How to track online status 24x7?
 

Does anyone know of a good applet/tool that can monitor internet connectivity (I guess via pinging a few reliable sites) 24x7 and log whenever connectivity is lost?

The reason for asking is that my cablemodem (Surfboard 3100) keeps going off-line (Send/Receive/Online/Activity lights all off) at random times during the day and of course handily going back online again whenever the ntl engineer comes round. ;) Sometimes it's off for over an hour - other times for just a minute.

Apparently the engineer had found a problem with the upstream as the tv's interactive part wasn't working either, and after replacing some 'modules' everything worked - but only for a while. He asked for me to monitor the connection but of course I can't monitor it 24x7 and so can't give a full picture of the connectivity problem!
Hence my request...

Re: How to track online status 24x7?
 

You could use what I use, but it would need some knowledge to set it up.


I use a program called UltraVNC. What you basically do is connect to your PC from another PC and it's just like being sat at your PC. (Same as Remote Desktop)

You can get it from http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/website/

There's lots of information on how to set it up on there. have a go see what you think.

Re: How to track online status 24x7?
 

Alternatively, you could ping your IP Address, if you get replies, it's online. If you get Destination Host Unreachable. Then it aint. ;)

Re: How to track online status 24x7?
 

http://www.pingplotter.com/featurecomp.html - not sure if the freeversion has enough features, but there must be other programs.

http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/ne...rktesting.html
Robotest, the very fisrst one on the list - not pretty, but it might do the trick.

Can NTL's tools help... CorrectConnect or Broadband medic - mind you, CC was so damn irritating and useless that I dumped it instantly

Re: How to track online status 24x7?
 

Tx for the info - I tried various other ones (there are some seriously poor apps out there!) but it looks like pingplotter will do the job. Only the eval version will plot response times over extended periods of time!

Hopefully my connection will get fixed before the month trial is up!

Re: How to track online status 24x7?
 

going on irc is a good way to see connectivity problems otherwise you could download one of those apps that used to useful for keeping dialup connection's alive.

Re: How to track online status 24x7?
 

Remotely I ping my connection from work. I have a script that checks and alerts me when the pings start failing. I use a domain name and a dynamic DNS service (zoneedit.com) to make it easier to connect from work without needing to know the IP address.

Also, I use Paessler PRTG which monitors and logs the throughput of the router with nice graphs and you can get it to write the logs to a directory which could be a folder of a web server, so you can then view the graphs from anywhere. Doesn't show a definite downtime, but you could set off some kind of download that will run 24/7 and where it drops may be an indication of failure.

However, if you've got upstream problems, you want to keep an eye on the upstream power levels of the modem. Chances are it's near the limit in which case you just need to pester them to come out and make it so it's not near the limit. Make sure they send a real tech and not a monkey though ;). Probably better off with one of the support guys here than calling support. The problem I find is they send someone out and tweak one thing but doesn't fix the real problem, and then send another who tweaks something else and still doesn't fix the problem.

Upstream problems appear to be where the line quality from the modem to the "other end" is of poor quality. Upstream works by the modem generating the signal and if the line is poor the modem has to work harder to get the signal through. Think of it like shouting to make yourself heard is a noisy room. Make the noise go away and you fix the upstream. The fix is usually outside, either in the cable or the green box down the road. NTL seem to assume the problem is in the house. The problem is getting this message through to NTL (took me a year to do that. I had the same symptoms with the modem rebooting all the time, often down for days and weeks at a time).