Network Troubleshooting in Katy & Houston, TX

Slow or dropping network? We find the real cause, then fix it

When a network is slow, laggy, or keeps dropping, the fix is almost never the thing most people reach for first — a new router. EVOTECH IT LLC troubleshoots unreliable networks for homes and businesses across Katy and Houston by doing the one thing that actually solves the problem: isolating the fault to a single layer — the Wi-Fi, the cabling, a switch, the router, or the internet service itself — and then fixing that, instead of guessing and swapping gear until something changes.

We are a licensed and insured low-voltage contractor with more than 20 years of hands-on experience and a 5.0-star rating, and we bring real test equipment — cable certifiers, throughput testers and spectrum analyzers — not just a laptop and a hunch. Most slow-network complaints trace back to a short list of causes: a single bad cable drop negotiating down to a fraction of its speed, a duplex or speed mismatch on a switch port, Wi-Fi fighting a neighbor on the same channel, a DNS or IP-addressing conflict, or an internet circuit that is genuinely underperforming. Each one has a different fix, and telling them apart is the whole job.

Below is exactly how a professional diagnoses a slow or dropping network, the tests that separate one cause from another, and the fixes that make the problem stay fixed — written so you can follow the logic yourself, whether you hire us or not.

Is it your Wi-Fi, your wiring, or your internet provider?

Ninety percent of network troubleshooting is answering one question correctly: is the problem your Wi-Fi, your internal wiring and equipment (the LAN), or your internet service (the WAN)? Chase the wrong layer and you can spend money on a mesh system when the real fault is a crimped cable in the attic. Here is the isolation logic we run on every call, in order.

Test wired against wireless

Plug a laptop directly into the router or a known-good wall jack with an Ethernet cable and repeat whatever was failing — the slow download, the dropping video call. If the wired connection is solid and only Wi-Fi struggles, you have a wireless problem: coverage, interference, or an overloaded access point. If wired is just as bad, Wi-Fi is innocent and the fault is deeper.

Test your LAN against your WAN

Run a speed test to your own router or a device on your network (a LAN test) and a separate test out to the internet (a WAN test). Full speed locally but slow to the internet points at the ISP or the modem. Slow even locally — device to device inside your own building — means the bottleneck is a cable, a switch, or a port setting between those two points, and no amount of ISP escalation will help.

Swap, bypass, and divide

We then bypass suspects one at a time: connect a laptop straight to the ISP modem to take your router out of the equation, swap a questionable patch cable for a known-good one, or move a device to a different switch port. Each swap either clears a suspect or convicts it. This divide-and-conquer method is faster and cheaper than replacing gear on a guess.

That table is the map. The sections below walk each branch — how we confirm it, and how we fix it for good.

How to read a speed test correctly (most people do not)

A speed test is the most-used and most-misread tool in networking. The number on the screen only means something if you know what you measured. Getting this right saves people from paying for internet upgrades that change nothing.

Local speed and internet speed are different numbers

A test to a server out on the internet measures the slowest point along the entire path — your Wi-Fi, your cabling, your ISP, and the public internet, all in series. A test between two devices on your own network measures only your internal wiring and switches. If an internet test is slow but a local device-to-device test is fast, your equipment is healthy and the ISP or modem is the suspect.

Test on the right connection

A speed test over Wi-Fi on a phone across the house can read a quarter of your actual internet speed — because the Wi-Fi link, not the internet, is the limit. To measure the internet itself, we test on a computer wired directly to the router with a known-good cable. Only then does the number reflect what you are actually paying for.

Look past download: latency, jitter and packet loss

Download speed is the headline, but the causes of a stuttering video call or a laggy game are usually latency (delay), jitter (delay that varies), and packet loss (data that never arrives). A connection can post a big download number and still be unusable if packets are dropping. We measure all four, because they point at different faults — loss and jitter often mean a cabling or line problem, not a bandwidth problem.

Know your plan before you call anything slow

We confirm the speed you actually pay for before labeling anything slow. A wired device that tests near the plan rate is a healthy circuit; the same device at a fraction of it is a real problem to chase. Consistently landing well under the plan on a wired test is the evidence your ISP needs — see commercial IT solutions for how we document this for business circuits.

Finding the bottleneck: a network is only as fast as its slowest link

A network runs at the speed of its slowest link, and a single weak point drags everything behind it down. A gigabit internet plan is wasted if it funnels through a ten-year-old switch or a port stuck at a hundred megabits. Finding that choke point is a core part of troubleshooting.

