How to Detect & Troubleshoot Internet Brownouts

So, you've invested in a high-bandwidth Internet line for your business, complete with a service level agreement (SLA) ensuring consistent uptime. Sounds foolproof, right?

Not quite. Despite meeting the SLA requirements for uptime, you might encounter performance issues severe enough to disrupt your cloud-based applications. Sure, technically, the connection is still up, but it's practically unusable. The frustrating part? These underlying issues may fly under the radar of both your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and your IT team. Plus, the brownout won’t trigger failover protocols typically integrated into most firewalls.

In this article, we'll delve into how to detect and troubleshoot Internet brownouts, ensuring smoother operation for your business's critical online activities.

Imagine unusable Internet uptime as akin to a brownout on the electrical grid. It's not a complete blackout, your connection remains live, but its reliability can be intermittent or insufficient to support regular activities. In an Internet brownout scenario, disruptions can occur due to jitter, packet loss, latency, or a combination of these factors. These issues can arise at any time, whether it's during peak hours or off-peak times.

Just as high-energy appliances are most affected during an electrical brownout, your users will notice the degraded performance first in demanding, time-sensitive cloud-based applications.

During an Internet brownout, your employees may experience interruptions in VoIP calls, video conferences, and other sensitive, session-based interactions. These interruptions could manifest as choppy audio, frozen video frames, or dropped data packets.

Meanwhile, customers may struggle to complete transactions on your website or at physical point-of-sale kiosks, leading to abandoned shopping carts out of frustration. Since brownouts often occur intermittently, many users may not immediately report them, making it challenging for IT teams to detect and investigate the underlying causes.

Internet brownouts are caused by various network performance and infrastructure issues, each presenting distinct characteristics and impacts. Recognizing these different types of brownouts is essential for effectively identifying and resolving them. Below are some common examples of Internet brownouts:

Intermittent Connectivity Issues:

• Among the most prevalent types, intermittent connectivity issues involve network devices experiencing inconsistent disconnects or timeouts.
• Users may face challenges accessing network resources or encounter frequent disruptions in communication channels, leading to decreased productivity and heightened frustration.

Packet Loss:

• Packet loss occurs when data packets fail to reach their intended destination while traversing the network.
• During Internet brownout events, factors such as network congestion or hardware malfunctions can lead to packets being dropped or delayed, resulting in poor performance and reduced throughput.

Latency Spikes:

• Latency refers to the time taken for data packets to travel from the source to the destination.
• Internet brownouts may induce sudden spikes in latency, causing delays in data transmission and sluggishness in application performance.
• High latency can particularly affect real-time communication applications like VoIP or video conferencing, significantly impacting the user experience.

Fluctuating Bandwidth Availability:

• Brownouts may also cause fluctuations in available bandwidth, resulting in unpredictable variations in network capacity.
• Users might experience periods of reduced bandwidth availability, leading to slow file transfers, buffering during media streaming, or degraded performance of cloud-based applications.

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Internet brownouts can have a wide range of effects on organizations, affecting customer satisfaction, productivity, and many aspects of operations. Organizations must recognize the significance of efficiently resolving Internet brownouts and the consequences of these subtle yet widespread disruptions.

According to recent research conducted on American enterprises, a startling revelation emerges: more than 60% of Internet brownouts are initially detected by customers or go unreported, rather than being proactively identified by IT teams. This statistic underscores the need for robust enterprise network monitoring solutions like the Obkio Network Performance Monitoring tool.

Since networks play a crucial part in company operations, 90% of organizations respect their significance. Alarmingly, though, a significant 60% of Internet brownouts remain undetected and unreported by IT/NetOps. This shows how crucial it is to have trustworthy enterprise network monitoring solutions, like the Obkio Network Performance Monitoring tool, in addition to highlighting potential dangers.

Here are some key areas where Internet brownouts can significantly affect businesses:

Lost Productivity:

Internet brownouts can severely hamper employee productivity by impeding access to cloud-based services and collaboration platforms. Delays in accessing essential resources may lead to missed deadlines, heightened frustration, and decreased efficiency among employees.

Lost Revenue:

Online sales and revenue streams are highly susceptible to the impact of Internet brownouts.

