Sudden Internet Disconnections Issue

Hello!

MODEM: D-Link DCM-202
INTERNET PROVIDER: AT&T
TYPE: Home Network (usb/cable)

Starting two months ago, I was given a new Windows 7 computer and a new roommate to share my internet with. Two months ago was also the beginning of the sudden and somewhat random internet disconnections that I've had to endure. I am a gamer; therefore, I depend on my internet to stay stable and strong at all times. Nearly every day at some point in time, my internet will disconnect, and then in about 30 seconds or whenever I run Repair, the internet will reconnect again. This happens constantly and repeatedly until it dives down. These things often happen in clusters because some of the day I have no problems at all, but when it does happen it happens very frequently and becomes unbearable.

ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS:
When I open up the "Properties" of my local internet connection, the Sent packets are over 2,000,000 and Received packets are over 5,000,000. My old computer didn't have this many packets going on and the internet networking is the same for both computers.

The modem's Ethernet light constantly blinks on and off all the time. I don't know why this is or if it is normal, but all of the cables are secured.

I have already tried resetting the router, disabling/re-enabling, and checked my computer for viruses or malware that may be the cause. The only change that I can remember that could have possibly started the disconnecting is my new roommate moving in (who also uses the internet, but wireless) and the fact that I've changed computers.

This is my first time posting in the Networking section of the Majorgeeks forums, so I apologize for not providing much more than a written explanation on the issue. If more information is needed, please ask me and I will post up what is needed ASAP.

 

The Ethernet light should probably blink. They often have one light to indicate a link and another to indicate activity. Sometimes the lights serve dual purposes.

the packet count is probably not meaningful.

Is your roomate experiencing outages the same time you are? It may be that ATT is throttling your connection, or you are getting contention or interference from other nearby users during the busy times of day. Does your roomate watch netflix or use some other kind of bandwidth hog?

Are you using your internet service prodiver's equipment or is there another firewall/router in the mix?

-Nate

 

Is the wireless function new? Did you add a wireless router for the roommate? Are you using DHCP or a static IP? It sounds like there could be an IP conflict.

If the wireless router is new, I would check the settings there for overlapping IP ranges and I can explain more if that is the case.

One easy option to try is give yourself a static ip if you don't already have one. Make it something way out of range of the rest of the group i.e. you usually get assigned 192.168.0.4 so give yourself a static ip for 192.168.0.224

Also, if your network is running in the IP range of 192.168.1.xx, check for devices on the network that have a default IP of 192.168.1.1. A lot of print servers and routers and network storage drives have this as their default IP. If you are using that range, your modem probably has that IP too. The conflict in IP addresses can make your internet traffic occassionally flip over to the other device.

 

@Nathan.

Thanks for responding! I've recently found out that the internet still disconnects even when my roommate isn't using the internet at all. She also receives disconnections just like me at the same times as I do. I do not believe that the disconnections are her problem. We're using just the usual equipment that the internet company gave us .

@Handgal

Thank you too for responding! No, the router is not fairly new, at least I don't think so. I wasn't the one who installed it in the first place. Yes, I have a static IP address, and yes, my IP range is in 192.168.0.xx. However.. exactly how would I be able to check if there are other devices in my network have the same IP range? I'm not very computer smart, so I'm sorry for the inconvenience .

 

accidental repost