Unraveling a Mysterious Internet Connectivity Issue: Seeking Insight

As someone who has spent a decade in the IT field, I’ve become accustomed to navigating various technical challenges. However, a recent situation with a long-standing client has thrown me a curveball that I’ve yet to resolve, and I’m reaching out to the community for assistance.

The Situation at Hand

I have been the go-to IT partner for this client for many years, assisting with their technical needs whenever they arise. Recently, they contacted me with what seemed to be a typical internet connectivity issue. Normally, this would be a straightforward fix, probably involving a modem reset or driver updates, taking no more than 25 minutes. However, what I initially perceived as an easy task has extended into a frustrating two-day ordeal.

The Peculiar Symptoms

The primary issue involves their computers redirecting all internet traffic to http://msftconnecttest.com, with Windows indicating “no internet access.” This usually suggests a connectivity failure, prompting Windows to direct users to the Microsoft connection test page. My first step was to reset the Frontier/Verizon modem, but unfortunately, this did not yield any positive results.

Following that, I attempted to reset the network settings for both Windows and Mac devices on the network. Notably, while both platforms were unable to access the internet, only the PCs were being redirected. I even went as far as disabling msftconnecttest in the registry, but the issue persisted. When I tried to access any website, it would appear to load briefly before redirecting me back to the original test page.

Analyzing the situation further, I discovered that a ping test to Google yielded an IP address of 172.19.1.254—a clear indicator that something was amiss, as this is not Google’s actual IP address, nor should it be resolving in that manner. More perplexingly, this issue affected both wired and wireless computers, which can’t even ping the modem anymore.

A Frustrating Customer Support Experience

In desperation, I reached out to Frontier’s support team. The initial technician suggested, rather bizarrely, that “the modem has been hacked by Russia,” and recommended a replacement. After obtaining a new modem from a local Frontier store, I was dismayed to find that the exact same issue persisted.

Interestingly, if I activate a mobile hotspot,