Topic: Internet shutdown

[wd68]

What can i do to change the weather station from connected to internet by way of say a 4g cellular service?? We are loosing service here lately on the spectrum service.  Everytime it goes out, i call and they say things like "we are not reporting any issues in your area..Well..,I am reporting! They come here and fiddle with it. they get it working, and they are on there way. the other one i get is a mechanical voice on the phone telling me to unplug the router and wait till it tells me to plug back in. So i jump through the hoops, and it connects and ok i am on-line.. but my weather station isn't. They know i am running a weather station that reports to NWS.  One of them knew what CWOP was. Folks, I can't stay awake everyday checking the service to make sure i am reporting to everyone. I am at the point of wanting to give up. This started as a fun hobby. its not fun anymore. Anyone have any ideas about the up and hope coming ws5000. does it connect with cellphone service or will it only connect to my router only. Maybe i missed this issue from before i posted here this time. Sorry if i sound Pissed off but i am tired of Cwop or someone like Madus telling me i am sending stale data when i have no control over how they get my information. 

[galfert]

There is a lot to understand when running a weather station. I can see the frustration from your comments. It can be a lot to undertake and problems need patience in dealing with them one at a time. You may be experiencing one problem, or I can see the possibility that you are actually maybe dealing with more than one issue. There are some known best practices that I think you should follow, and there is some testing that can be done that I can suggest you do to try and uncover where the problem lies. But this takes time, back and forth, testing just one thing first, and then testing another thing, until we get to the bottom of it. That said here are some first steps:

As I said there could be just one problem or numerous problems. You seem to thing the problem is Spectrum, and you suggested switching to 4G cellular. I think there are plenty of other things to test before we lay the blame down on Spectrum, because they aren't the only cog in the wheel.

Start by telling us what equipment you use for Internet.
What brand modem do you have?
Is the modem also the WiFi router? or is there a separate box that is the WiFi router?
How far is the WiFi router from the station console?
Are you experiencing other Internet outage problems with other devices like a computer, smart tv or other Internet device? or is the problem just with CWOP?
Do you upload to Weather Underground? If yes what is your WU station ID?
What method do you use to upload to CWOP? Are you running this software yourself or are you using AmbientCWOP.com?

To answer your question about connecting a WS-5000 to cellular....well it doesn't directly support cellular.....but you could make it connect to cellular just like you could do so for just about any other station with a WiFi cellular device often called a MiFi or mobile Hotspot or Jetpack device. But I don't think we need to go here just yet. Let's get to the bottom of this first and really determine that the problem is really Spectrum or not. I will have follow-up questions for you depending on how you answer this first set of questions. It is going to take some work to figure this out. Please be patient.

[racer3]

I had a problem with internet dropping all the time. I brought the router to the cable company and they gave me a new one. Have not had a problem since with dropping the internet.

[galfert]

Haven't heard from wd68 yet, but I'm sure we will.

Yes, as racer3 suggested sometimes switching out the hardware helps. But even better is to use your own hardware for your network. The networking hardware that you get from the ISP is never the best stuff. It is free for a reason, it is just good enough. In some cases though that just isn't the best solution. Frankly I don't see why anyone should expect the hardware to be free. Back when before high speed Internet, when everyone was using dial-up land line modems we never got the modem for free. Back then the ISP provided a service, it was up to you to buy a modem. Some modems were better than others. There was a price range for everyone. You got what you paid for. Today the same applies. You get what you pay for. My recommendation is not for you to get your own modem. Because the modem part of what the ISP gives you is not the bad part. The bad part is the WiFi router part. Unfortunately to many times today the modem and WiFi router are one device. This is not a good thing. You get the best performance if the modem is one device and the WiFi router is another device. Sometimes the ISP gives you a separate modem and a separate WiFi router, that is a bit better but still....no....don't do it. Just keep the modem part and get your own router. Now don't go getting the $50 Walmart special router...and you don't need to go crazy and get the $300 router either. The sweet spot for a decent WiFi router is about $140 to $180 (but closer to $140). If you live in row houses or town house environment with many neighbors with WiFi you may need to up the game plan to something better, so just keep that in mind.

[galfert]

wd68,
I found your weather IDs for all services. I can see that you are not connecting on various services.

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=FW7128
https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXWICHI117
https://app.weathercloud.net/d8924270578#evolution

Based on this we can rule out problems with AmbientCWOP.com as that is a middle-man. Often CWOP problems are caused by Ambientweather.net not being able to relay the data to AmbientCWOP.com. We can cross that off the list as a possibility.

Still left is the Internet service. But it could be related to the networking hardware that you are using. And your placement of your weather console in relation to the WiFi router. Waiting to hear back on what that equipment is.

Another possible issue is power related. Do you get brown outs? If this is a possibility then using a UPS battery backup device may be a good way to go.

[ocala]

Try calling your public utilities commission. Tell them you are getting continuous bad service from Spectrum and ask if they could intervene on your behalf. I have no idea if this would help but I believe these companies are granted a licence to operate in the county. If the county residents continually complain I think they can revoke this licence.
Just a suggestion but try racers idea above and see if better equipment is available. 

[wd68]

Sorry I haven't been back to this thread, it got lost due to another issue. Come to think about it they are related. Ok, I am running a spectrum router with built in wifi. They have changed the router once about 2 weeks ago. One month ago we dropped cable for Dish TV. We kept the internet. As dish said they use them in this area. They are the go in between but our bill is payed to spectrum. Spectrum has been on the lines several times over the last few weeks. We were told that they had found places where the insulation had been chewed through. We lost internet one day when they replaced wiring on the poles. The issue continued as they were working but they "finished" the repairs and they were happy that they fixed it and see you later. 4 times since I have had to talk with them and also last night. Each time they had us unplug the router for a minute and plug it back in and it reconnects and they say it has been reset. Thanks for calling and have a great day  click.
I am running a ws-2902 the outdoor unit is on a pole in the back yard that at one time had a night light on it but that hasn't worked in a few years now.  If the open carport wasn't in the way. The two units would be direct line of sight. The house is about 50 or so years old. I have a room here that's my all in one bedroom. It's my nephew's home and I stay with them here. From what I found out from the other thread I had here if there is less, computer towers, led screens other wiring and controls in the area where the monitor is that it could cause the monitor to stop transmissions. To me it seems to be getting worse as time goes on. It really started before all the changes were made with spectrum. Other than moving the monitor around several different places in my desk area, I changed the batteries, and cleaned the rain gauge out and also spray wd40 on the cup itself.  The unit itself is about 3 years old. I am thinking that the outdoor unit is going bad as age has had an effect on the outside plastic. Just a guess. I think I answered all the questions.  My station I'd is FW 7128. I haven't had a reading on wind so it has bad readings for it with Gs. Somehow, I keep coming back to two different things, one is the weather station and two id spectrum internet.  I hope that you may come up with a couple of ideas I haven't thought of. Thanks for your time and help. Wd

[wd68]

Oops, missed one or two questions. I connect to ambient, weather underground, pws weather. Weather cloud, cwop by way of the ambient service. I show dropouts on weathercloud and they seem to match up with findu. Am unable to really see any issues with the other services I send data too.

[wd68]

 Another one. My id for weather underground is KTXWICHI117.

[Brandy99]

Old post reply, but in case, giving 2 solutions.
First a work around.
1) If you don’t already have a Mesh on your internet, install one. I run my weather connected on a Mesh - akin to INTRAnet. This allows your data to continue to flow to your console regardless of internet status. When the inTERnet comes back up, your data cache will give a catch up. I don’t know if I can recommend a specific one here, but I do have one after trying several, and can tell you why this worked over the others.
FYI this also allows you to put a battery back up on your mesh so you can run it during a power outage.
Second, the root problem approach:
2) it sounds like an intermittent switch issue. Not yours, but the overall at your service where it connects into the area conduit. See if the area switch guy will investigate. I had same issue and they found my connection at the box literally hanging on…not even secured. Just HANGING. 
Be a polite pest. Document each call, any patterns, lack of weather events, etc. this will convince them to get an engineer involved. Work the problem. Ask them for definite follow ups, case numbers, confirmation emails etc.