Office Network Problems

[Danny159]

Hi,

We are having some problems with our office network and I’m a bit stuck as to what to do as BT say that the internet access to the router is all working fine.
However the internet seems to drop out intermittently. Sometimes for longer periods sometimes for shorter periods. Websites don’t load but Skype always seems to stay online.

We have approx 25 devices connected to the network.

Can anyone shed some light on what maybe happening with this network or how to fix it?

Dan

[EduTech]

Hi,

We are having some problems with our office network and I’m a bit stuck as to what to do as BT say that the internet access to the router is all working fine.
However the internet seems to drop out intermittently. Sometimes for longer periods sometimes for shorter periods. Websites don’t load but Skype always seems to stay online.

We have approx 25 devices connected to the network.

Can anyone shed some light on what maybe happening with this network or how to fix it?

Dan

Hmm, I am not 100% sure if skype uses an IP Address to connect to the servers but I think that it might be a DNS Server related problem (just initial thoughts). If skype stays online all the time then i imagine your ISP is correct is saying that you have no problems with your internet connection.

What do you use as a DNS Server? do you have a local server in your office?

When you get the problem again try browsing to a website using an IP Address: i.e. 78.46.90.219 < EduGeek.Net IP Address

James.

James.

[Danny159]

Thanks for your reply, I will try that next time it goes off.

We dont have a server as such we have a PC that holds our files but its got Windows 7 Pro on, The router goes to a switch and some computers run from there then another cable going from that switch to another switch running more devices the other side of the office.

Dan

[EduTech]

Ok... So your router is the device that gives out your IP Addresses and forwards reuqests to a DNS Server handled by your ISP.

Give it ago when it goes down again with the IP, although I imagine your router may just be throwing a fit and causing you problems. (what router do you have?)

James.

[Danny159]

Yes thats correct.

I will give it a go and let you know. The router is a BT 2Wire Gateway supplied by BT.

[deceptivex]

Yes thats correct.

I will give it a go and let you know. The router is a BT 2Wire Gateway supplied by BT.

Can you ping googles IP addrss when the internet has "dropped out"? also, are any of your sites being redirected? like typing in google.com seems to search in Bing instead of actually going to google? or it just times out? try and get on bing.com next time it drops out.

Reason I ask is that I was having similar problems the other week.

[Danny159]

Can you ping googles IP addrss when the internet has "dropped out"? also, are any of your sites being redirected? like typing in google.com seems to search in Bing instead of actually going to google? or it just times out? try and get on bing.com next time it drops out.

Reason I ask is that I was having similar problems the other week.

No, it timesout. and again everything just timesout. I will try bing next time it drops.

Ok... So your router is the device that gives out your IP Addresses and forwards reuqests to a DNS Server handled by your ISP.

Give it ago when it goes down again with the IP, although I imagine your router may just be throwing a fit and causing you problems. (what router do you have?)

James.

Just gone down then, put the IP address in and nothing.

[EduTech]

Just gone down then, put the IP address in and nothing.

So it went down and you typed in the IP Address into the browser and you got page cannot be displayed?

If it is still down, or if it happens again maybe launch command prompted and try pinging an IP Address or/ Domain Name if you get no response then do a Trace Route]

tracert google.co.uk

and see where it drops out.

1) Is skype still connected during the downtime as per your first post?

2) also, when it goes down again can you login to your router and check the status of the WAN Connection.

3) and if there is a log, can you extract that also.

James.

[Geoff]

If your using BT Business I found that their DNS servers seem overloaded. This results in timeouts and webpages not loading etc. Even though the actual internet connection is ok. I switched our DNS over to OpenDNS and things improved markedly.

[deceptivex]

If your using BT Business I found that their DNS servers seem overloaded. This results in timeouts and webpages not loading etc. Even though the actual internet connection is ok. I switched our DNS over to OpenDNS and things improved markedly.

This +1. Switched 8.8.8.8 here and solved all the issues. BT denied any problems as per usual. Nice of them.

[glennda]

This +1. Switched 8.8.8.8 here and solved all the issues. BT denied any problems as per usual. Nice of them.

with a secondary of 8.8.4.4 i wish i could change our upstream but we are part of the wan and as such some things resolve to internal addresses rather then the external counterparts.

[EduTech]

If your using BT Business I found that their DNS servers seem overloaded. This results in timeouts and webpages not loading etc. Even though the actual internet connection is ok. I switched our DNS over to OpenDNS and things improved markedly.

always nice to know.. I don't have a problem with BT DNS servers here on my BTNet Connection... but I do remember seeing someone post this before.

@Danny159

1) Login to your router
2) Change your WAN DNS Settings to either of the following

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

Google DNS

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

James.

[Danny159]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replys.

We tried setting the DNS to OpenDNS and the internet was worse, on and off like a yoyo, then we tried changing to Google's and shutdown the network. After restarting, it worked super fast... but then it went again... and now its back... I will keep you updated!

Dan

[Duke5A]

What are you using for a firewall/router in the office? If it's something like an ASA or Pix, it might only be licensed for so many concurrent connections. Skype will keep a persistent connection to its servers, so the firewall will never timeout that computer's session. With web traffic though, you're not sending/receiving until you click on a link or refresh a page. The session you had will timeout on the firewall, and the next person to try and get out will be able to.