I answer several trouble calls each day from high speed Internet customers. I commonly have the same issues come up across multiple users and services. Normally, about 80-90% of all calls can be fixed by the caller. Our WISP Support Services typically answer most calls by asking the client to reboot their equipment first. Most consumer grade routers and modems are very susceptible to power surges and fades, so rebooting them clears them out of a locked up state. If the problem can't be resolved by a simple reboot, then the user can take a few minutes to gather crucial information that will enable their ISP to fix the problem over the phone. Familiarizing yourself with your customer equipment will reduce the necessary time on the phone with support and increase your surfing time.
Again, the first thing to try when you are having connection problems is a simple reboot of your customer premise equipment (CPE). Disconnect the power to the modem (or for WISP customers it would be the PoE that powers the radio) and your router if you have one. I also recommend restarting your computer. This will reset all of your customer premise equipment. We find that this helps many of our customers in our WISP Support Services department.
To reboot the devices, unplug the power going to each device by pulling out the smaller, black cable, shown below in the attached pictures. Unplug the power to both the xDSL modem (or WISP PoE) and the router (if you have one). Leave them both unplugged for about 30 seconds and then start from the xDSL (WISP PoE) and work your way back to the computer. Plug in the modem wait 10-15 seconds, then plug in the router and wait 10-15 seconds. Now turn on your computer. Your just completed the first step that our WISP Support Services technicians would be asking you to do.
If that still does not fix the issue, please try to find your IP address. You can do this by going to Start then Run in Windows XP. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, in the search bar type "CMD". Once you have a black box appear type ipconfig. This black box is known as the "Command Prompt". This should tell you your IP address and other information your WISP Support Services technician will need to know to better serve you. One other thing to try. When you have your command prompt open. You can type ipconfig /renew. This will make your computer talk to your router or your ISP for a new IP address.
For the more advanced users, you may want to try the following steps.
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Again, the first thing to try when you are having connection problems is a simple reboot of your customer premise equipment (CPE). Disconnect the power to the modem (or for WISP customers it would be the PoE that powers the radio) and your router if you have one. I also recommend restarting your computer. This will reset all of your customer premise equipment. We find that this helps many of our customers in our WISP Support Services department.
To reboot the devices, unplug the power going to each device by pulling out the smaller, black cable, shown below in the attached pictures. Unplug the power to both the xDSL modem (or WISP PoE) and the router (if you have one). Leave them both unplugged for about 30 seconds and then start from the xDSL (WISP PoE) and work your way back to the computer. Plug in the modem wait 10-15 seconds, then plug in the router and wait 10-15 seconds. Now turn on your computer. Your just completed the first step that our WISP Support Services technicians would be asking you to do.
If that still does not fix the issue, please try to find your IP address. You can do this by going to Start then Run in Windows XP. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, in the search bar type "CMD". Once you have a black box appear type ipconfig. This black box is known as the "Command Prompt". This should tell you your IP address and other information your WISP Support Services technician will need to know to better serve you. One other thing to try. When you have your command prompt open. You can type ipconfig /renew. This will make your computer talk to your router or your ISP for a new IP address.
For the more advanced users, you may want to try the following steps.
- Type ipconfig /all in your CMD prompt window. If your physically connected to the router by an Ethernet cable, then you will see a heading that starts out with "Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection". Under there, you'll see "IP Address..............." or "IPv4 Address............" if you are using Vista or Windows 7. Write this IP address down because it is the physical address currently assigned to your computer.
- If this IP starts with "169.xxx.xxx.xxx", then most likely your computer is not talking to your router or modem. We commonly see this in our PC Repair Indiana business when the customer's computer has a bad Ethernet card or if the cable is bad that is connecting the computer to the router. If you are using a wireless card, then you'll have to look under your wireless LAN adapter to get your IP information.
- Make note of your default gateway IP address which will be found after "Default Gateway.....". This is the IP address of your router or modem. If you open a web browser and type this IP address into it, then you should get a login prompt for your router. After entering the login credentials (default username for many routers is "admin" and the password will be "password" or "admin", but check your router manual to be sure).
- Verify that your router is programmed properly. Most routers have a "Status" page in them so that you can see if it is connected to your ISP. In our WISP Support Services, we are commonly looking to see if the router has established a PPPoE connection to the system.
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