Interesting internet issue
Interesting internet issue
I came across a puzzling issue with my ISP this morning. It’s not just me—I’ve spoken to my neighbor and Mom across town, and they’re facing the same problem. All our mobile devices and PCs are linked to the same network port and ISP, yet only the phones get internet access. After checking, I think it might be a provisioning problem where the PCs aren’t being allowed to connect. Any ideas? It seems like something beyond a simple hardware or software glitch could be causing this for multiple users at once.
This has never required you to...? Could that encourage your thoughts?
When all your devices connect through the same wireless router, the problem likely isn’t with the connection setup. Since everything appears behind NAT, only the router should be visible. If one device connects successfully, others should too. Another chance is that certain wireless gadgets switch to mobile data when Wi-Fi drops due to "Internet not available." This might warrant a quick check.
Using the ISP gateway could mean a firmware update disabled the LAN ports. It’s not uncommon for this to happen. Have you tried restarting the router without plugging it back in? Since phones are usually active and computers often off, a temporary lease issue might be at play.
Try checking your IP address on one of your devices. On Windows, right-click the wired icon in the bottom-right corner, select Network and Sharing Center, then click the blue text next to connections for your network details. Under that, choose "Details" and enter your IP address—this is your local address, secure enough not to be compromised.
Also another tidbit of information I am on my ISP's business side. They are both residential. I have a Static IP that I have trained my router to and have not been in to it in the past 2 or 3 weeks. They are both dynamic IP and possibly behind their NAT unless they have a DMZ in which case I'm unaware. I'm just finding it awfully odd that all 3 of us in different locations and different local networks are experiencing the same issue at the same time.
Based on my understanding, certain details about devices are transmitted in packets even after going through a NAT. Information like the operating system, version, manufacturer, browser used, mobile carrier, and phone brand can be included. This means it might still be feasible to restrict access for non-device types such as phones or tablets. The exact reasons behind this behavior remain unclear to me.
The only things I can think of in common are that my phone is from Samsung and her tablet is from Kindle, which means they both run on Android.
The main goal is to verify if the device is solely using Wi-Fi connections. Try linking a laptop to the Wi-Fi network and check for internet access.
The packet should only contain the following information: So as you can see it does not care about HW information. You are probably thinking of those webpages that tell you about your pc, but that is done mostly via cookies and other code running on those sites. You also have stuff like SSL that encrypt the data you are sending and encapsulate it.