Way To Alert That Internet Is Down

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rosco

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Jun 22, 2000
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My parents have been using voip for their phone service through a obi110 now for over a year now. They are happy with it except for sometimes the internet (so also their phone) will be down for hours and they don't even know it. This bothers them as no one can call them when the internet is down.

They do the usual unplug the cable modem and router, then plug both back in and it gets everything going again.

Can you think of a way to alert them that the internet is down? The modem and router are in a back room that they only really go in when they are going to sit down and use the computer. Which, is once a day usually at the most.

Thanks!
 
Put a heartbeat on the otherside of the router that chimes in to a listening server on a cloud host. Set up an alert so that when it goes more than say 5 min without calling him you get an email every 5 until it resumes.
 
They aren't by their computer all the time and usually don't leave it on even. So, they would not see any sort of alert on the computer.

They do use their kindle tablet more frequently though for reading ebooks.
 
schizrade said:
Put a heartbeat on the otherside of the router that chimes in to a listening server on a cloud host. Set up an alert so that when it goes more than say 5 min without calling him you get an email every 5 until it resumes.
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How are they gonna get the email when their Internet is down? I mean, I get that they can have email on their phones but who isn't logged into their own WiFi when at the crib?
 
While it may seem a bit "excessive" from a residential standpoint, there are programmable power strips that can ping an internet address and if pings stop for specified period of time, the power strip can automatically power cycle one or more outlets.

http://www.digital-loggers.com/lpc.html

I've installed many of these in business environments where the cable, dsl, or T1 needed to be rebooted from time to time.
 
Install PRTG from your end and then set the router or something for remote access and set PRTG to monitor and alert you on action. Has logging and is free. Mostly easy to setup.

https://www.paessler.com/prtg

You might want to set the alarm interval to 30-60 seconds so if it times out it doesn't spam your inbox. Give it a little more leash so if its down for at least X then alert me.
 
The powerstrip that can monitor is an interesting idea. I don't know about spending $100 for it though.

The thing with PRTG is I don't know how I would then alert them to reset their router and cable modem as I won't be able to reach them because their internet/phone would be down at the time. They don't use a cell phone except if they are on road trips.

Is their a program they can load on their kindles that would alert them?
 
rosco said:
They do the usual unplug the cable modem and router, then plug both back in and it gets everything going again.
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Dude, you seem to be shrugging your shoulders and accepting this as normal. It is not. A non-shit cable modem and router should be able to go essentially indefinitely without ever having any need to be reset. Perhaps you could tackle this issue by simply removing the problem in the first place?

Get a good Cablemodem. Personally I have had amazing success with Motorola Surfboard modems. As a router I would simply suggest building one. Use an old Pentium-4 era PC with two Intel network cards in it and load up PFSense or a comparable router software. My setup with motorola modem + PFSense router using Intel hardware is like a brick. I can go out of state or anywhere else off site and have basically zero worry about if I will ever be able to get into my systems at home or not.
 
Seriously, this is like grandpa having frequent heart attacks and you're asking for an easy-to-use, portable defibrilator.

Fix the issue. :)
 
I know what you mean. I guess I'm just never there when it goes out so figuring out if it's the modem or the router is the first order of business I suppose.
 
rosco said:
The powerstrip that can monitor is an interesting idea. I don't know about spending $100 for it though.

The thing with PRTG is I don't know how I would then alert them to reset their router and cable modem as I won't be able to reach them because their internet/phone would be down at the time. They don't use a cell phone except if they are on road trips.

Is their a program they can load on their kindles that would alert them?
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There is an Android app in the market that can be configured to display alerts. However, if PRTG is at your end and it goes down they would not know unless they had a cellular plan. They could install it on their PC and then set it up for internal use. PRTG comes with monitoring for cloud services like dropbox, google, Amazon, etc so you could monitor 2-3 of those and then set it for an alert if unreachable after 30 seconds. I used PRTG quite a bit at my last job to monitor printers in the office. We had some short bus folks who would turn off the printer or unhook it then call and ask "what did you do to my printer" so forwarding them an email that says "your shit is down" puts the ball back in their court.

You can call the cable provider and tell them about the issues, if it is fixed with a reboot I would wonder what is in the log.

When it goes down, can you ping the ISPs private network? For example mediacom has shit on 10. range for their "walled garden". The other thing would be to examine the logs, typically http://192.168.100.1 will get you to the UI of the modem. You may want to observe the signal levels and document them. Contact ISP and try to get tier 2 and ask them what the ranges/values should be.

I would also look at splitters, cables, and ends. You want the modem before as many splitters as possible and you do not want shit splitters, the silver ones are generally better than the gold colored ones. I would look outside and follow the cable, is there a ground block somewhere? Are the ends tightened down?

You should go there and get a tech out, be nice to him or her, and see if you can get them to test out the coax and replaces ends and splitters as needed. I was fortunate enough that the cable installer was someone I went to school with, we were not close but got the "hey I know you" event special and got all my coax gone through, new ends, splitters and ground block. ;)

You can pick up modems new/used from $30 and up from ebay or craigslist, and even Amazon or Newegg.
 
While checking BF & CM sales, pickup a good UPS and put the modem and router on it. Those 50 cent made in China by the lowest bidder wall warts suck at power filtering and leveling. If their modem/router is by the computer, so much the better. While you are at it, pick up a few short network cables. Many an intermittent network problem has been traced to a bad cable.

Call them while things are working and find out what model modem and router they have. Then you can judge if they have decent ones or not and if your BF or CM buy list needs to grow a bit.

+1 to the Ping/Alert app for the Kindle.
 
My two eurocents:
Most/many routers have a dynamic DNS feature. Set up something like no-ip or dyndns on it so you can always find their router. Unless they have a static IP - even better.
You probably have a machine running all the time, right? Have it ping their router from time to time and send a text message or e-mail to their mobile phone if their router doesn't respond.
 
TCM2 said:
So useless. Why even post?
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It's a half-assed way to alert for a half-assed solution.

The OP should be trying to figure out why the router/cable modem/VoIP is losing internet connection, not how to alert for it.

Eventually people learn that it's one skill to fix a problem; it's another to identify the root cause and prevent it from recurring in the future.
 
If there weren't so many people doing all sorts of crazy stupid bullshit, one could still find those crude inside jokes funny. :>
 
Where I live, it is not unusual for a perfectly setup connection to 'just break' because the ISP provided modem dies, or (very popular here) the wireless receiver/transmitter's power supply to die.
Yes, you can make sure the configuration and wiring are solid, but there's still the risk of a silent HW failure, and then those half-assed solutions involving remote pinging are indeed a way out.
 
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