Device to remotely check internet connection?

[cupoftea]

Hi,
Supposing you have a device in the field that is connected to the household router via an ethernet cable (may also be TP links in the path back to the router) . The devices were all sucessfully connecting to the internet at installation time. Some of the units then suffer disconnection from the internet for whatever reason. So you want to check that the ethernet connection to the device is good.

So you want a cheap little device that will plug into the ethernet cable and send pings back via the router. What form would such a device take? (small and cheap as possible).

So in other words, you would unplug the ethernet cable from the device, and plug it into the “ping” thing instead . This would be to show up cable faults etc…(ie, no pings if cable broken).

The "ping" thing would be sent out to those customers who suffer internet disconnection.

 

[betwixt]

I'm not sure that is a good solution, it relies on the householder not only understanding what to do but having a power socket nearby to plug the PSU in to. Ethernet cables doesn't normally carry power although they can use POE at low speeds if suitably wired.

A better solution would be to ping the remote device from the base, the result would be the same. DHCP might get in the way but if the device had already connected it could be asked what it's IP address is and it could be remembered to do the call back check.

Good software would try to re-establish the link if it went down.

Brian.

 

[cupoftea]

Thanks, we could make a "youtube video" to show them what to do.

Yes there'd have to be a power socket, but they could use an extender, or we could even make it battery operated....it'd only be for a minutes use.

Supposing the PCB in the device went dry joint, then it wouldnt be able to respond......and this little "ping" thing would point toward that (if it was sucessfully spotted on the network).

Also, if no ping, then it means the TP links could be down.

So this "ping" thing is better than nothing it seems?

The other solution is to send an electrician out there, but that costs so much.

Thanks, but i dont see how we can use software to check....because the situation is that the unit isnt contactable by internet any more

 

[betwixt]

Thanks, but i dont see how we can use software to check....because the situation is that the unit isnt contactable by internet any more

What I mean is the software should be capable of automatically restoring a lost connection. If your ethernet socket has LEDs they will confirm whether the physical link to the router is working. The user can see those and report their state to you, assuming the cable is working, the rest can be done remotely.

Note that the LEDs are user programmable but is almost all cases are wired to the ethernet interface IC and indicate the link is established rather than the presence of voltage on the wires. For the link to be established all the wires must be intact and two-way data flowing.

Where you may have difficulty is finding the IP address of the user. I'm assuming most will be using domestic router systems that incorporate DHCP. That means the final destination address may be different each time the unit or router is powered up. There are two work-arounds for that, one is using a fixed IP address (requires adjustment to the router settings during installation), the other is for the unit to read its own IP address and report it back to base while the connection is still good or to a local display if there is one.

It might be possible to 'port forward' (a router setting) to a VPN. That would give you a permanent address to use, regardless of the dynamic allocation by DHCP. For example, I can access each of the many systems I use at different port numbers on the same VPN. From a remote location, I can use "https:// myVPNprovider.com /1234567890: xxxxx" to connect to the system mapped to port xxxx. It is quite secure because only you know the VPN name and numbers but all my systems also have login and password protection too.

Brian.

 

[cupoftea]

Thanks very much for that, much appreciated....yes, we do in fact use VPN.
Some of the customers tell me the ethernet port leds are lit..but they are constantly lit....i thought ethernet leds flashed irregularly when the ehternet is truly connecting?

By the way, this might be the "ping" thing device?

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[betwixt]

The LEDs should flash occasionally, even if data isn't being transferred because ethernet has all kinds of mechanisms for confirming connection and renewing IP addresses. If you want to know more, download 'Wireshark' and you can see exactly what goes along the wires and it decodes it for you so you can tell its purpose.

It the LEDs are truly permanently lit, either the interface IC in the unit or the router have a fault. Normally they talk to each other with no outside intervention. The lights being on at all means the cable is good because they only light when the link is established and that implied data can travel along the TX and RX pairs successfully.

The 'ping' things are not checking anything other than connectivity along the cable, they don't send data or use Ping, they simply pass DC or a pattern of pulses from one of the boxes to the other. They are cheap but you can make your own for very little.

Brian.