BristolUK

I could put this in the lab but it will get more attention here.

Last night around 8.30 when I was watching Collateral on BBC iPlayer, my stepdaughter called from the other room to ask if I'd lost internet.
The internet TV had apparently gone down - which has never happened before even when internet has been down - and it was down on her laptop.

I carried on watching iPlayer but that went out after another 10-15 minutes. By which time TV had come back.

Internet was out the rest of the evening but TV stayed - demonstrating that we can be without internet but still get internet TV.

This morning, there was no change.

I plugged the ethernet cable into my laptop and connected. Received emails, checked news headlines and looked to see if internet problems were reported.

Then internet went down even with the cable. Internet TV also went down again.

I decided at this point that ethernet and TV working and then not working was maybe an indication that "they" were working on it.

But it didn't come back. I hadn't wanted to try the old turn off modem and back on again, partly because there was no switch and unplugging meant moving furniture and crawling plus I was convinced it was a service problem. A cyber attack or Aliens or something like that.

In the end, I called and discovered there were no issues so had to try switching off/on. Fortunately I have a useful stepson for crawling.

Magically it all came back.

Questions:

• How come internet TV normally stays connected when internet is down? (as it did for most of the time without internet since last night - I know this because stepson is a night owl and was up watching TV)

• How was I able to continue watching BBC on iPlayer for as much as 15 minutes after internet connection was lost? Is it something like when clicking 'play' it begins downloading the show so that you have some time loaded ahead of when playback actually starts, so that if the connection is lost you carry on watching the time already downloaded?

• If the problem was the modem, how come ethernet worked, albeit only for ten minutes?

• Why did internet TV disappear at the same point the ethernet failed?

• What caused the modem to play up? It's the first time since we went wireless 4 or 5 years ago.

printer

Cannot answer your questions i'm afraid and i don't understand how you can have "internet" TV if you have no "internet" but i can say i often have to re boot my router by unplugging. Randomly i get no internet via wi fi and have no choice but to re boot.
Recently had upgraded faster new modem from Shaw but still have the re booting issue now and again

jerryhung

Hm not sure but really cannot see how/agree that you can watch internet TV without internet.

I suspect that the issue was the computer where you were connected to wireless - maybe it connected to another network or lost connection somehow there at source.

Just my 2c.

Siouxie

Sounds like a LAN v WiFi issue. If you do a google search, you'll find it's not uncommon. ('Got wifi but no LAN' or 'Ethernet not working, windows 10/7')

Do you have McAfee (and possibly a Dell), by any chance?

BristolUK

I've always assumed that the TV Internet is just separate to the 'normal' internet - independent of each other. We were wireless internet and phone package and later we added TV (Bellaliant's Fibe) so maybe we just got lucky that way.

Acer and HP were the laptops connected at the time and no McAfee. I'll save the subject in case it happens again, but once in 5 years doesn't sound like something for me to worry about.

The still getting iPlayer is my biggest puzzle.

dave_j

I think you've had one too many x-rays in that dentist of yours and some of those particles swishing around in your head have escaped and buggered up your cable box.

BristolUK

Actually, you might have something there. I don't know what, but something.

jerryhung

No they should be using the same wi-fi ie. internet connection.

Hmm unless you are genuinely on two lines.

I HAVE seen this happen once when the old line did not get disconnected.

Maybe you can find a tech savvy person to poke around and check for you (but not the telco company!!!)

sharkus

If I may be so bold, who is your provider for TV and Internet? Are you using DSL (phone line) or Cable internet?

My girlfriend uses Rogers and has cable tv and internet. There's two boxes, one for the cable, another for the internet.
We have had the internet go out, but cable still works, and also the reverse of that, and both of them going out.

Being able to keep watching on iPlayer does make it sound as though it has pre-cached a certain amount of the show. Netflix does the same thing, as my son has been watching something and I've been mucking around and rebooted our router and he's been able to keep watching for a short while even though there isn't an internet connection.

It does sound like there could well have been a service outage, so that may explain why there was an off and on problem.

It could have also been the router playing silly buggers. Hardware does sometimes just get in a funk and a reboot does help. Had it myself with various internet router things over the years.

uk_grenada

There are a myriad of possible reasons, nobody here is goung to get to the bottom of it. Clearly if a device sees the internet, somethings working, but you are using between 3 and 8 internet based services to make it all work, eg DNS, and a temporary or partial failure will screw up some traffic not others. Your isp will be throttling, limiting and blocking all sorts of stuff, they can make a mistake or their service limps or dies - these are just examples of weirdness you can encounter but need a trained engineer to diagnose and they aint got the time, they are trying to keep the edifice running...

In the famous words of helpdesks everywhere, turn it all off< wait 10 secs, turn it on and if it still doesnt work complain to the man you pay , pay someone more money, or shake your medicine stick over it.

BristolUK

What we have and the way it's performing actually sounds like an advantage

Bellaliant Fibe
Haven't a clue.
Now that you mention it I think I've been watching Netflix on my laptop while another lost internet on theirs but TV was still fine.
Thanks for answers people. I am not considering this to be a problem.

Because on those rare occasions we lost internet but not TV, the fact that funny things were happening in the evening and first thing in the morning made me think there was something more going on when it seems there wasn't.

If there's a next time, unplugging and replugging will be an early option.

Thanks again.