For the past few months, my home internet has been disconnecting repeatedly on every device. Windows troubleshooting usually reports that it cannot communicate with the primary DNS server, that the DNS server is not responding, or that the DNS server may be unavailable. Sometimes Windows also reports an IP-related problem. I contacted my internet provider and replaced the router, but the issue continues. I tested manually assigned DNS servers such as 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 without improvement. A continuous ping occasionally times out once or twice at irregular intervals. The router is rented from my provider, and I cannot access its configuration. What should I test next, and is this more likely a DNS problem or a broader connection issue?
3 Answers
If a public IP responds reliably but website names do not, then changing DNS may help. Cloudflare’s DNS addresses are 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1, while Google uses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. However, since the router is provider-controlled and manually changing DNS did not solve the problem, this probably is not the main issue. Ask the provider to check the modem’s logs, line quality, signal levels, and connection drops, and explain that every device is affected even after the router replacement.
A single or occasional timeout in a long ping is not necessarily a serious problem, since some networks deprioritize ping traffic. What matters is whether there are groups of consecutive timeouts and whether they match the actual outages. Run simultaneous pings to your router and to a public IP, preferably over a wired connection. If both fail, check the local cabling or modem; if only the public ping fails, the provider’s connection is the likely source. The provider should investigate rather than only replacing the router.
First test whether the connection itself is dropping. Run a continuous ping to a public IP such as 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1. If those pings fail at the same time the internet stops working, the problem is not simply DNS; it could be the line, modem, signal levels, or the provider’s equipment. Also try pinging your router’s local address. If the router responds while the public IP does not, the fault is beyond your home network.
The continuous ping occasionally times out once or twice, and Windows sometimes says that a Microsoft site is online but not responding. The outages affect all devices, so I suspect it may be beyond one computer.