Customers encountering slow or unreliable Internet connections may abandon shopping carts or experience transaction failures, resulting in lost sales opportunities. Businesses relying on real-time data processing or remote services may encounter operational challenges during brownout events, potentially leading to revenue loss and missed business opportunities.

A startling figure from Gartner ought to get the attention of anyone making decisions for the company: Over $100,000 in lost income can arise from even one hour of Internet connectivity issues, according to 98% of businesses. Remarkably, 81% of respondents emphasized that the hourly cost increases to $300,000 or higher.

Decreased Customer Satisfaction:

In today's digital landscape, customers expect seamless access to information and services.

Internet brownouts disrupt these expectations, causing slow response times and dropped connections, which can diminish customer trust and satisfaction. Businesses may struggle to meet customer demands and service level agreements (SLAs), further affecting their reputation and competitiveness.

Reputation Damage:

Persistent instances of Internet brownouts can tarnish a company's reputation, signalling unreliability and incompetence to customers, partners, and stakeholders. Rebuilding trust and repairing a damaged reputation after prolonged Internet brownouts may necessitate significant time and resources, emphasizing the importance of proactive network management and mitigation strategies.

Identifying the root causes of Internet brownouts is essential for implementing appropriate solutions to mitigate their impact. Various factors can contribute to Internet outages and brownouts, including:

1. Network Congestion:

Bandwidth congestion stands out as a leading culprit behind Internet brownouts, where the volume of network traffic surpasses the available capacity. Increased network usage by a larger number of users can lead to network congestion, making data transmission more challenging. Particularly during peak usage periods, a surge in demand for network resources can trigger congestion, resulting in a decline in performance.

Applications that heavily rely on bandwidth, such as video streaming or large file downloads, can exacerbate congestion problems, leading to heightened latency and increased packet loss.

2. Infrastructure Problems:

Brownouts may also originate from factors beyond an organization's immediate control, such as failures in Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks. Failures within ISP infrastructure can have a considerable impact on an organization's network and service quality, underscoring the interconnected nature of Internet reliability and the importance of proactive network management practices.

3. Power Outages and Natural Disasters:

External environmental factors, such as electromagnetic interference (EMI), power fluctuations, or extreme weather conditions, can influence network infrastructure and contribute to brownout events. Electrical disturbances or power outages can disrupt network equipment, leading to temporary connectivity issues or hardware failures.

4. Scheduled Maintenance:

Internet brownouts can also stem from software-related issues, including bugs, compatibility conflicts, or misconfigurations within network devices or applications. Incompatible firmware updates, improperly configured network settings, or poorly optimized software can introduce instability and degrade overall network performance.

Planned maintenance activities conducted by ISPs or network service providers can temporarily disrupt Internet services. During maintenance windows, servers or network equipment may be taken offline for updates, repairs, or upgrades, leading to brief periods of Internet unavailability.

5. Human Error:

Human error, such as misconfigurations or improper maintenance practices, can also play a role in network outages or performance degradation. Oversight in network configurations or inadequate maintenance procedures can inadvertently lead to disruptions in service and contribute to brownout occurrences.

6. Cyber Attacks:

Malicious cyber attacks, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks or malware infections, can disrupt network operations and cause Internet outages. DDoS attacks pose a significant threat to network stability, aiming to overwhelm targeted servers or networks with a deluge of traffic. These malicious attacks exploit vulnerabilities in network defences, intensifying brownout events and compromising overall network reliability.

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Internet brownouts can arise from various sources, spanning from issues within your business network to disruptions in your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) network infrastructure. To effectively identify and troubleshoot these brownout events, you need a comprehensive solution that provides complete visibility from the Wide Area Network (WAN) to the Local Area Network (LAN), along with proactive monitoring from an end-user perspective.

This is where Obkio’s Network Performance Monitoring solution comes into play.

Obkio is an end-to-end Network Performance Monitoring and Troubleshooting tool that uses synthetic traffic to continuously monitor overall network and Internet performance. It uses distributed Network Monitoring Agents to monitor network and Internet performance from your WAN to LAN. The Agents collect data to help in troubleshooting, measuring network metrics, and identifying network and Internet issues.

