We get a few call a month from customer and or potential customer asking us to come help them with their down network. Typically, either their internet is down, their network is down, or both. We have notice from asking customer questions, that the ISP (internet service provider), always ask them to reset the router / modem by holding down the little button on the router with a paper clip or pin. If you are asked by the service provider to reset your equipment, DON’T DO IT. What that button does is typically delete all the programming in your router, from ip address scheme, subnet mask, static ip address, password, wifi router username, etc. I think most of the time, the service provider tech support meant to do this on their modem and not the customers router. The reality is most of the tech support personnel are just supporting thru documentations, in another word, they don’t understand networking, just was train to read the documents and follow the few simple steps, just as reboot, reset, etc. I found too far often times, your internet doesn’t work is simply because the ISP modem programming does not match with your network and or router.
Here are some examples:
1. Your router is programmed to have a static ip address, but your service provider is only assigning you dhcp (default on most isp).
2. Your router is programmed to received dhcp, but the service provider modem is programmed to pass you a static public ip address.
3. The service provider ip address doesn’t match your router or it match up as in conflict with your ip address scheme. If the service provider is passing on ip subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and your router is also program to hand off the same subnet of 192.168.1.0/24 subnet to your devices on your network, your network will not work properly.
Network can get complicated, before you reset your router to factory default, have a qualify IT personnel help you troubleshoot first, it may save you and your company some money, downtime, and even some headache.