Park wifi internet and email

[BobNSam]

I have just recently encountered an new to me problem using a local park wifi connection.
I hope the forum's guru can shed some light on this for me.
I have a very strong, high quality and reliable internet connection through the parks AT&T DSL Commercial service. I have been here about two weeks. The first week all was OK. The last week all internet access was great EXCEPT. I could not connect to my email either via the browser webmail.nnn.com path or using Outlook my preferred method. Received "cannot connect to server" message. This was true for laptop (W7) and tablet (android).
If I connect to another locations hotpoint, either AT&T or Roadrunner, all is well.
I have spent two hours with Roadrunner Level 3 technicians in Texas and North Carolina and an hour with AT&T technical service  over two days trying to resolve/identify.
Found solution but not actual cause when talking with the park manager and he rebooted the parks wireless router.
Has anyone seen or experienced a similar situation? I have had a park's service "slow me down" if I downloaded too much stuff but it affected entire service, not just one activity.
Thanks to all.


:

 

[Ned]

That would seem to be a DNS problem.  You can override the default DNS servers if that happens again, but it's hard to really diagnose without some more testing when the problem occurs.  Or it could just be that your email server was down for a while.

 

[BobNSam]

Ned,
Thanks for the quick reply...I don't know what "default DNS servers" are or how to override them.
Of course, I am hoping it doesn't happen again but if it does, could you provide a little pointer on how to accomplish this override?
I would rather avoid the sledge hammer method of rebooting the router which I won't always have physical access to.

Or it could just be that your email server was down for a while.

Not part of info provided in original post; I never lost access to email account via my AT&T smart phone so I know the actual email server at Roadrunner was not down.
Bob

 

[Bob Buchanan]

Has anyone seen or experienced a similar situation?

Yes, all the time. When that happens with my router, I just reboot it. It is the common 1st thing to try solution to what you describe.

I helped a park set up their Wi-Fi a few years back with service through AT&T. The tech guy that installed the router mentioned before leaving, "If it stops working, just reboot it". In the on line instructions, I read the same thing. Whenever I was called upon to "fix the park Wi-Fi" I would go up to the office, reboot the router, and everyone was happy. Plus they all thought I was a techno guru because of my ability to fix the system. I actually set the router and modem up with power coming from a power strip that had an on/off switch. That way when called upon to "fix" things, I would turn the switch off, wait 20 seconds, then back on. BTW, 20 seconds is the official router off/on wait time suggested by both AT&T and Verizon. 

Another thing check out is whether the problem is coming from the router or the modem. Try connecting directly to the modem to see if that fixes things. If so, the router is the problem. After that, you might make sure the firmware in the router is up to date. Also, some say that if the location of a router is causing it to become too hot, this may also cause such a problem. And finally, I have read that some will put a timer on the router plug in so it goes off and back on once a day.

 

[BobNSam]

Bob, thanks for all the info...supports the crowbar approach 

And finally, I have read that some will put a timer on the router plug in so it goes off and back on once a day.

Maybe I should go down to Wally World and buy a timer for the park. Maybe make some future friends.
Bob

 

[Ned]

Bob Buchanan's solution is the easiest, just reboot the router when there's a problem.  There's no guarantee that changing DNS servers will fix it either.  The problem is many campgrounds buy consumer grade hardware to implement a WiFi system that really requires commercial grade equipment.  An off the shelf router was never designed to handle the amount of traffic that a campground generates.  The timer solution is an excellent one when you don't have physical access to the router or the ability to reboot it remotely.

 

[schoolsout2]

As a former IT "GURU" people thought i was a genius with computers.  My first act when called for help was to reboot.  That fixed many problems.

 

[tvman44]

Definitely reboot first.

 

[Gottasmilealot]

I have the same problem at a friends house.  I unplug and replug in the wireless modem, and all devices work again.  Nothing else on the device end fixes it.