Script to Monitor Your Internet Connection
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Have you ever had a situation where your Internet connection drops for a few seconds, then comes back, then drops again, then comes back, and repeats randomly with no rhyme or reason? Getting your ISP to see the problem can be a real hassle as Murphy’s Law dictates that the problem will ALWAYS go away once you finally get them on the phone. You’ll usually get the standard “looks good on our end” with no actual resolution of the problem. Well, this script will allow you to monitor the line for hours, days, even weeks, and provide you with a timestamped activity log of exactly what was happening over that period. Armed with this type of information, you can usually get your ISP to take notice.
I actually wrote this script a few years ago when one of my clients was having these very problems. Using the log it generates, I was able to provide the ISP with meaningful numbers and exact times, and eventually they were able to correct the problem. Since then, I’ve used it many times to check the stability of a connection. Anyway, today on one of the tech forums, somebody asked how to monitor a flakey line. It got me thinking about this script, so I dusted it off and posted it to the forum. I figured while I was at it, I’d post it here as well.