Speed and duplex mismatches

Every Ethernet link negotiates a speed (100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps) and a duplex (full or half). When negotiation fails — often because of a marginal cable or a mismatched setting — a port can silently fall back to 100 Mbps half-duplex and cripple that connection. It still works, which is why people miss it for months. We read the negotiated link speed on every switch port and fix the ones that dropped.

The old-switch and daisy-chain trap

An unmanaged bargain switch, a router being pressed into service as a switch, or three switches daisy-chained across the house can each cap throughput or flood the network with traffic. We map how everything is actually connected — not how you think it is — and remove the choke points, replacing or re-cabling wherever a single link is holding back the rest.

Cables that quietly negotiate down

A cable with one damaged conductor or a sloppy termination frequently still links — but at 100 Mbps instead of a gig, or with an error rate high enough to force constant retransmissions. This is one of the most common hidden bottlenecks we find. A certifier proves whether a cable can carry its rated speed; a cheap tester that only checks continuity will call the same bad cable good.

Remove the slowest link and the whole network speeds up — often far more than an ISP upgrade would, and usually for a fraction of the cost.

Bad drops and cable faults: testing existing wiring to find the fault

When a specific jack, camera, access point or room is slow or dead, the cable serving it is the prime suspect. Troubleshooting a cable is a different job from installing one — we are hunting for a fault in wiring that is already in the wall, and that means testing, not guessing. (If you need brand-new runs pulled, that is our network cabling service.)

Continuity is not certification

A ten-dollar cable tester lights up a row of LEDs and tells you the wires are connected. It does not tell you the cable can carry gigabit speeds. A proper certifier measures the electrical performance of the run — crosstalk, insertion loss, return loss, and length — and tells you whether it truly meets the Cat5e or Cat6 standard it is being asked to run. That distinction is the difference between finding the fault and chasing it for weeks.

The faults we find most often

Existing drops fail in a handful of repeatable ways, and each leaves a signature a certifier can read.

When we find a bad drop, we re-terminate the ends first — most faults live in the last inch at the jack or patch panel — and re-certify. If the cable itself is damaged inside the wall, we pull a fresh run. Either way, you get a documented pass, not a hopeful shrug. The same testing discipline underpins clean installs like Cat6 cabling.

When it really is the Wi-Fi: diagnosing wireless problems

If the isolation test pinned the problem on wireless — wired is fine, Wi-Fi is not — the cause is one of a few things, and none of them is fixed by simply buying a more expensive router. We diagnose which it is with a spectrum analyzer and a quick survey, then fix that specific cause. (For a full coverage redesign, see Wi-Fi installation.)

Weak signal and dead zones

Wi-Fi is radio, and radio is stopped by brick, tile, foil-backed insulation, metal, and distance. A single router in a corner cannot cover a two-story or wide home. If the signal is simply too weak where you need it, extenders make it worse — the fix is properly placed access points fed by cable, not more transmit power.

Channel congestion and interference

In a dense Katy or Houston neighborhood, a dozen networks can be shouting on the same channel. Because Wi-Fi is polite and takes turns, a congested channel means your devices wait — and everything feels slow even with a strong signal. We scan the airspace, find the clear channels, and set them, instead of leaving every radio on auto to fight the others.

Overloaded access points and sticky clients

Too many devices on one radio, or a phone clinging to a distant access point instead of the near one (a sticky client), both feel exactly like slow Wi-Fi. We check how many clients each radio is carrying and how devices roam, then rebalance the bands and tune the roaming so devices land on the right radio.

The 2.4 vs 5 vs 6 GHz trade-off

2.4 GHz reaches far but is slow and crowded; 5 and 6 GHz are fast but shorter range. A device stuck on the wrong band is a common, invisible cause of slowness. We confirm which band your devices actually use and steer them onto the right one.

DNS, DHCP and IP problems: the internet is up but nothing loads

Some of the most maddening problems have nothing to do with speed at all: the connection is fine, but pages will not load, devices randomly lose access, or one machine cannot reach another. These are addressing and name-resolution faults, and no new hardware fixes them — configuration does.

DNS: the internet works, but names do not resolve

DNS is the service that turns a name like a website into an address your device can reach. When DNS fails or is slow, the internet is technically up but nothing loads, or pages hang for several seconds before appearing. We test resolution directly and switch to a fast, reliable resolver when the assigned one is the culprit. A surprising share of do-I-have-internet complaints are pure DNS.