• Real-Time Insights: Get instant insight into how your network is operating by utilizing real-time data.
• Proactive Alerts: Learn about issues with the network before they affect users.
• Historical Analysis: Look through past data to find trends and recurring problems.
• Easy to Use: You can start troubleshooting right away thanks to a quick and straightforward setup process.
• 24/7 Assistance: Our team of skilled network experts is available to assist and guarantee a flawless network experience.

It is not worth waiting for the next Internet brownout to ruin your day. Take the lead now to benefit from a more dependable and effective network.

Since Internet brownouts can come from a variety of places, it's critical to identify the exact source in order to perform troubleshooting effectively. Deploying Obkio's Network Monitoring Agents throughout crucial network locations, including offices, data centers, and clouds, is essential to achieving this.

By exchanging synthetic traffic, these agents continuously monitor network performance, offering insightful information about network metrics and pointing out possible problems. Every 500 ms, Obkio measures performance using synthetic traffic to track:

• Third-party networks (WAN, ISP, and Internet Peering) and your local network (LAN monitoring, VPN)
• Programs such as Unified Communications (Zoom and Microsoft Teams), VoIP (or VoIP PBX)
• Network devices like switches, routers, and firewalls
• Services such as SASE, Dual-WAN, MPLS, and SD-WAN
• And lastly, the experience of the end-user

Here's how to efficiently keep an eye on and troubleshoot network problems:

• Install Local Agents in the designated office locations that are having problems with their networks. These agents collect real-time data on local network performance and are available for MacOS, Windows, Linux, and other operating systems. This allows for targeted troubleshooting.
• Use Obkio-managed Public Monitoring Agents to deploy throughout the Internet to compare performance to the Internet and identify if network problems are widespread or unique to particular locations. Comprehensive troubleshooting and increased monitoring capabilities are achieved by using agents hosted on AWS or Google Cloud.

In addition to assisting with data simulation, synthetic monitoring enables the detection of Internet brownouts even in the absence of actual traffic. Yes, everything you just heard is true! By using synthetic traffic, you can find these problems before your actual users are impacted at all.

Synthetic monitoring tools like Obkio automatically create and send simulated traffic (in the form of UDP packets) from a Monitoring Agent to your application or network in order to verify performance and mimic actual user behaviour.

By exchanging this fake traffic, Obkio's Monitoring Agents communicate with one another, allowing you to closely monitor network performance at multiple locations without jeopardizing user privacy or requiring changes to network device configurations.

What's the best thing, then? Packet capture is not required for synthetic monitoring, which makes it a hassle-free proactive network monitoring solution.

It is critical to have access to detailed network performance data. This data provides invaluable insights into the state and operation of your network, enabling you to identify issues, understand their underlying causes, and implement effective solutions. Continuous monitoring of various network metrics is essential to capture any spikes or high levels that may indicate potential Internet brownout events.

The moment you deploy Obkio Monitoring Agents throughout your network, they will begin collecting and presenting important network metrics via Obkio's Network Response Time Graph. Here are a few crucial metrics to consider:

• Latency is a term used to describe how long it takes for data to travel between network nodes.
• Packet loss is the result of data packets not arriving at their intended location.
• Keeping an eye on bandwidth usage gives you information about how much network capacity is being used.
• Taking into consideration variables like packet loss and latency, throughput measures the actual data transfer rate.
• Continuously high jitter levels can interfere with real-time applications such as VoIP and video conferencing, causing poor video streaming or call quality.
• Monitoring network error rates can help detect problems with data integrity that malfunctioning hardware, bad cables, or electromagnetic interference may cause.
• Analyzing network traffic patterns might reveal odd behaviour or possible security risks, such as sudden usage spikes or patterns suggestive of malicious activities.
• By keeping an eye on topology changes, you can guard against security lapses and configuration problems, maintaining the stability and resilience of your network.
• DNS Resolution Time evaluates how quickly IP addresses are resolved from domain names.
• Quality of Service (QoS) Metrics prioritize important applications and ensure consistent performance by assessing the effectiveness of particular services or applications.
• To recognize and handle security risks, keep an eye on intrusion detection, firewall rule metrics, and security events.
• Monitor the state and functionality of network devices, such as switches, routers, and access points, to spot hardware issues or improper configurations.

