Hi. I’m a first time poster and I’m at my wits end so I thought I’d ask you guys for your expertise. Let me preface this by saying that I’m pretty much computer illiterate so forgive me for not using the proper terms, etc.
So, back in August, my adult son was home for a couple of months. For some of the time he was here, the internet access for slow, slow, slow. Anyway, he told me I should contact City West and ask them if they limited the number of computer addresses at specific street addresses. I phoned them and they immediately told me that they didn’t do that and did some trouble shooting with me and they told me I needed a new router. So, I went down to Radio Shack (I forget the new name) and bought a router, brought it home, plugged it in and lo and behold, the problem was not fixed. I phoned City West back and after much back and forth, they told me to come in to the office which I did. I’m not sure what the guy was doing, but he was on the computer for a long time and then said something to the effect of “too many addresses for my part of town?” I asked him if that meant that Citywest limited the number of internet connections in houses and he said that was not what it meant but I couldn’t understand the explanation he gave me. Anyway, I went home, put my new router back in its box and hadn’t had any more problems until the last month or so…
My daughters came home in November for a couple of weeks. They each have a laptop so that makes 3 in the house. The whole time they were here, my internet kept dropping. When I check the icon on the bottom right of the screen, it shows that I have a connection but don’t have internet access. In order to get access back, I have to unplug my router, unplug my modem, hit the reset button on the router and then restart the computer. Then, hopefully, I’ll have internet access but sometimes it takes 3, 4 or 5 times of doing this before I can get on the internet again. Anyway, my girls left and the problems with internet access dropping also stopped. So, now my son is home for Christmas. He has a laptop and so there are 2 in my house again. The problems have started again and I think they’re getting worse. I literally lose my internet access every time I’m online. I might be able to sign on and surf the web for awhile but then, without fail, that little icon in the bottom right of my screen shows a “x” and shows that there is no internet access and sure enough, it’s been dropped. And so I am now unplugging, resetting, restarting many many times per day! It’s very frustrating!
I phoned Citywest yesterday and spoke to a different tech guy. He troubleshooted with me and again told me it was my router and therefore, not their problem. I tried to tell him about my previous problems with the internet but he wasn’t interested in assuming any responsibility. Truthfully, I know it does look like its a problem with my router but I don’t think it is. I plugged in my brand new router and it’s still doing the same thing. Isn’t in coincidental that 2 routers don’t work? And isn’t it a further coincidence that my internet access drops whenever there’s more than one computer in my house? And, back in August when I went into Citywest and the guy there gave me some half-hearted explanation about too many addresses in my area. However, when we bypassed the router and connected my laptop directly with the blue cable I don’t have any problems but I have a laptop…I shouldn’t have to be tethered with a cable.
So, can anybody out there give me some ideas about what the problem might be? On another note, any cell phones that come into my house, be it with Bell, Rogers, Telus, drops calls - people will come in here and try using their phone and unless you stand right outside the front door, the calls will invariably drop - it’s like there is a “shield” or something around my house that is interfering with any computers or cell phones. When I tried to explain that part to the Citywest employee, he said he was with the internet department and didn’t have anything to do with phones. I realized that but I thought that maybe by telling him that, it might get him thinking in a different direction rather than just blaming my routers.
I thank anybody that has read this long winded note and for your suggestions on what I should do or look into. ps - I don’t know if it makes a difference but I live on Prince Rupert Blvd., right across from Charles Hayes School.
