Navigating Uncharted Waters: Unraveling a Complex Internet Connectivity Issue

As a seasoned IT professional with a decade of experience under my belt, I often encounter a variety of technical challenges and difficulties. However, a recent predicament involving one of my long-term clients has left me scratching my head and reaching out for insights from my fellow experts in the field.

The Setup

This client has relied on my IT support for years, and I usually handle their issues efficiently—internet connectivity problems typically can be resolved in a matter of minutes. Or so I thought. What began as a routine support call has now transformed into an intricate puzzle that has stretched over two days. Despite my best efforts, the solution continues to elude me, and even their Internet Service Provider (ISP) has not been much help.

The Problem Unveiled

The client reported that their computers were rerouting all internet traffic to msftconnecttest.com, displaying a “no internet access” notification—a common sign of connectivity issues. My first course of action was a modem reset (Frontier/Verizon), but unfortunately, that did not yield any improvement. Next, I reset the network settings and drivers on both Windows PCs and Mac devices. An interesting note is that while both devices failed to access the network, only the PCs faced the redirection issue. Despite my attempts to disable references to msftconnecttest in the Windows registry, attempts to reach any website still resulted in the same diversion, giving the illusion that pages were loading before ultimately redirecting to the initial error page.

Investigating Further

To diagnose the situation further, I ran ping tests to Google, which returned an IP address of 172.19.1.254—a clearly incorrect route, as this is not Google’s official address and the response time was an astonishingly low 1 millisecond. Notably, even wired and wireless computers on the network were unable to ping the modem. I decided to contact Frontier again, only to be met with an outlandish claim from the support technician who informed me that the modem had been “hacked by Russia.” Yes, I couldn’t believe it myself. In response, I replaced the modem at a local Frontier store, but the same issue persisted.

A Curious Twist

A surprising twist in the saga emerged when I discovered that connecting via a mobile hotspot allowed the computers to operate flawlessly. This indicated that it was likely an ISP issue rather than