Last week I outlined my troubleshooting process, and I briefly mentioned that I had to use it with a WiFi incident at my home. There is never a good time for your internet to go down, but this was a spectacularly bad time. My dad was teaching a class over Zoom, and the next morning, my sister had a video interview. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case with troubleshooting, the process was stressful and complicated. Ultimately, the “solution” did not explicably come from any of my personal actions.
Now, WiFi is the classic example of troubleshooting that even moderately technically knowledgeable members of the younger generation have experienced. “Turn it off and turn it back on again,” the simultaneously delightfully easy and frustratingly broad solution is, well, often effective. When it isn’t, your options are much less promising.
When turning it off and turning it back on did not work for me, I had to go through the troubleshooting process. Here’s what that looked like:
- Identify the problem
While our home network appeared as an option in the WiFi settings of our devices, there was no internet connection.
2. Gather information about the problem.
The router and mesh wifi system still works. Devices can still connect to the router, they just don’t have any connection outside of the home network.
An Xfinity worker was working outside my home and just left after tinkering with something in the outdoor utility box in my front yard.
3. Narrow down the possible causes based on your information.
The router is most likely not the problem because it appears in WiFi settings.
Because the modem does not show any connection to the internet and there is no internet connection over the network, it may be a problem.
The cable connection from the utility box into our house might be a problem.
The specific line going from our external connection to the particular jack inside of the house could be a problem.
4. Plan out the troubleshooting steps you want to take. Only take one step at a time
Turn off the modem and turn it back on (mostly for good measure, as this has already been done)
Test the modem at a different coaxial jack in a different part of the house.
Test the modem at the source coaxial jack coming from the outside of the house.
Test a different cable from the jack to the modem.
5. Carry out the plans in Step 4.
No success with anything.
6. Always take note of what happened when you made a change.
7. Consider your results. Was the problem solved? Was it improved?
No and no.
While running through these steps, my dad called Xfinity, who did all they could to help over the phone. Between my troubleshooting and the help offered over the phone, we could not pinpoint the problem.
A temporary workaround was found, however: we could use “Xfinity wifi” for the time being, but the slow, completely open network was not ideal for Zoom classes and video interviews.
The problem came to a surprising end when resetting the modem one more time, hours later to prepare for an xfinity crew in the morning, yielded a connection to the internet. Nothing else was changed, but the problem was fixed. While it was a relief, it was also somewhat disconcerting for the problem to have disappeared with no apparent change.
At the end of the day, the problem was solved, and more than a week later, the wifi still works. The troubleshooting process is not always straightforward, and it is often successful in surprising ways (if it is successful at all…) But, just like tinkering, reaching a solution one way or another is satisfying.