I built a portable "network go-bag" for troubleshooting Ethernet and Wi-Fi problems—here's what's in it

I built a portable "network go-bag" for troubleshooting Ethernet and Wi-Fi problems—here's what's in it Credit: Sydney Louw Butler/How-To Geek By  Monica J. White Published May 30, 2026, 12:01 PM EDT Monica J. White is a journalist with over a decade of experience in covering technology. She built her first PC nearly 20 years ago, and she has since built and tested dozens of PCs. PC hardware is her main beat, and graphics cards and the GPU market at large are her main area of interest, but she has written thousands of articles covering everything related to PCs, laptops, handhelds, and peripherals. From GPUs and CPUs to headsets and software, Monica's always willing to geek out over all things related to computing. Outside of her work with How-To Geek , Monica contributes to TechRadar , PC Gamer , Tom's Guide , Laptop Mag , SlashGear , Whop , and Digital Trends , among others. Her ultimate goal is to make PC gaming and computing approachable and fun to any audience. Monica spends a lot of time elbow-deep in her PC case, as she's always making upgrades, testing something, or plotting out her next build. She's the go-to tech support person in her immediate circle, so she's never out of things to do. Whenever she has spare time, you'll find her gaming until the early hours and hanging out with her dog. Sign in to your How-To Geek account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Can you reliably function without an internet connection? I suppose I could, in theory, but I'd be out of a job. If you're like me, an unreliable network is a real nightmare, and you never know when connection issues will rear their ugly heads, thrusting you right back into hours of annoying troubleshooting. This has happened to me all too many times. Whether it was my own connection or someone else's, I found myself