How to prove your internet is acting up to your ISP

 We've all had something like this, you're tooling along on the internet then, boom, you start getting pictures that won't load.

Next, you notice this circle that just keeps circling and you think "Jeez, not this again!"

Due to the nature of ISPs and the ongoing Pandemic, occasional slowdowns on your network are completely understandable.  Try to extend a little grace, a lot of folks are still working from home and using resources that would usually be used somewhere OTHER than your neighborhood.

And I know you're probably thinking, "But my network isn't even connected to theirs!" but, here's the thing, it actually IS.  Not directly... well, let me see if I can find us a nice analogy, and maybe a fun picture to illustrate it.

Visualize THIS!

Ok, so here we see your typical brewery.  In the big vats are lots of delicious beer or other spirits.  If you look in the background there are orange hoses going from the wall to each vat.  Your ISP is the wall where the hoses come out.  There is, logistically speaking only so much water that can be pumped through those hoses, it can only move so fast.

The water here is a good synonym for Bandwidth, that is, the total amount of data traffic on any given network.

"Traffic?" you say, "But isn't traffic usually two-way?  I'm only asking to download a photo."

For those who asked the question above, how do you think the website you are asking knows you want that particular photo?

Yes, data is a two-way street!

In traffic, we usually speak in terms of east, west, north, or south, but in bandwidth, we talk about incoming or download and outgoing or upload.  

Usually, your ISP will provide you a lot more download speed than upload speed.  The reason for this is fairly simple, most folks are not uploading tons and tons of data, they are just uploading enough to get to the download they are trying to receive.  This means that the ISP can concentrate on that 1 aspect rather than worrying a bunch about both ways of the street.

Some common quality issues, and how to bandaid fix them.

Oftentimes, when you are having issues with your internet connection, you may need a technician to sort it out for you.  Technicians, however, are expensive, especially with ISPs charging YOU if they feel your equipment is to blame.

So how can you tell if it's your equipment or theirs acting up?  Get ready, we're getting into.... ADVANCED TECH WITCH TIPS!!

First, this works best if you have a computer with an ethernet port.  The reason is, for testing you are going to need to hook that badboy up to the modem directly.

I know "This is such a pain, this sucks, I hate it"  Yes it does, and yes you will absolutely hate it, but please if you can, do it anyway.  Here's why.

Wireless Internet, although coming from your same device, can encounter different, way crazier issues and in order to troubleshoot, this is a good way to get a baseline.  A direct wire into a device is an easy way to determine if your wireless service needs tweaking or if you need a technician out.  If you can't directly plug your device into the modem, never fear, this trick will still work.

Now, if you are on a Windows PC, this is pretty easy.  Open your start menu and just type CMD.  You don't have to type it anywhere, just open the start menu and start typing, it'll figure it out.

This is what you'll see.

Now you're going to click on that, and this is what you'll see

Don't freak out.  This is normal.  You didn't break it I promise!

So here is your friendly friend the command prompt.  He doesn't bite.  He's just a friend who doesn't speak English too well.

In this black screen type in the following:

ping www.google.com -t

and this is what he'll do!

To stop him from spitting out numbers just hit Control+C at the same time.  He'll stop.

So, what in the heck is this doing Tech Witch?  He's just spitting out a bunch of numbers!

Ok, let's break them numbers down!

First, the command ping.  This means "Play ping pong with the following website"

And the Command Prompt says, ok, I'm doing exactly as you asked in this line below.

Pinging www.google.com [2607:f8b0:4009:803::2004] with 32 bytes of data:

What he's actually saying is, I'm sending Google 32 very small pieces of data, then I'm calculating how long it takes Google to get back to me.

Then he spits out this fat rhyme.

Reply from 2607:f8b0:4009:803::2004: time=16ms

Ok, so now your friend Command prompt is telling you that Google replied, and it took 16 milliseconds.  This here is a good ping.  

What do I do if I get another response?

If you get responses saying "Request timed out" or a ping well above 1000ms, it is time for you to consider calling your ISP.  

You'll also get this handy little read out after you hit control C.

Ping statistics for 2607:f8b0:4009:803::2004:

    Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 16ms, Maximum = 18ms, Average = 16ms

This tells you who your friend the Command Prompt was talking to, how many packets he managed to send, how many he managed to receive from them, and approximately how long the trip took as well as an average.

If you see more than 20% loss, it's time to call your provider.  Provide numbers.  Numbers do not fib, but unfortunately, people do.

Calling your ISP is important because they'll be able to tell at a glance if there is a signal issue, or another issue causing your internet troubles.

So, that's your Tech Witch Tip for today!  We'll talk to you all on Monday!