Like most organizations, yours likely relies on the internet. If you struggle with network connectivity issues, your employees may not be as productive or efficient as they could be, resulting in lost or negatively impacted business.
Coeo has helped thousands of customers with their network connectivity issues.
We want to make sure you have information on what network connectivity issues are and how to fix them so you can improve your network reliability.
By the end of this article, you will know what network connectivity issues are, the five most common network connectivity issues, and how to fix and avoid these issues.
What is a network connectivity issue?
The vast majority of businesses today depend on the internet for their daily operations. Without access to the internet, the routine transfer of information that takes place at most companies would grind to a halt.
While nobody assumes their internet connection is going to go down, network connectivity issues can happen from time to time and adversely affect your internet connection.
Without reliable connectivity, businesses become unproductive, customers and business partners become frustrated, and the entire organization is impacted.
5 most common network connectivity issues
Many different connectivity issues can arise that negatively impact your business. It is important to know the different network connectivity issues that can arise so you are aware of them and take appropriate action.
Slow network
A slow network can be frustrating to your organization. You can experience a slow network through slow load page times or call breakups or drops.
This problem can be a result of multiple issues with one example being a failing switch, port, or link that could cause traffic to route around the failure.
Weak WIFI connection
Another network connectivity issue could be a weak WIFI connection. A strong WIFI connection is important for computers and other devices to properly connect to your organization’s network.
A weak WIFI connection can be a result of an object blocking the router, or a bad router altogether. Therefore, regularly testing your WIFI connection is critical to ensuring a strong network connection.
Physical connectivity issues
Physical connectivity issues are not as common with WIFI and cloud services in today’s network infrastructure.
However, they may still occur in the workplace if your phones or computers are connected by a physical connection.
Physical connection issues are typically caused by cable wires. Sometimes cable wires can be disconnected or damaged which would result in a lost physical connection.
Cable wires can be left disconnected or plugged into a different port during a move, for instance.
In addition, old cable wires can begin to fray to the point where they disconnect your devices from the network and are no longer usable.
Excessive data usage
If you are using too much data or system resources such as the central processing unit (CPU), memory, or disk space, it can negatively affect your network connection.
This can slow your network connection down or disconnect you from your network altogether.
This can result from a virus on your network or excessive use of an application that may use a tremendous amount of data.
It can also be an application running in the background that you did not know was running using excessive amounts of resources and data.
Inability to connect to the printer
This may seem like a minor issue on the surface but it is an issue that typically indicates an issue with your network connection.
Your printer is connected to your network and if you are not able to connect your device to the printer, it usually means either your device or your printer has lost connectivity to the network.
Of course, the first step is to make sure your printer is on and has paper. After this, check if your device and your printer are connected to the network.
If either is disconnected, you should try restarting them and try to reconnect to the network.
Click the link below to use this free tool to learn how you stack up against your peers and learn how to stop poor network performance, reduce outages, and learn best practices for maintaining a resilient network. 
How to fix network connectivity issues
There are multiple ways that you can fix your network connectivity issues.
LTE installation
Installing an LTE connection will benefit your organization and will be an improvement from other connections such as broadband.
LTE is also one of the least expensive connections and while it does not promise 100% uptime, it is one of the best connections on the market and can work well for an organization looking to improve its network on a tight budget.
Install a redundant physical connection
Another option to fix network connectivity issues is to install a second, redundant, physical connection separate from your primary connection.
This will allow your network to have a backup physical connection that will allow your network to stay up even if your primary network connection is down.
Install an SD-WAN solution
An SD-WAN solution is an overlay network built on top of underlying network connections. An SD-WAN solution can help with network failover.
With SD-WAN failover, you will have multiple connections so that if one connection fails, you will have various backup connections to remain connected to your network.
Next steps to solving your network connection issues
Now you know what network connectivity issues are, the most common network connection issues, and how to fix them. This will help solve your network connectivity challenges.
Network connectivity issues can burden your company and your employees will be less productive. As a result, poor connectivity could lead to lost revenue and customers.
Knowing what network connectivity issues look like, what the most common network issues are, and how to fix them will help your organization fix network connectivity issues when they arise.
Coeo has helped thousands of customers with their network connection issues. We want to make sure you have the information you need to fix or avoid these issues when they arise at your organization.
If you would like to speak with our team to talk about network connectivity issues or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
Now you know why network connectivity issues happen. Read this article to learn how SD-WAN can address your connectivity issues:
