What to do when your home wifi stops working and your broadband provider can’t fix it. People tend to take their home wifi for granted, like their electricity supply: it’s just supposed to be on. But unlike your power, if your wifi stops working, too often it’s up to YOU to diagnose and fix it. I work at home and depend on broadband internet to make my living. This week I lost about two full working days because my broadband went out. How Do You Install Wifi On Your ComputerOne of the nice features of your iPhone and iPad is that it remembers all Wifi networks that they were connected to. So, next time you comeback to the same place. Find out how to use the latest Skype features. From calling to video chats, instant messaging to file sharing, Skype lets you connect your way. My internet service provider (ISP), Comcast, was unable to get it working or even steer me in a useful direction, despite keeping me on the phone for hours and running lots of tests of the connection between their equipment and my equipment. Were I not lucky enough to know a programmer with lots of networking experience who could spend time helping me investigate other possible points of failure, I’d be out of luck for home wifi right now — which would severely hinder my business and life. Here’s what happened with my home wifi, and how I fixed it. Also here’s why ISPs need to do a much better job of helping residential customers diagnose possible network problems that lie beyond the narrow scope of the wires and modems they sell. They won’t help you investigate other avenues beyond the narrow scope of what they’re selling you. Unfortunately, wifi has many potential points of failure — most of which are unfamiliar territory to the typical consumer. Your home wifi also depends on internet equipment like domain name servers, and on local conditions like wifi interference. It takes some knowledge and skill to diagnose and fix these conditions. Ever since I moved into an apartment building in Oakland, CA last summer and signed up for Comcast’s cable modem broadband service (now Xfinity), my connection has been a bit flaky. My Mac laptop would suddenly either lose its connection to the wifi router, or my home wifi network would be working but I wouldn’t be able to access any web sites or online services. Sometimes resetting the router and modem would fix this. Other times the service would just as mysteriously reappear a half hour or so later. And sometimes, I’d call Comcast and learn that they were having an outage that affected my area. This week, the problem was different: The service never came back on. I called Comcast, and they verified that there was no local outage. How Do You Install Wifi In Your CarI then spent nearly two hours on the phone with their tech support running through various fixes that basically reset my home equipment (my Mac laptop and its built- in Airport wireless modem, the Comcast cable modem, and my Apple Airport Express wifi router) in various combinations. Nothing worked. Especially odd was that my laptop was repeatedly unable to show a valid IP address. So I packed up my laptop and headed off to a local coffee shop with free wifi to get some work done. My laptop accessed that network immediately and with no problems, so I knew the problem was not my computer. Even though the Comcast tech saw no problems with my modem, he suggested that if my computer worked fine elsewhere, it wouldn’t hurt to go to the local Comcast service center to exchange my modem for a new one. Most RV'ers struggle with how to stay connected on the road. Our Guide to RV Internet and Mobile WIFI can HELP! Its not as complicated as it seems! Profit – Run a paid WiFi portal. If you install the open source DD-WRT How to Turn an Old Router Into a Wireless Bridge How to Turn an Old Router Into a Wireless. Install and Set Up. The mobile device will need to physically be in your hand to install the mspy monitoring software. This is the only time you will need the phone. All rights reserved. Wi-Fi ®, the Wi-Fi logo, the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo, Wi-Fi Protected Access ® (WPA), WiGig ®, the Wi-Fi Protected Setup. Comcast exchanged my modem at no charge. When I got home later that night, I connected and activated the new modem — and boom, I was online just fine. I went to bed relieved, thinking I’d fixed the problem. PROBLEM SOLVED? NOT!!! The next day I was online just fine until about the middle of the afternoon. Then, suddenly, I lost my internet connection again: first I was unable to hit any sites, and then my laptop stopped being able to connect to my home wifi at all. I was on the phone to Comcast again, and again they ran me through the same diagnostics. The problem was weird: everything seemed to be working, but I was still failing to obtain a valid IP address. The end result: Comcast said, “There’s nothing we can do here. We can send a technician to your house, but if the problem is not our equipment, you’d have to pay for that visit.”I understand their perspective, but that is a really shitty approach to customer service. Comcast could have — and