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220-1201 Practice Question: A technician is troubleshooting a network where a…
A technician is troubleshooting a network where a user cannot access the internet. The user's workstation has an IP of 192.168.1.15, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, and default gateway 192.168.1.1. The technician pings 192.168.1.1 successfully but cannot ping 8.8.8.8. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
The 220-1201 exam often tests the distinction between local connectivity (gateway reachable) and external connectivity (WAN/routing issue), leading candidates to incorrectly blame workstation configuration when the problem is upstream.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The router's WAN connection is down or misconfigured.
Successful pings to the default gateway (192.168.1.1) confirm that Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity within the local subnet is working, and that the workstation's IP, subnet mask, and default gateway are correctly configured. Failure to ping 8.8.8.8 (a public IP) indicates that traffic is not being routed beyond the local network, which points to an issue with the router's WAN connection or its routing configuration to the internet.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The workstation's subnet mask is incorrect.
Why it's wrong here
The workstation's subnet mask defines which portion of an IP address represents the network and which represents the host. If this mask were incorrect, the workstation would likely be unable to correctly identify its local network or its default gateway, preventing successful communication even within the local area network. Since the technician successfully pinged the gateway, the subnet mask is correctly configured, allowing local network communication.
- ✓
The router's WAN connection is down or misconfigured.
Why this is correct
Since the technician successfully pinged the local default gateway, the workstation has established local network connectivity. However, the failure to ping an external IP address like 8.8.8.8 indicates that while the workstation can reach its router, the router itself cannot forward traffic beyond its local network to the internet. This points directly to an issue with the router's Wide Area Network (WAN) interface or its configuration, preventing external access.
- ✗
The DNS server is not configured on the workstation.
Why it's wrong here
The Domain Name System (DNS) is responsible for translating human-readable domain names into numerical IP addresses. When a technician attempts to ping an IP address directly, such as 8.8.8.8, the DNS resolution process is entirely bypassed. Therefore, a misconfigured or absent DNS server setting on the workstation would not prevent a successful ping to a known public IP address, as no name resolution is required for this specific test.
- ✗
The workstation's IP address is a duplicate.
Why it's wrong here
An IP address conflict occurs when two or more devices on the same network segment are assigned identical IP addresses. This typically results in highly unstable and intermittent network connectivity for one or both devices, often manifesting as connection drops, inability to access resources, or error messages indicating a conflict. The successful and consistent ping to the local gateway suggests that the workstation's IP address is unique and functional on the local segment, ruling out a duplicate IP.
Visual reference
Quick reference
IPv4 Address Class Summary
| Class | First Octet Range | Default Mask | Networks | Hosts per Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1–126 | /8 (255.0.0.0) | 126 | 16,777,214 |
| B | 128–191 | /16 (255.255.0.0) | 16,384 | 65,534 |
| C | 192–223 | /24 (255.255.255.0) | 2,097,152 | 254 |
| D | 224–239 | N/A | Multicast groups | — |
| E | 240–255 | N/A | Reserved / experimental | — |
127.x.x.x is reserved for loopback. Modern networks use CIDR (classless) rather than classful addressing.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Mobile Device Connectivity
Key term
WAN
A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that connects multiple smaller networks, like local area networks, across large geographical distances.
Key term
Ping
Ping is a network utility used to test whether a remote computer or device is reachable across an IP network and to measure the round-trip time of data packets.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.