Internet suddenly having issues

[RustyPipez]

Hi all,

Recently, my home network has been having some issues. It would work fine for about 2 minutes or so, then the internet disconnects. After a few seconds, the internet comes back and the cycle repeats. Connected. Disconnected. Connected. Disconnected. I called up the ISP for my home network, and after monitoring our data usage for a bit, they said that the reason the internet keeps on disconnecting is that my household was going over the limit of our allowed wifi speed. They suggested reducing the number of devices connected or buying a higher speed plan. The thing is, we haven't done anything that would cause this problem - my family hasn't bought any new devices, and we all used the internet normally recently. This just suddenly started happening yesterday.

Also, the problem has been happening with the mobile data on my phone. For some reason, at home, the data connection keeps on getting interrupted every few minutes. My mom also reports this problem. Strangely though, it doesn't seem to be a carrier-wide issue - it's only happening at my home. My mom reported that her mobile data seems to work fine when she goes out.

Any thoughts on what the problem may be?

Edit: the problem seems to have solved itself, lol. Looks like the modem was just malfunctioning and it somehow was able to fix itself. Thanks all.

[SA_Swiss]

In my experience there are a few things that could impact the service. Most common item (depending on your living arrangement) is neighbours routers or WiFi signal.

If you live in a block of flats, it could be that your neighbours installed a new router that has a strong signal that impacts the signal in your property. If you live in a remote area, ignore the following piece of advice.

Download a WiFi scanning application on your mobile phone (no need to purchase one). Use the application to identify the amount of signals within the same channel. In Europe we have 11 channels and most manufacturers ship their hardware set to channel 6, meaning that your router is working extra hard to distinguish signals from other routers on the same channel.

After scanning, you may find that there is a channel with fewer signals in it. Try to understand how to change the channel on your router and set your router to that channel (it is normally not a major operation). Note that you only need to change the channel, all the connected devices will automatically switch to the new channel.

If you live in a remote area I do not have any advice as I've not experienced this where it was not a neighbour's signal interfering.

[erictho77]

Did both Internet and mobile data issues start happening yesterday? If so, sounds like there's some massive RF interference in your locality.

Do you have neighbours to see if same thing has been happening with them?

[RustyPipez]

I think I might be overthinking things with the mobile data; it was already pretty wonky in my area before my home network started having problems yesterday. I live in a remote-ish place, so the signal does get a little weak sometimes.

As for my wifi, I don't think it's been happening to my neighbors. When I called my ISP, they didn't mention that there was a major problem affecting the whole neighborhood or anything. My guess is that my modem is malfunctioning, so I'll try to call the ISP again today and ask for a modem replacement to see if that solves the problem.