should have — offered further resources for self- diagnosis, but they didn’t. At my wits’ end and not knowing what else to do, I scheduled a technician visit for the following day. I was pretty angry. Then I called my friend Tom Vilot, an actor and software developer. He saved my butt. REAL PROBLEM PART 1: FLAKY COMCAST DNSTom had me connect my laptop directly to my cable modem via ethernet, and turn off the built- in Airport modem in my laptop. He then walked me through opening a terminal window (under “utilities” in my Mac’s applications menu) and we ran several “ping” tests using UNIX commands to determine whether I was in fact communicating with the internet. From this he determined that at least part of my problem was related to Comcast’s domain name servers (DNS) — a core part of the internet that translates human- readable domain names into computer- readable numeric IP addresses.“I’ve seen this before, Comcast’s DNS is really flaky,” said Tom. That’s why they didn’t mention it.”Tom then directed me to go into my Mac’s system preferences. Under “network” he had me select the active ethernet connection and then click “advanced.” Then, under the DNS tab he had me enter the address for one of Google’s own domain name servers: 8. Once I applied that setting change, I was suddenly able to access web sites and other online services again. So the first part of my problem was solved.“Google’s DNS is much, much more reliable than Comcast’s. It needs to be,” said Tom. But Tom cautioned me that a direct ethernet connection to my cable modem is not a safe option. It’ll suffice in an emergency — but there are a lot of port sniffers out there looking for unprotected access to computers. I don’t want my computer to get hacked. Apple wifi routers provide a fair amount of security against such invasions, so I knew I needed a functioning home wifi network. REAL PROBLEM PART 2: LOCAL WIFI INTERFERENCENext, Tom had me unplug the power from my cable modem, unplug my Airport Express wifi router, reconnect the ethernet cable from the modem to the router (what you normally need to do to have a local wifi network), and then plug both devices back in to power. For good measure, I also restarted my laptop. Then I turned my laptop’s Airport modem back on. My laptop was unable to connect to my local wifi network. It would see the network on the list of available networks, but couldn’t connect. At this point Tom speculated that I might be getting wifi interference from someone else’s router in my building. In a setting like an apartment building, where many occupants are likely to have their own wifi networks, wifi interference can become a problem. Tom explained that the Airport Express modem automatically picks which wifi channel it will use to broadcast your home wifi network. This device only has one ethernet port, so it offers no easy access to diagnostics related to possible interference, and it’s difficult to get it to change channels. Apple’s higher- end router, the Airport Extreme, has four Ethernet ports and access to a far wider range of wifi channels. It’s not cheap (almost $2. Since home wifi is a necessity, not a luxury, for me, I hopped on my bike and went to the nearest Apple Store, where I purchased an Airport Extreme. When I got home, I called Tom again. I was online again, no problem. At that point I called Comcast and canceled the technician visit. Tom then had me download the free application KISmac, which provides additional information about available local wifi networks. I installed and launched KISmac. This program showed me which local networks were available and what channels they were using. I could see about 2. GHz spectrum band). This indicates a situation where wifi interference is more likely to occur. My network, with its new souped- up router, was the only network using channel 1. GHz spectrum band. Tom notes: “It’s worth running Kis. MAC every once in a while to scan around and see what channels are being used. What I usually do is sort by signal . If they are on channels sufficiently far away from mine, I don’t need to change anything.“But if I am on channel 7 and the neighbor with the nearest wifi is on 6, I will reconfigure the router to use channel 1 or 1. Similarly, if the next- strongest local network is on channel 1. I’m on 7, I’m probably ok — but I might switch to channel 1 to be safer.”LESSONS LEARNED1. If you use home wifi, you need to learn a bit about how the internet works. It’s not like electricity, where you can mostly afford to not understand how the power grid works. Your ISP is only part of what gets you online. Your ISP is responsible only for the cable/DSL “wired” connection to your home, and (usually) the modem device which receives that signal. What happens with your wifi router and computer(s) is your responsibility. These devices can fail as well, but your ISP can’t test them for you. Be aware of other potential points of failure — especially DNS problems and wifi interference. Know how to manually specify the DNS your computer uses. Two Google public DNS servers that I now have programmed into my network