Internet Drops Every Hour (15 Possible Causes, Fixes)

 

In an internet-based era, nothing’s more restraining and nerve-wracking than when your internet drops every hour.

Your work, social communications, and school assignments all depend on the internet.

With the Covid-19 situation, even routine tasks like grocery shopping have moved online.

We understand you desperately need a stable internet connection.

That’s why we’ve come up with several potential causes and explained how to fix them in this article.

Read on to find a solution to this hourly internet loss issue.

 

Internet Drops Every Hour (Causes)

 

1. Defective Cables

 

Since pretty much everything is wireless these days, we tend to forget about cables carrying the waves.

If you’re facing irregular internet breakdowns, the first place to check is the wires.

Depending on your internet type, you might have used different wires:

• Phone cables that link the internet line to the modem’s phone jack.
• Coaxial Wires that plug your modem into the internet network at your location.
• Ethernet cables that attach your router to the modem.

 

Check if the wires are corroded, worn out, or damaged in any way.

Also, make sure you’ve inserted them into the correct outlets.

Alternatively, switch them with new replacements to see if the issue disappears.

 

2. Low-Speed Internet

 

Your internet may drop randomly if your connection isn’t fast enough, which could, in turn, have multiple reasons.

 

3. Your Internet Package Is Slow

 

You should have at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload capacity for regular home use.

There are online tools to help you determine your internet speed.

If your speed is lower than these numbers, you’ll have a hard time watching Netflix or YouTube and attending meetings on Zoom or FaceTime.

You may assume your connection is completely down when it’s just really slow.

You could log on to your internet provider’s website or call their customer support and upgrade your connection to something between 40 and 100 Mbps capacity.

 

4. You’re Connecting with Frequent Devices

 

Sometimes, your internet plan is fine, but your usage is so high that it fails to keep up.

This is especially the case if there are more than one or two users in your home or when you’re connecting many devices—your laptop, smartphone, PS, home gadgets, etc.—to a single connection.

To sort out the issue, disconnect your not-in-use systems so that they won’t take up your bandwidth.

If you need them all connected at once, go for a bandwidth large enough to cover all the devices.

In most cases, a 2.4-GHz bandwidth is enough.

If you have a large household with lots of internet-demanding activities such as streaming and gaming, you should shift to 5-GHz bandwidth.

With this much bandwidth, your download speed will increase to around 1Gbps, instead of 450 to 600 Mbps.

 

5. You’re Using the Wrong Sort of Internet

 

In some cases, your internet type is to blame for the instability, not the speed or WiFi band.

There are six types of internet: Fiber, Cable, Satellite, Fixed-wireless, and DSL internet.

If using DSL internet, you need to be close to your network hub because, otherwise, you’ll experience diluted speed.

This type of internet can also show buffering signs if you connect more than a few devices simultaneously.

With cable internet, you may experience interruptions at peak times because you’re sharing the cables with other neighbors.

Satellite internet may face sudden lags when it starts to rain or snow.

It also has high latency since your information has to go all the way to the satellite and back.

Shifting to another sort of broadband connection may make up for the internet dropping.

Fiber is the ideal connection type with the fewest interruptions and highest speed.

It transmits your data via light waves, so it won’t be affected by long distances or bad weather.

Being a new technology, however, not all regions have access to this type of internet.

 

6. Power Failure

 

If internet stuttering happens right after a blackout, you could try Power Cycling.

This means you shut off all the connected devices, including your computer, modem, WiFi adapter, and router.

Unplug the wired devices and wait for a few seconds before you plug them back on.

Then, switch them on to see if the problem goes away.

Note: Resetting your router may erase all the saved entries such as your IP, username, passwords, DHCP, and DNS server settings.

You should either write them down before restarting or use the router’s backup function.

 

7. WiFi Router

 

One of the most common causes of losing your internet connectivity is your WiFi router.

So many factors can affect the equipment.

Sometimes it’s just a physical issue, and other times, it’s the settings.

Continue reading to see which one is the case with you and how you can fix it.

 

8. Move Your Router

 

Your internet behavior partly depends on the router’s location.

The first factor to consider when finding a location for your router is its distance from your devices.

Ideally, you should put it somewhere at the center of the house to send signals to all rooms and all your receivers.

If you’re still experiencing poor internet due to the long distance, consider investing in a WiFi extender.

Next, make sure your router is far from physical obstructions that may weaken its signal.

