Hi Everyone,
So here I am trying to make sense of things. So far other parts of reddit has not believed me and made jokes instead. I am asking a serious question.
I am running a New Lenovo Laptop (G4) on Ubuntu 24.03. Previously I had Opensuse for the last 4 months, but Opensusse experienced the same problems.
I am a qualified computer and network technician, although I have not worked in the field for a number or years, I still have an understanding of most things. Nothing in my knowledge is making sense about this issue, which is why I am asking the internet for help in figuring this out.
- We have 1 router which is ISP owned and controlled. I do not have access to modify this router. Only the ISP does.
- We also have a second router which I personal own. All computer on the top floor of our house are connected to this router - which is connected by lan cabe to the first ISP owend router downstairs.
- If I connect my computer directly to the ISP router (by either ethernet or wireless) The internet simply does not work
- If I connect it the computer to the router upstairs, the internet works for a bout 1-5 minutes before it stops working.
- I know for a fact my computer is fine. It works perfectly when I tried it on my neighbors' network. It works perfectly when I tried it on my friends network, and it also works perfectly when I connect it to the wireless at my neighborhood bar.
- Our home network itself also seems to work fine. 4 other computer connect to the same ISP router and have no issues.
So the issue here is between my computer and the ISP's router. As already mentioned I do not have access to the ISP router, so I cannot check or modify it, and the ISP denies that they are responsible.
What I tried to to to solve the Issue.
- I changed my mac address on my computer then plugged it into the ISP router. The internet worked perfectly for 2 days, before it stopped working again.
- I changed my mac address and connected to the ISP router by wireless. It worked fine for 2-3 days before it stopped working again.
This made me suspicious. Why would it work for a short time just because I changed my mac address? Is the ISP blocking my MAC address specifically?
Before going further, yes the ISP can access my mac, address and computer name ,etc. Their technicians clearly told me this on the phone.
So this brings me to the question: Is the ISP specifically targeting my computer? I know it sounds crazy but hear me out.
The government in the country I live has admitted that the are running "covert operations" to monitor the internet activity of more that 150,000 people. The announcement was made via the ministry of internal affairs.
People included in this "covert" operation" are also foreigners. I happen to be a foreigner here, with a valid visa of course.
Now this is worrying, because the population here is small and 150,000 people is ALMOST 10% of the entire population. So the government basically admitted that they are spying on the people's internet activity, and the ISP is probably obligated to help them.
Eventually I got fed up. I did not even know if it would work or not. However I got a VPN since February. Ever since I got the VPN my internet on my computer works! And it works even faster than without the VPN (which means the ISP was probably throttling as well). However the moment I turn the VPN off the internet stops working completely (there is no kill switch, so turning it off should simply revert to regular internet connection but it doesn't).
Reddit's arguments:
- Reddit says that the VPN works because it is configured properly. And that my connection without the VPN doesn't work because it is not configured properly!
- They say this problem is my fault because I am not configuring it properly. They say I must go in the router and fix the issue in there.
Reminder: The router is ISP owned and controlled, I do not have the ability to configure anything. So while I agree something can be configured wrongly, that is not my fault because I do not have the ability to access or configure the router. Also the ISP refuses to check and insists that the router is fine, so there is no hope of properly configure anything, if this is indeed the problem.
If there is a configuration problem it is the ISP's fault as they are the only ones who can configure it.
Also don't suggest getting my own router. All ISP's in the country I live insist that you must use their router and that you cannot use your own.
Sorry for the long post. This is the basic issue an what I have tried and been advised to do. I would just like to know why my computer won't work on the normal ISP router? Does anyone have and theories or ideas?
Thanks!
