Home → How-To Guides for Users → Basic Troubleshooting → Internet Troubleshooting 101
2. Internet Troubleshooting 101
Connectivity issues can occur in many forms and can provide a variety of flags to alert you to those issues. But some connectivity issues may not provide you with any alerts at all, and may come in the form of slowness. Please review the following steps for basic remediation of simple Internet troubleshooting.
Are these issues just affecting me?
Ask others within your organization if they are experiencing connectivity issues also. If they are, it's likely that there is a organization-wide issue that is occurring, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us at helpdesk@ette.biz or 202-345-1965 so that we can reach our to your Internet Service Provider on your behalf.
However, if your work-mates are not experiencing issues, please confirm whether you receive internet through a physical connection (via an Ethernet cable,) or via Wireless (WiFi) as the following instructions will be specific to the type of connection used.
Wired Connections: Am I physically plugged in?
If you utilize Ethernet cables that are plugged into the back of your computer, please check your system's physical connection to ensure that the connection is sound. To test this, please disconnect from your computer AND from the wall jack by pressing down on the clear knob on the cable (shown in the picture below), then plug the cable back in in both locations. Completing this simple test will force your computer to provide a fresh connection to the internet.
Please note that when plugging it back into the wall or computer, you should hear a "click," which will alert you that the connection is indeed locked in place. If you do not hear the "click" when inserted, lightly pull the cable to see if it comes out. If you can pull the cable out, then the cable may need replacement just to provide you with that sound connection.
Wireless Connections: Is my Wireless adapter switch turned on?
If you are specifically having issues connecting to a wireless network and are working on a laptop, please double-check to make sure that the wireless adapter switch didn't get turned off while you were in transit, or through regular handling. The placement of these physical switches are dependent on the make and model of the laptop, but may be placed on the sides, front, or near the top of the keyboard. In addition to viewing the alert notice on the screen, some laptop manufacturers place lights on the laptop under the name WiFi or using an antenna symbol. If the light is off, that could mean that the adapter is turned off (alert shown on-screen shown below).
(disabled network adapter in Windows 10)
Please take a moment to look around the sides and back of your laptop to ensure that this switch hasn't been tripped. If it has been tripped, turning it back on will automatically begin the connection to a remembered wireless network. If you have never connected to the wireless network, please contact your organization's point of contact for ETTE to determine the wireless network passwords.
Wired and Wireless: Network Internal Connections
If the physical switch is in the correct position, you may confirm that they are enabled internally by clicking on your start button, and following the below prompts.
Control Panel --> Network and Internet -->Network Connections
This will open a page that looks similar to this:
Right-clicking on the adapter of your choice will allow you to provide the option for enabling it. If this requires administrative credentials, this option may not be available to you and you will need to contact a staff admin, or contact ETTE to have this enabled.
Having Slow Internet speeds?
It's one thing to have Internet, but its just as bad if your connection is slow. As with ensuring the connection is sound, please make sure that everyone is not feeling like the internet connection is slow, and go through steps 1-2 before attempting this option.
If slowness is a concern, feel free to conduct a SpeedTest on your machine using the link http://www.speedtest.net/.
Click on "Begin Test" Please do not click on the other links as they are advertisements and not relevant to the test.
The test will be conducted by testing the download and upload speeds on your connection. At the end, the results will be shown in a format as follows.
** Please note that the results generated will be different from organization to organization, and in some cases, may be different if the available bandwidth per user is controlled by executive policy. If you feel that the speed results you have are incorrect, or suspect that they are slower than what you should be receiving, please contact us and provide us with these results. We will work with you to determine whether the results generated meet with your organization's standards.
Should either of these options not address you issue, please reach out to us at helpdesk@ette.biz or 202-345-1965 and we will be happy to assist you with further troubleshooting.