DHCP: running out of addresses

Your router hands out IP addresses from a pool (DHCP). On a busy network with many phones, laptops, cameras and smart devices, a too-small pool runs out — and new devices silently fail to connect, or existing ones drop the moment their lease expires. We size the pool to the real device count and correct the lease settings.

Duplicate addresses and IP conflicts

When two devices end up with the same address — often from a hand-typed static IP that overlaps the DHCP range — both drop off intermittently in a way that looks random and haunts a network for months. We find the conflict and lay out a clean, conflict-free addressing scheme.

Double NAT: two routers fighting each other

Adding your own router behind the ISP box without configuring it creates two layers of network address translation. The result is broken port forwarding, failing video calls, game-console warnings, and odd slowdowns. We put one device into the right mode — bridge or passthrough — so traffic flows through a single gateway. This is one of the most common self-install problems we clean up.

When it really is your ISP: proving it and getting it fixed

Sometimes the network truly is fine and the internet service is the problem — but you have to prove it, because the first thing an ISP does is blame your equipment. We gather the evidence that ends that argument.

Prove it at the modem

We connect a known-good computer directly to the ISP modem or ONT with your router removed entirely. If it is still slow or dropping right there, the fault is upstream of everything you own — and now you have proof, not a guess. If it suddenly behaves, the problem is inside your network and we keep looking.

Read the line, not just the speed

A troubled circuit often shows up as packet loss or a modem reporting poor signal levels — low power, low signal-to-noise, or a flood of correction errors on the line. These are the numbers an ISP technician actually acts on. We capture them so your service call is about facts, not a vague it-feels-slow.

Plan versus reality, over time

A circuit that is fine at 2 a.m. and unusable at 8 p.m. points to congestion or a line fault, not your gear. We can log throughput and loss over hours so the pattern is visible, which is far more persuasive than a single bad speed test the ISP will wave away.

The modem and gateway themselves

An overheating modem, a failing ISP router, or an all-in-one gateway simply overwhelmed by a busy household are common and fixable. We identify when the box the ISP supplied is the weak link and recommend the right replacement, or a separate router set to the correct mode.

Catching intermittent drops: the hardest problem to fix

The hardest network problem is the one that is not happening while you look at it. A network that drops for thirty seconds twice a day, or slows to a crawl every evening, hides from a single spot-check. Catching it takes patience and the right instruments — not a parts cannon.

Make the invisible visible with logging

Instead of hoping to be standing there at the moment it fails, we set up continuous monitoring that probes key points and records throughput and packet loss around the clock. When the drop happens, it is timestamped — and the time of day, plus the point that failed, usually names the culprit on its own.

Common intermittent causes

• Heat. A switch, router or PoE injector in a hot closet or attic can work fine cold and drop once it warms up in the afternoon.
• A marginal cable or port. A barely-passing termination links fine until vibration, temperature, or load tips it over, then recovers on its own.
• Interference that comes and goes. A neighbor’s network, a microwave, a wireless camera or a Bluetooth device can stomp on your Wi-Fi only at certain times.
• DHCP lease expiry. Devices that drop on a regular clock are often losing and failing to renew their address.
• Congestion at peak. Evening-only slowdowns frequently mean congestion — on your network or on the ISP’s.

Because these faults hide, the honest approach is to instrument first and replace second. Swapping parts blindly at an intermittent problem is how people spend the most and fix the least.

Our network troubleshooting process, step by step

1. Free on-site assessment. We come out, listen to exactly what is slow or dropping and when, and look at how your network is really built — no charge to size up the situation, and any estimate fee is credited to the work.
2. Reproduce and isolate. We recreate the problem, then run the wired-versus-wireless and local-versus-internet tests to pin it to a single layer before touching anything.
3. Measure with real tools. A cable certifier on suspect drops, a throughput tester across links, a spectrum analyzer on the airspace, and resolution and addressing checks on the configuration.
4. Fix the root cause. Re-terminate or re-run the bad drop, replace the choke-point switch, correct the DNS, IP or NAT configuration, retune the Wi-Fi, or document the ISP fault — whatever the evidence points to.
5. Verify under load. We re-test the exact task that was failing, confirm the fix holds, and where the fault was intermittent, we leave monitoring in place to be sure.
6. Document and support. You get a clear write-up of what was wrong and what we did, and we are local at (832) 359-2425 if anything ever needs a second look.

