Hi REGISTERW — sorry you’re dealing with this. Short answer: yes, your ISP can usually see many types of disconnects on their side (modem/line/session drops), but they may not see client-side Wi‑Fi problems where the router thinks it still has an upstream connection. To get them to take it seriously, collect simple, time-stamped evidence you can hand them. Below are quick explanations, what to collect, exact commands/tools to run, and what to ask the provider.
1) What the ISP can see vs what they can’t
- They usually can see modem/gateway events: PPPoE/DHCP session drops, modem reboots, signal levels, upstream/downstream errors and event timestamps.
- They may not see intermittent Wi‑Fi failures inside your router (e.g., wireless driver crashes, radio interference) if the router’s WAN stays connected.
- So first check whether the outage affects wired devices too — if wired devices lose internet at the same time, it’s much more likely an ISP/line or modem problem.
2) Collecting useful evidence (priorities)
- Exact date/time (include timezone) when the problem happened.
- Whether wired devices lost Internet at the same time.
- Router/modem event log (export/save it) for the same time period.
- Continuous ping or WinMTR trace covering the period of the outage (this is very persuasive to support).
- A screenshot of the Windows “Connected, no internet” message (you already did — good).
3) Quick diagnostics to run now (step-by-step)
A. Check if it’s Wi‑Fi only
- When the problem happens, plug a laptop into the router with Ethernet. If Ethernet also loses internet, the problem is upstream (ISP/modem/router). If Ethernet stays up but Wi‑Fi fails, it’s local Wi‑Fi.
B. Immediate checks (useful during a drop)
- On Windows, open Command Prompt and run:
- ping the gateway: ping 192.168.0.1 (replace with your router IP)
- ping an external IP: ping 8.8.8.8
- ping a hostname: ping google.com
If ping to 8.8.8.8 fails but ping to gateway succeeds → WAN problem. If gateway ping fails → local router issue.
C. Continuous ping with timestamps (Windows PowerShell — saves to file)
- Open PowerShell as your user and run this (stops with Ctrl+C):
while ($true) {
$ts = (Get-Date).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")
try {
$r = Test-Connection -ComputerName 8.8.8.8 -Count 1 -ErrorAction Stop
"$ts Reply $($r.ResponseTime)ms"
} catch {
"$ts Request timed out"
}
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
} | Out-File "$env:USERPROFILE\pinglog.txt" -Append
- This creates C:\Users\<you>\pinglog.txt. Keep it running (or run overnight) and when a drop happens you’ll have second-by-second timestamps of successes/failures to give to the ISP.
D. Use WinMTR (recommended)
- Run WinMTR or PingPlotter during normal operation and while a drop occurs. Save the report and give it to the ISP — it shows where packets are lost along the path and timestamps. (If you want, tell me and I’ll post exact WinMTR steps.
4) Router/modem logs and settings to check
- Log in to your Tenda router admin page (often 192.168.0.1). Look for System Log / Event Log / Status and export it. If logs are sparse, enable more detailed logging or enable remote syslog if available.
- Check the modem (if you have a separate ISP modem) status: uptime, SNR, power levels, any “link down” messages and timestamps.
- Enable NTP/time sync on the router so logs have accurate timestamps.
- Save or export logs covering multiple days if possible — these will show repeated disconnects.
5) What to say / ask the ISP when you call
- Give exact timestamps (e.g., “Dec 29, 2025 14:23–14:41 UTC-5” — use your local time) when you experienced the problem and say whether wired devices were affected.
- Ask them to check the modem’s session history, SNR/power levels, and if their network shows your modem losing sync or restarting at those times.
- Tell them you have logs/traces and you can send them a WinMTR/ping log — ask for a ticket escalation if they keep asking you to reboot the router without checking their side.
6) Other troubleshooting steps to try (short list)
- Update router firmware (Tenda often updates firmware for stability).
- Temporarily bypass your Tenda (if you have separate ISP modem) — connect a PC directly to the ISP modem for 24–48 hours. If drops stop, it’s the Tenda.
- Try another router temporarily if you can borrow one.
- Change Wi‑Fi channel (2.4 GHz is crowded) or test with 5 GHz. Use a Wi‑Fi analyzer app to check interference.
- Factory-reset router as a last resort (make a note of settings first).
7) If you want, I can:
- Give a short WinMTR how-to and exact host to test (e.g., 8.8.8.8 or a site you use).
- Help interpret router logs or a pinglog you capture.
- Draft a short script/message to send to your ISP with timestamps and attach the logs.
Next step suggestion: start the PowerShell continuous ping (above) and let it run until the next drop, then post the pinglog and the router log (copy/paste lines around the time of the drop) and I’ll help read them and draft what to send to your ISP.
