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We have an intermittent dropout at home, I can't workout if it is the wi-fi, the router, the connection itself.
The obvious issue with a bit of software pinging something in the background is it will surely not know what has dropped out, but is there anything free and simple that would monitor this when convenient?
The Wi-Fi nodes (AP and stations) themselves collect statistics on number of retries and packet drops. I would start by getting those if you can.
Can you connect something to the router via cat5?
This would tell you if it was the WiFi or not.
If you switch the router off then on does the internetz come back immediately? If so that would point at the router.
Can you hear noise in the phone line when the internetz is off?
When it drops out,
Can you ping the router?
Can you ping a public IP address?
Can you ping a domain name?
How brief is the drop out? Have you got a PC you can connect to the router via Ethernet cable - you can continuous ping the router and other WiFi connected devices from there (assuming they respond to ICMP). Bit overkill but you could take that a step further with a free trial of something like What's Up Gold and set up alerts
As said above though the router and any APs should log connection drops if they happen there
I use a hardware firewall so my internet connection is via an old BT ADSL modem which can be a little flaky.
So I have set up a Raspberry Pi [connected to the firewall by cat5] that pings google every couple of minutes - if it doesn't get a reply it reboots the firewall and the modem (well, switches the socket off then back on) and writes an entry in the log file.
Works pretty well.
I'll take a look at the logs, I have a FRITZ!Box 7530, so it has some ok logging just have to work out where to find it.
Drop outs are too infrequent and short to try plugging something in when experience the issue or even ping the router - I could run a cable to the NOW TV box one evening and see if resolves it if can't suss anything out.
The dropouts appear to be a few seconds at the most.
I initially suspected it was our NOW TV box have I seen briefly no internet connection on my mobile when connected to wi-fi - that was hard to confirm if the wi-fi had dropped out or the internet though. As it is so quick (i.e. seemingly no wait to reconnect) I assumed wi-fi but I am not overly technical these days. Have seen similar behaviour years ago when two devices have the same IP but can't even seemingly find that out with my setup.
I've followed all the Zen Internet troubleshooting and they claim no issues their end or otherwise, not that that means much.
when two devices have the same IP but can’t even seemingly find that out with my setup
'Ping Tools' on an Android phone will tell you that.
If it's for just a couple.of seconds I'd doubt it was the internet connection.... Plus the guys at Zen would see if you've been getting connection issues.
More likely to be a WiFi or DNS issue.