Residential vs. commercial troubleshooting: same physics, different stakes

The physics of a slow network are the same at home and at work, but the stakes and the diagnosis are not, and treating them identically is a mistake.

Homes

In a house the usual suspects are Wi-Fi coverage fighting brick and two stories, a self-installed second router causing double NAT, a bargain switch behind the TV, and a single bad drop to an office or a camera. The goal is reliable streaming, clear video calls, and smart-home devices that just work — fixed cleanly without tearing up the house. Most homes are diagnosed and repaired in a single visit.

Businesses

A business network carries phones, point-of-sale, cameras, and staff who cannot work when it is down, so downtime has a dollar cost and the diagnosis has to be efficient and documented. Commercial faults more often involve managed switches, VLANs, many access points, larger address scopes, and circuits that must be proven to the provider. We work around your hours, keep the critical systems running while we test, and hand over documentation for your records. See commercial IT solutions for ongoing support, and Ubiquiti UniFi for manageable networks that are far easier to diagnose in the first place.

What you can check yourself before you call

Before you pay anyone — including us — a few checks solve a real share of problems in ten minutes, and if they do not, they give us a big head start. None of these can hurt anything.

1. Restart in order. Power off the modem, then the router, wait a minute, and bring the modem fully back up before the router. This clears the most common temporary faults and address glitches.
2. Test wired. Plug a laptop into the router with a cable and see if the problem disappears. If it does, your issue is Wi-Fi; if not, it is deeper. This single test tells us the most.
3. Find the pattern. Note whether it is one device, one room, or everything — and whether it is constant or only at certain hours. That pattern is half the diagnosis.
4. Check the obvious cable. A loose or damaged patch cable at the wall or the back of the router is common; reseat both ends, or swap the cable for a known-good one.
5. Confirm your plan. Look up the internet speed you actually pay for, then run a speed test on a wired device so we are comparing against the right target.
6. Bypass your own router. If you added a router behind the ISP box, temporarily connect straight to the ISP box; if that fixes it, you have a double-NAT or configuration issue we can sort out.

If those do not do it, that is exactly when the right tools and a methodical eye pay off — and you will not have wasted money on a new router you never needed.

Six misdiagnoses that waste money on a slow network

Almost every dollar wasted on a slow network gets spent on the wrong fix. These are the misdiagnoses we clean up most often — knowing them helps you judge any technician, us included.

1. Buying a new router for a cabling problem. A shiny new router cannot fix a drop stuck at 100 Mbps or a duplex mismatch. If your wired connection is slow, the router is rarely the cause.
2. Adding Wi-Fi extenders to beat dead zones. Extenders halve throughput and add a second network that devices roam between badly. Cabled access points are the real fix; extenders often make things worse.
3. Trusting a continuity tester. A cheap tester that only checks that the wires connect will pass a cable that cannot carry gigabit. Only certification proves a drop is genuinely good.
4. Blaming the ISP with no proof — or never suspecting it. Both extremes waste time. The modem-bypass test settles the question in minutes.
5. Stacking routers and switches. Every extra box behind the ISP gateway risks double NAT, address conflicts and new choke points. More gear is not more speed.
6. Cranking Wi-Fi power to maximum. Turning every radio up to full just makes networks shout over each other; on a congested channel it lowers real speed instead of raising it.

What affects the cost of network troubleshooting

Troubleshooting is priced by the work the diagnosis actually turns up, not by a fake flat rate — because until we isolate the fault, neither of us honestly knows whether it is a five-minute setting or a cable that has to be re-run. The honest drivers of cost are:

• How hard the fault is to find. A clear, constant problem is quick; an intermittent drop that needs monitoring over time takes longer to catch.
• What the fix requires. Correcting a DNS, IP or double-NAT setting is fast; re-terminating a jack is modest; pulling a fresh cable run through a finished wall is more involved.
• How many drops or devices are involved. Certifying one suspect cable is very different from testing an entire building of jacks after a move.
• Hardware that genuinely needs replacing. A failed switch, a dying modem or an underpowered gateway is an honest, itemized line — never an invented upsell.
• Residential versus commercial. Business networks with managed switches, VLANs and documentation needs take more time than a typical home visit.

The on-site assessment is free and any estimate fee is credited to the job, and every quote is itemized so you see exactly what each part costs and can decide what to fix now. To get real numbers for your situation, request a free on-site assessment or call (832) 359-2425.

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