It is now required that you monitor your network devices with Obkio's Network Device Monitoring solution.

Network devices are the cornerstone of any LAN architecture, and monitoring them can provide valuable insights into the performance and well-being of your LAN. To keep a check on the condition and health of crucial components, including servers, switches, routers, firewalls, and access points, you can monitor network devices. This helps you identify hardware failures, overheating problems, or other problems that might affect network performance.

Internet brownouts can be directly caused by or contributed to by problems with network devices, whose performance is a key factor in assessing the general health and efficiency of the network.

Bandwidth Utilization: The way data moves across a network is controlled by network devices like firewalls, switches, and routers. Network congestion may result if these devices experience excessive bandwidth use or are overloaded with traffic. WAN or LAN congestion raises latency, slows down data transfer rates, and eventually causes Internet brownouts.

Packet Loss: Hardware problems, network congestion, and misconfigurations are just a few of the causes of packet loss that network devices may encounter. Packet loss can cause retransmissions and higher latency by lowering the quality of network connection. When packet loss is significant enough, it can cause data flow disruptions that lead to Internet brownouts.

Latency: The responsiveness of apps and services as a whole may be affected by the latency that network devices introduce. Delays in data transmission and application response times caused by high latency can give the impression that the network is sluggish or compromised, which is a feature of Internet brownouts.

Device Errors and Failures: The performance of network devices can be directly impacted by malfunctions, incorrect setups, or hardware failures. Brownouts or even network outages can occur when crucial components, including switches or routers, malfunction or fail, disrupting the regular flow of network traffic.

Problems with Quality of Service (QoS): Improper traffic prioritization may arise from inadequate QoS configurations on network devices. This may contribute to brownouts for particular services by lowering the performance of crucial applications amid spikes in network traffic.

Insufficient Resources: If a network device has insufficient memory, CPU, or buffer space, it may cause performance problems. Brownouts can be caused by insufficient resources, which can also lead to missed packets, higher latency, and generally worse network performance.

Determining the precise problem in your network might be difficult, even if you have suspicions about it. Nevertheless, making use of the information gathered from your network monitoring activities might offer insightful information about the type and extent of the issue.

Here's how to quickly locate and resolve common network problems:

1. Define the issue: Determining the problem's precise definition is the first step in troubleshooting. To identify possible causes and solutions, pinpoint particular symptoms, such as application problems, dropped connections, or slow performance.

2. Find the Problem: Once the issue has been identified, determine its location within your network. Use Obkio's network monitoring tool to identify the locations where there are packet loss or traffic slowdowns.

3. Identify the Root Cause: Knowing the root cause of the issue is crucial for successful troubleshooting. Determine whatever setup mistakes, network design flaws, or hardware or software malfunctions are causing the issue.

4. Determine the Timeline: Find out when the problem started and how it developed over time. Examine logs, monitoring information, or user reports to establish a resolution schedule.

5. Work With Stakeholders: Determine who or what teams are in charge of the impacted network segment. Work together with vendors, service providers, and IT specialists to efficiently troubleshoot and quickly fix the problem.

By using Obkio's Device Monitoring tool, you can gain important insights into the underlying cause of network problems that are occurring across several sessions.

Here's how to use this feature for effective troubleshooting:

1. Keep an eye on network metrics:

For the devices under observation, Obkio collects various network data such as latency, packet loss, and bandwidth usage. These measurements provide comprehensive insights into the functionality of the device and any problems.

2. Analyze and compare the information from the Two Sessions:

• Use Obkio to compare data from both sessions for the devices involved if network problems continue between sessions.
• Examine device metrics during the issue's occurrence for any patterns or anomalies. Keep an eye out for sudden increases in bandwidth utilization, packet loss, or latency spikes.
• Determine whether the problem is with your network devices, the network of the service provider, or internet connectivity by comparing data from the two sessions.

3. Examine Device Data:

• Look into things more if you notice any anomalies or performance problems in the metrics Obkio acquired for your network devices during the sessions.
• For example, excessive latency or packet loss on router interfaces can be signs of network infrastructure congestion or configuration problems.

