing bits and Pieces till they got the Modem to sync. All the [b]Big Boys[/b] tend to rely on the LED's on the Modems and that is the best that I think that you'll find.

Col

by nilt

For home usage, I agree with Hal that the modem's LED is a good indicator most of the time.

As far as handheld equipment that verifies lines and such like the telecom installed carry, you're going to pay upwards of $5,000 for those. I have a Fluke OneTouch Network Assistant myself. Even used these units command several thousand dollars (and are worth every penny when you need one).

BTW, Hal. How'd you bold in your answer? I thought we couldn't format in here.

by wlbowers

You can't always depend on the modems lights for connectivity. There are several commands that you can use to verify basic connection and connectivity.

In a command window. I use the following. The commands are on their own line and you obviously have to hit enter.

ipconfig

Gives you the following, the info is from my PC and a dsl connection through a Linksys router.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : mst
IP Address. . . . . . . . . .: 192.168.1.104
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . .: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . .: 192.168.1.1

ipconfig /all

This will give you a broader range of info.

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : mst
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.104
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . : 205.152.37.23
205.152.132.23

The folling would be the case for direct to dsl modem.

ip address . . : 65.13.96.35
Subnet Mask . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway : 68.152.202.117

DNS is the same

The above numbers are to my bellsouth connection. And yea I have changed a couple.

Once you verify connection you can use the ping or tracert commands to do a goto.

I usually ping/tracert the dns servers first. Then ping/tracert yahoo, or google, or the server the person is trying to get to.

This will get you started.

Lee

These commands will tell you if it is connecting with the router or the dsl modem. The numbers will be different with a direct to dsl connection. But you should get the idea.

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