Monitoring internet connection

My DSL modem went on the blink the second time this month and just started slowing down my browsing. Then it packed in completely. Fortunately by turning it off and back on again, it all came back to life and I didn't waste too much time.

I don't know why it did this, whether it had got too hot, or whether the internet traffic had caused it or what. But since I'm now running automated trading systems with an IB simulated account and aim to go live soon, I don't want this kind of thing to happen and if it does, I want to know about it. I'm trading on hourly bars so if this happens on the hour, I have no idea what will happen.

I checked the sound manager in the IB Trader Workstation and I've set it up to play sounds when it loses the network connection, but I'd love to get something more functional than this, maybe some software which will even send me a txt msg when the network goes down, or even when it detects problems before it goes down.

Maybe a daily report of internet connection status over the day would be good too, so I can get a handle on just how good or bad my BT line is.

Does anybody use anything like this?

Not sure this is the answer you're looking for, but you could get a remote server near whatever your exchange is, set your bandwidth limit so you don't go over the maximum allowed. (Some I've seen up to 1tb a month). Prices vary from $10/pm to $300/pm (going from a VPN, to cloud, to dedicated).

You should experience better fills, and it's always a plus being able to log into something from anywhere you are!

Phil.

maybe some software which will even send me a txt msg when the network goes down, or even when it detects problems before it goes down.

Click to expand...

How would the text message be sent if you have no internet connection ?

This sounds like either a fault with the modem or fault with the line. I suggest you contact your ISP and get them to check things out.


Paul

Thanks for the advice. I've got this stuff running in NinjaTrader - can you get remote servers with Windows on them? Don't they have to have a screen? I thought they were all Unix. But it sounds like a good idea, if I had an exchange - I'm just trading forex via InteractiveBrokers. I guess I could put it closer to them.

Re how would I send a text without an internet connection, hmm. Back-up internet connection? Or easier perhaps just via a 56k modem.

Yeah you can get Windows, dependant on the provider, but you should be able to install anything you want on it. Lot's of servers with metatrader preinstalled. Always ask before and do your research though .

The speed you get is superior, I've seen ping tests, and they are more or less like LAN!

Phil.

You're talking about 10 to 100 times faster - that pushes my geek button. However I doubt my hourly strategies would benefit from it - although I need to find out where IB TWS holds my forex limits and stops - if they're on my PC it could make a big difference but I thought they'd be on their server.

Stupidly I only just remembered that I have a server out there doing nothing except waiting for me to work out how the hell to configure all the linux and java daemons.

But what I could do is put some kind of ping loop on that server to constantly monitor my server here at home and that could raise the alarm if it started losing packets.

Guess I need to find a way to send txts now.

The ongoing problem. I have this too. I want a VPS service with notification of outages. Or notification of outages when my home router goes down. But if it goes down, it can't send. My ISP is the only option, if they knew when it went down they could send an email, but how much would it cost? ARGHH! There are a million half-assed solutions, nothing I'm happy with yet