If there are no resource issues on your devices, your service provider is probably the source of the Internet brownouts.

• If Obkio's device measurements show that all of your network devices are functioning normally during the sessions, this may suggest that the issue is occurring farther upstream, perhaps in your service provider's network or online.
• In these circumstances, you can contact your service provider and give them access to the device monitoring data to show that the issue is beyond of your control and that you might require their assistance.

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You can gather the last bit of information now so that your Internet provider knows exactly where the network issue is.

Use Obkio Vision, a free Visual Traceroute tool from Obkio that helps you identify network problems in your WAN and Internet by continuously interpreting Traceroute data.

Traceroutes are THE tool when it comes to Internet problems. They help diagnose network and Internet issues by providing information about the path and latency of data packets between your device and a target destination.

Identifying Packet Loss: Traceroutes display the route that packets take from your device to the destination server. If there is packet loss along the way, it can indicate network congestion or other issues. Look for asterisks (*) or timeouts in the traceroute results, which suggest lost packets.

Analyzing Latency: Traceroutes show the time it takes for packets to travel from one hop to another. An increase in latency at specific hops or across the entire route may indicate network congestion or other problems. Consistently high latency could contribute to Internet brownouts.

Comparing Traceroutes: Performing traceroutes during normal and brownout periods allows you to compare the results. Look for changes in the number of hops, increased latency, or packet loss during the brownout. This information can help pinpoint where the network degradation is occurring.

Identifying Bottlenecks: Traceroutes help identify specific routers or network segments where issues may be occurring. This information is valuable for network administrators trying to locate and address bottlenecks contributing to brownouts.

Locating Problematic ISPs or Network Segments: Traceroutes often pass through multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and network segments. By examining the traceroute, you can identify which ISPs or segments are causing issues. This information is crucial when reporting problems to your ISP for resolution - which we’ll touch on in the next step!

Keep in mind that while traceroutes can provide valuable information, they may not directly identify the cause of the Internet brownout. So that’s why it’s important to use Traceroutes with a more comprehensive Network Monitoring Tool like Obkio.

Service providers are essential to the overall functionality and connection of the Internet, and problems or inefficiencies in their networks can have a direct effect on end users' quality of experience and result in Internet brownouts. If certain ISPs or ISP segments are causing Internet brownouts, it's crucial to reach out to your ISP for them to troubleshoot any internal network issues on their end.

Working closely with your ISP can help identify and resolve issues related to network performance, ensuring a smoother and more reliable Internet experience for your business and end users.

There are several areas where issues can occur:

• Network Congestion: Brownouts, higher latency, and slower data transfer rates can result from high traffic volumes in service provider networks during peak hours.
• Routing Issues: Mistakes or problems with routing inside the network of the service provider can cause packet loss, higher latency, and unstable networks, all of which can lead to brownouts.
• Equipment Failures: Within the network of the service provider, hardware issues like malfunctioning switches or routers can impede regular traffic flow, leading to brownouts and reduced performance.
• Interconnection Issues: Problems with connectivity at interconnection points or across various service provider networks can affect the performance of the entire network, which can affect the delivery of services and content.

You should get in touch with your service provider (ISP or MSP) to receive troubleshooting support. Nonetheless, you won't have to face level 1 assistance telling you to just "reboot your modem." With all the data you have collected with Obkio, you can hold your service provider accountable and give them all the resources they need to do troubleshooting.

• Use the screenshots of your Vision dashboard, traceroutes, or monitoring sessions to contact your ISP for technical assistance.
• Share the Live Traceroute results with your Internet provider via a public URL.

• If your ISP would like to look over your data in more detail, you can assign them a temporary Read-Only User role in your Obkio account.

Ensuring network reliability in today's business landscape requires a proactive approach to prevent Internet brownouts. Relying solely on a single Internet connection can be risky, as any disruption to that line can lead to chaos, figuratively or even literally.

As an Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth to support daily operations, it can severely hinder the productivity and efficiency of your business.

Work with Your ISP

It's crucial to not only address basic Internet-related business needs, such as minimizing latency in video conferencing calls, but also to optimize core Internet-driven operations. Additionally, businesses should evaluate whether their current Internet Service Provider (ISP) can meet their evolving needs both now and in the future.