preferences panel are: 8. Here are Google’s instructions for accessing these servers from your computer. Ars. Technica cautions that Google’s Public DNS is not the right solution for everyone. Fortunately, there are many other public DNS servers, and some commercial services like Open DNS. If you live near lots of other wifi networks, get a higher- end wifi router. This costs more, but it’s more likely to keep you online since it gives you more options to diagnose and circumvent local wifi interference. This is especially true for apartment dwellers, but also can be the case in crowded neighborhoods. Don’t expect your broadband provider’s tech support to help. It’s worth running through their diagnostics because their equipment and systems can — and do — fail. Install Rooted Lollipop on AT& T Galaxy S5 SM- G9. A and Enable Wi. Fi Tethering. When it comes to pushing new software updates fast, Samsung doesn’t have a good track record. And if you own a Samsung device from a US network provider, you must be mentally prepared to wait for months before major OS updates are rolled out for your device. For the past few weeks AT& T variants of eligible Samsung Galaxy devices have been receiving the long awaited Lollipop update. Some older devices like the AT& T Galaxy Note 3 and S4 have already received the Android Lollipop update and now the users of the AT& T Galaxy S5 has started getting the Android 5. OTA with build version G9. AUCU3. BOC4. Since it’s a major OS upgrade, the size of the OTA is as heavy as 1. GB. Many users have already downloaded and installed the Lollipop OTA but if you have not received the update notification from AT& T yet, you should try triggering the update manually by going to Settings> System> About device> Software update. If you still out of luck, or if you are out of the United States and want to update your AT& T Galaxy S5 SM- G9. A, we’ve come up a manual method for you. As you know, Android 5. Lollipop update is probably the best thing that has happened to the OS so far. The update brings a bunch of new features and improvements. Below is a short list of a few new things you’ll be able to enjoy after getting the update. All new Material design in the user interface. Smoother and more fluid performance and animations. Get notification cards on your lockscreen. Songs, photos, apps, etc. See this tutorial. Make sure your AT& T Galaxy S5 is 1. Android 4. 4. 4 Kit. Kat firmware. Now download the Lollipop OTA package: OTA. To do so, hold the Volume Up+Home+Power keys together while the device is switched off. As soon as you see the Samsung logo, release the Power key and keep the other two keys pressed until you see the recovery menu. Using the volume keys, scroll to apply update from external storage option and select it by pressing the Power key. Navigate to the OTA update Zip package and select it. Confirm installation when prompted. When the file is flashed, go back to the main menu and select “reboot system now” option. Done! Now you need to wait patiently for about 5- 1. Galaxy S5 boots up and becomes usable. Install Pre- Rooted Lollipop on AT& T Galaxy S5. If you want to enjoy root privilege on your AT& T Galaxy S5 running Android 5. Lollipop firmware, the following instructions would help you do that. Warning! You can use this method regardless of what firmware or build version your phone has. However, you must be rooted to be able to use the Fire. Flash app! Flashing the pre- rooted firmware provided below will not trip the KNOX Warranty Void flag. The procedure given below is considered risky. Follow it on your responsibility! Preparations. To gain root access on your AT& T Galaxy S5 running Kit. Kat, you can try Towelroot. Enable USB Debugging on your Galaxy S5. This step has nothing to do with the method given below but it could be a lifesaver if anything goes wrong. Install Chainfire’s Fire. Flash app on your AT& T Galaxy S5. Since this new app is only available for beta- testers currently, go to the Google+ page and join the Android- Flash. Fire community. You must be signed into Google+ using the same Gmail ID that you use on the Google Play Store. Having joined the community, click the Play Store linkto download Fire. Flash Beta app. Download any of the stock rooted Lollipop firmwares from below: Also download the Odin (v. OA1 bootloader file: G9. A. Just wait patiently for a while. Done! Fixing Bootloop or Soft- Brick after using the Fire. Flash Method. As you might be knowing already, there is no method that can guarantee 1. Having followed the Fire. Flash method, some of you might end up with a bootloop or a soft- bricked phone. Here’s what you should do to fix such issues. See the below guide for details: How to Perform Data Factory Reset on Samsung Galaxy Devices. When it turns up, install the Tether add- on zip file and reboot your device. When your phone boots up, you’ll be able to enjoy free Wi. Fi hotspot on your AT& T Galaxy S5 (S5 SM- G9. A) running the new OC4 Lollipop firmware.
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November 2017
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