If your connection isn't delivering the promised goods, don't jump to the conclusion that you're being ripped off. If you know your way around a network, you can find the trouble yourself with the use of tools like WireShark. Anyone with a Network+ certification should do. Still can't find the problem? It's time to get call in a network technician to find and fix it. Still, even if you're not a network pro, it's worth trying. You really need to know your way around a network to get much good out of it. The Measurement Lab says that it "prescribes corrective actions with instructions suitable for non-experts" for any problems it finds. You can also try using the Measurement Lab's NPAD (Network Path and Application Diagnosis. If the packet loss or jitter seems to be coming from inside your own network, check your connections yet again and try switching out equipment on your network to see if something on your LAN is being noisy. With older programs like e-mail and ordinary Web browsers you may never notice that your Internet is less than rock stable, but with high jitter, video, VoIP, and games will once more start misbehaving. In short, the more jitter you have, the less stable your connection is. So, for example, if you ping a site once, and it takes 1ms to report back in and then the next ping packet takes 10ms to report in, you have a lot of jitter. Jitter, or more precisely Packet Delay Variation, is the difference between computer to computer delays over the network. If you're doing any of those, or seeing higher packet losses, bug your ISP. But, if you're video-conferencing, making Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls, or playing real-time online games like World of Warcraft, then any packet loss is painful. Ideally, you want zero packet loss, but for ordinary Internet usage you can with 1 or 2% loss. The Internet being what it is, you'll usually see a little packet loss. Lots of things can cause packet loss: interference, overburdened network hardware, or a bad connection. Your PC is sending out packets of information to some site on the Internet. And, once in a blue moon, they'll actually have a helpful suggestion. For example, it's not just you but a whole neighborhood that's having problems because a back-hoe took out a cable. This is usually a pointless exercise, but every now and again you can get useful information. Then, if you're still not on the net, you might as well grit your teeth and call your ISP. If you call your ISP, chances are ninety-nine times out of one hundred they'll you to the same thing. Unplug your cable or DSL modem, whatever, wait for half-a-minute and then plug it back in. I could tell you a lot of fancy things to try, but I'll make this really simple. The next step is to see what's what with your Internet connection. If you can get to it, it's finally time to stop looking for local area network (LAN) problems and look to your Internet connection itself. Most APs have a Web-based administration panel. Everything looks right but you still can't get to the net? Check to see if you can connect to your AP.
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