When experiencing brownouts, it's important to inform the ISP by providing detailed information about the issues, including their causes, duration, and characteristics. Utilizing tools like Obkio's Dashboard can help gather this data, enabling the ISP to diagnose and resolve the problem more efficiently.

Understand the Costs Associated with Internet Brownouts

Understanding the costs associated with brownouts and downtime is essential. Beyond potential revenue loss, businesses may incur additional expenses related to data recovery, hardware repair or replacement, and software upgrades. Intangible costs, such as damage to the company's reputation and relationships with customers and partners, should also be considered.

The total productivity loss is equal to the number of hours per day impacted by brownouts (both those reported to IT and those that go unreported) multiplied by the amount of time lost per employee.

Implement SD-WAN Network Infrastructure: “Never Put All Your Eggs in One Basket”

Implementing Internet failover solutions, such as backup Internet connections from another provider, can mitigate the risks associated with single-connection failure. Furthermore, ISPs often throttle their performance when utilization demands it and fluctuations in latency, jitter, and bandwidth are commonplace regardless of SLAs.

Check out our article about SLA Monitoring & Reporting to answer the most important question when dealing with your ISP: Are you getting what you paid for?

Technologies like software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) offer effective Internet failover protection for both single-branch and multi-branch operations. SD-WAN infrastructure ensures optimal Internet packet routing, regardless of network conditions, thereby minimizing the impact of performance fluctuations.

When selecting an SD-WAN solution, ensure it includes features such as monitoring each WAN connection, dynamic quality of service (QoS), and application performance optimization for various types of traffic, including live video, VoIP, and cloud applications. By leveraging Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring Tool businesses can proactively prevent Internet brownouts and maintain network reliability, enhancing overall productivity and operational efficiency.

It's crucial to distinguish between Internet brownouts and Internet blackouts, as they entail different implications and effects on businesses. You won't be able to troubleshoot correctly if you make a mistaken diagnosis. Although Internet connections are disrupted by both brownouts and blackouts, their characteristics, severity, and consequences are very different.

Internet Brownouts:

Internet brownouts represent instances of significant but temporary drops in performance, characterized by intermittent connectivity issues, packet loss, latency spikes, or fluctuations in available bandwidth. While not as severe as blackouts, brownouts can still disrupt business operations and hinder productivity by causing delays in accessing cloud-based services and communication platforms.

The impact of Internet brownouts extends beyond mere inconvenience, as they can lead to missed deadlines, decreased efficiency, and frustration among employees. Moreover, brownouts may negatively affect customer satisfaction, as slow response times and unreliable connections can erode trust and damage relationships with clients and partners.

Internet Blackouts:

On the other hand, Internet blackouts refer to complete and prolonged disruptions in internet connectivity, where businesses lose access to online services and communication channels altogether. Unlike brownouts, blackouts result in a total cessation of Internet activity, rendering businesses unable to conduct online operations or communicate with clients and partners.

The consequences of Internet blackouts are far-reaching and severe, encompassing significant financial losses, missed business opportunities, and damage to reputation and brand credibility. Without internet access, businesses may struggle to fulfill customer orders, process transactions, or deliver essential services, leading to disruption of operations and potential long-term repercussions.

Now equipped with the knowledge and tools to detect, diagnose, and prevent Internet brownouts, it's imperative to assess the overall health of your company's network infrastructure. Are there any underlying issues that may be impacting your network's performance? Rather than waiting for complaints from customers or experiencing disruptions firsthand, take proactive measures to ensure the stability and reliability of your network with Obkio.

Empower your business to thrive in today's digital landscape by prioritizing the health and resilience of your network. With Obkio, you can confidently navigate the challenges posed by Internet brownouts, safeguarding your business's success and reputation in an ever-changing digital environment.

• 14-day free trial of all premium features
• Deploy in just 10 minutes
• Monitor performance in all key network locations
• Measure real-time network metrics
• Identify and troubleshoot live network problems

Stay ahead of the curve and maintain a competitive edge by investing in proactive network management solutions that prioritize reliability and performance.