Thick walls, heavy shelves, mirrors, and metallic furniture can absorb or reflect the internet signals, leading to delays in your connection.

Also, put the router far from interfering devices such as baby monitors, microwaves, cordless phones, and maybe washing machines.

Some of these devices perform at the same frequency as your WiFi, hence, they will be conflicting with your access point.

If you can’t reposition any of the devices, consider placing the router on a higher level so you can overcome the interference.

Adjusting your router to a different channel can also help (we’ll discuss how in the next sections).

If you have two WiFi routers at home, set individual frequencies for each—one to 2.4 and the other to 5 GHz—to remove the interference.

 

9. Reset the Router Settings

 

Sometimes, the main culprit of an internet disturbance is your router settings.

In this case, the easiest way to fix the issue is to restore factory settings, and there are two methods for this.

First, find the invisible Reset button and use a needle-like tool to press it.

Just press and hold the button for a few seconds until the router lights start blinking.

Wait until the lights become stable and green, and the device will revert to its initial configuration.

The second approach is to access your router’s setup page on a browser like Chrome or Firefox.

Simply type your router’s IP Address in the URL bar, then enter your username and password.

Search for the reset option through the router page and follow the given instructions.

Note: Most manufacturers provide your login credentials at the back or bottom side of the router.

If yours doesn’t include them, try the default IP address, “192.168.1.1,” and enter “admin” for both username and password.

If that doesn’t work either, contact the provider for assistance.

 

10. Update the Router Settings

 

In case the factory settings didn’t help, you can manually adjust some of the router settings.

Once more, go to your administration panel and change the entries like this:

• Set MTU to 1492 or lower.
• Set the TBTT (Beacon Broadcast interval) to 50 TU to circumvent potential delays.
• Adjust your RTS threshold and fragmentation length to 2304 and 2306, respectively. This will heighten your network performance.

 

11. Upgrade or Reflash the Router Firmware

 

Blackouts and other electrical accidents can sometimes mess up your firmware performance, leading to an unstable internet connection.

To fix this issue, follow the steps below:

1. Download the firmware from your manufacturer’s support website and save it on your device.
2. Open a browser to get into your administrative page.
3. Find the “Firmware Upgrade” option and click.
4. Open your downloaded firmware file through the “Browse” tab and hit “open.”
5. Select “Start Upgrade.”
6. Once the process is complete, reboot your router.
7. If nothing happens, unplug and replug the router.

 

If you’ve already installed a new version of the firmware and the problem remains unresolved, a reflash may do the trick.

Flashing means replacing your router’s operating system with third-party firmware.

This firmware usually comes with more functionalities and enhances your network coverage.

The process for a firmware reflash is the same as upgrading, except that you should download the file elsewhere.

DD-WRT, OpenWrt, and Tomato are the most common distributions, but you can also find other options here.

 

12. Turn Off SNMP

 

SNMP is a protocol that allows its users to remotely control their device operations, utilization, settings, etc.

This technology is sometimes very slow and may take its toll on your internet speed.

Head over to your router’s setup page once again, and disable the SNMP function to resolve the issue.

 

13. Invest in a New Router

 

An outdated router could be another issue causing intermittent disconnections.

Even with a high-capacity connection and high-performance firmware, a faulty router can kill your speed since it can’t keep up with the new technical standards.

Ideally, you need to replace your router every five years or so to keep pace with cutting-edge technology.

 

14. Encryption Protocol

 

You know all WiFi networks are protected by a password, but you may not know that these passwords can be encrypted using one of several methods.

WPA (WPA2 and WPA3), TKIP, WEP, and AES are different encryption algorithms with different security levels.

While most WiFis use WPA, your internet may start dropping when using the same Encryption protocol for a long time.

Changing to another encryption set may help in this case:

1. Log into your router and open the Wireless configuration tab.
2. Select either of the existing options (WEP, WPA2, etc.).
3. Save the changes and reset your router if necessary.

 

15. System Drivers

 

If the connection problem appears only on your Windows, consider updating your adapter’s drivers.

1. Go to your manufacturer’s website to download the latest version of your driver. Enter your adapter’s model and version number so you’ll get a matching driver.
2. Once downloaded, save and extract the file in a separate folder.
3. Go to the Device Manager through the Start icon at the bottom left of the screen.
4. Stretch the “Network adapters” menu and right-click on your adapter’s name.
5. Then hit “Update Driver Software.”
6. Let the computer browse the downloaded file(s) and confirm so it can update the driver.