When it comes to troubleshooting Internet connection issues, there are a few things any user can do before calling their service provider. By following these directions, you can fix most basic Internet issues without waiting on hold for a technician to walk you through the process or come to your home. If you still feel uncomfortable doing it yourself, you can always call your provider and ask them to send a technician to your home.

If your Internet connection goes down, the first thing you want to check is your computer and any other computers on the network. Check any hardwired connections first to ensure the wires are securely in their ports; if they are, check your wireless connections. Go to My Computer, then right click and choose Properties. From there, go to Hardware and open Device Manager. Scroll down to your Network Adapters and make sure your wireless card is working properly. If it is, the next thing to check is your router.

Make sure the lights on the router are on and all wires are secure. If those check out, take a paperclip or small ballpoint pen and reset the router. Give it about a minute, then check your connections. If things are still not working on all your computers, check your modem. Make sure all lights are on and rest if necessary. In some cases, your modem may run on a backup battery and a soft reset will not actually reset the connection. In this case, you will have to call your service provider to reset the connection from their end.

If these tips and tricks do not work in your home, call your service provider. They can walk you through more steps to troubleshoot specific cases or they can send a technician out to your home to check things out for you. No matter what happens, there are ways to troubleshoot Internet connections from home without relying on your service provider to do it for you. If you feel comfortable doing it, give it a go, because if you call your provider first, chances are they will work you through the above steps, and you save yourself a lot of hassle if you troubleshoot yourself first.