Internet Connection Issues & How To Solve Them

Someone said strong internet connection is everything, and I can’t agree less because with the rapid increase of smart home devices, online gaming platforms, and video-streaming services, nothing beats the frustration that comes with having a poor network. 

That being said, if you’re experiencing lag while playing your favorite games, struggling to download movies, or any of such things, then this article is for you as we will be discussing internet connection issues & how to solve them.

You don’t have to hurriedly schedule a service call with your cable company, read to find out if you can get it fixed yourself.

Internet Connection Issues & How To Solve Them – Explained

Funny enough, internet connection issues may come from your end, and not the fault of your internet service provider (ISP). 

So, going forward, we will take a look at what the issue is, proffer solutions to the problem, as well as ways you can prevent this from happening.

Below are nine of the most common internet connection issues & how to solve them.

1. Internet Connection Issue: DNS Problems

Anytime you get an error message saying ‘DNS server not responding,’ it is an indication that your web browser was unable to establish a connection. 

You can commonly see such messages on the user’s end of the connection either as a result of a fault in the browser, or misconfigured DNS settings.

Solution

You can configure your workstation to use its own DNS servers, instead of the server assigned by DHCP. 

Instead of checking the ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP)’ settings for your adapter to indicate that there is an incorrect DNS server, select “Obtain DNS server address automatically”.

Preventive Measure 

Reconfigure your network’s DHCP settings to access your DNS servers directly instead of having your local router configured to operate as a DNS Server thereby creating a DNS pass-through to your ISPs servers which may in turn, overload the abilities of the router.

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2. Internet Connection Issue: Duplicate IP Addresses

Someties, a new device added to your network may have its own DHCP server, and may be interfering with the DHCP server that is already in existence.

This will lead to  two devices sharing the same IP address, and can cause connection problems. 

Solution

What you will do is to simply disable the newer DHCP server on that device.

Preventive Measure 

Adjust the DHCP configuration of your router to start assigning DHCP addresses near the top end of your subnet, and then leave the lower addresses for devices that need static IPs.

3. Internet Connection Issue: IP Address Exhaustion

You will most likely encounter such an issue when connecting to the internet without a local router if you don’t have one. 

Again, you may have a local router with DHCP, however, the default address pool might be too small for your network, and this can lead to this internet issue.

Solution

Buy either a standalone router or WiFi access point with an integrated router so as to create your own local pool of internal addresses.

For those who already have a local router with DHCP but are experiencing this issue, go to the DHCP settings on the router, and modify the size of the address pool to suit your network’s needs.

Preventive Measure 

Every internet-connected network should have a local router for not just  security reasons but to also avoid IP address exhaustion. 

Furthermore, connect only the router to the modem while every other device connects via the router.

4. Internet Connection Issue: Single Workstation Unable to Connect to the Network

If a particular device is having issues connecting to the network or maintaining connection while the network is properly functioning, then the fault is from the device. 

Solution

To solve this issue, restart the device, check if the ethernet cable is properly connected, then check if the device’s drivers have been updated.

After ensuring that all these are in place, and the problem continues, check any firewall software on the device to make sure that the necessary ports like plus 25, 587, 465, 110 are open to the external network.

Preventive Measure 

Create a uniform configuration to all devices on the network using a DHCP server, and if a particular workstation or server requires a static IP, the DHCP will enable you to create static IP mappings.

5. Internet Connection Issue: Unable to Connect To Local File Or Printer Shares

This is one of the most prevalent internet connection issues, and this can be attributed to the number of components that require proper configuration.

Although it may come off as a surprise to you that two distinct versions of the same operating system sometimes use slightly different security models, this can result in conflicts between mixed security environments.  This is yet another reason for the internet connection isuue.

Solution

• Ensure that all the required services ranging from the server to the computer browser services, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, Samba(if it’s a Linux machine), and workstation are running.

• In most cases, when a new antivirus package that introduces its own firewall is installed, workstations’ firewalls are configured to block file and printer sharing traffic. So, you may want to check if this is the issue. 

Again, it could be that there are issues pertaining to the firewall at the hardware level, therefore, make sure that routers are passing shared traffic within the subnet. 

• In a case internal traffic is affected while the external is not, it is a sign that there is a problem with the subnet, so check if all workstations are on the same subnet.

• Make sure that File and Printer Sharing is enabled on every Windows network adapter.

• If after checking all the aforementioned factors, and they are in order, check permissions as there are usually multiple layers of access required. Now look out for:

– Systems configured with the wrong workgroup or domain.

– Wrongly configured HomeGroup.

– Network type set to Public.

– Wrong NTFS permissions.

6. Internet Connection Issue: Local Network Is Unable To Connect To The Internet

This is a bit of a difficult issue because in most cases, it would require having to involve the company responsible, whether it happens repeatedly or intermittently which is difficult to trace. 

Solution

The first thing to do when such happens is to reboot your router, however, if it persists, I am sorry, you may have to change to a dedicated enterprise-grade broadband provider as they offer improved speeds, better customer service, and a more reliable connection.

Preventive Measure 

Although other ISPs that are not local Tier 1 providers are more than happy to sell to you, they don’t own the infrastructure in your area, so they end up piggybacking on the Tier 1 connection.

That being said, always ensure that you get connectivity only from local Tier 1 providers so that next time you experience such issue, placing a phone call is all you need to get it solved

7. Internet Connection Issue: Slow Internet Performance

If you are wondering what causes slow performance, it is either a result of congestion, or sometimes poor quality connections that have diminished. 

Please, note that a single heavily loaded port on a switch or router can deteriorate network performance which is to say that congestion may have nothing to directly do with bandwidth exhaustion.

Solution

Carry out a speed test to know the specific areas of congestion on the ISP’s network. 

Another thing you have to check is the DNS server.  

Even if you practically use your ISP’s DNS settings, they may actually be routing traffic via overloaded web caches, and the use of wrong DNS servers can lead to routing congestion. Temporarily modify your DNS settings to use OpenDNS instead to solve this.

Preventive Measure 

You may need to acquire enough connectivity if the  internet performance  is very bad. 

I recommend a local DSL operator, though a bit expensive, offer better reliability but if you want something that is more consistent, get a leased line.

It is expensive but better than cable internet which can set you up for constant taunts from employees. 

8. Internet Connection Issue: You Are Unable To Connect To PPPoE Server

The first thing to do in such a scenario is to make sure that you haven’t set a PPoE Service Name for your router. 

You can only set a PPPoE Service Name for your router when your ISP has specifically instructed you to do so because once you set a service name for a router, it won’t respond to any connection aside from those with the same Service Name.

9. Internet Connection Issue: Your PPP Connection Failed

PPP means Point-to-Point Protocol, and it is the part of your internet connection that connects your exchange to your ISP, so this problem may most likely come from your ISP’s end. 

Solution

Reach out to your internet service provider if the problem continues, and if you have your console logs, it can help with furnishing your ISP with all the necessary information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

No doubt, a lot of things are capable of disrupting network performance, and the reasons for this are many. 

However, If after trying out the aforementioned solutions, and you are not able to tackle internet connection issues, then it’s time to call your service provider because the issues could be on their end.

Also, if you experience connection hiccups at certain times of the day, it could be that your ISP is unable to handle the increased user load, and in that case, you may have to find a new service provider.

Which of these internet connection issues have you previously experienced, and are there other ways aside from the ones we mentioned to solve it?

Do let me know in the comment section.