Is your internet really down?

Is your internet really down?

Internet outages are a pain. This article will help differentiate whether the internet is actually having trouble or whether the issue is device or website independent.
Step 0

Before we begin. Check the lights on your modem. Are ALL of them on? The modem is going to have at least 4 lights constantly lit up and some blinking quickly.

If they are not on, reboot it by unplugging it and waiting about 10 mins. If they don’t come on or they come on and go off or come on and you still don’t have internet, call your ISP and check for an outage in the area. 

Step 1

First thing is first. You think your internet is having trouble. Take a screenshot.

Try loading something like Google.com and running a search. Does anything load? 

If yes, your internet is not down. The issue you had was probably temporary with that site.

If No, Continue.

Step 2

A site you were on wasn’t loading, and you can’t run a google search. 

If you’re on a mobile device, disconnect from wifi and try loading the site again. I can’t count how many times my cell phone glitches and won’t load something. Does it work on your cell signal? If not, it’s likely the website you’re loading. If so, re-connect to wifi and try once more. If it work’s probably a temporary glitch. 

If after the above steps are tried, and you still aren’t able to access the internet, move to step 3. 

Step 3

Okay, so it’s still possible the issue is related to the website or device, but let’s test further. 

Try accessing the same site on another computer. 

Does the site load? If so, Try again on the original device. If it loads on one computer and not another, then the issue is related to the device not the internet.

If the site does not load on multiple computers but other websites such as Google do, then the issue is related to the website itself. 

If the website does not load and a google search does not load, then chances are there is an internet issue. See Step 0. If no outage, See step 4.

Step 4

Looks like it’s time to troubleshoot. Let us know the following.

  1. The website you had trouble with.
  2. The device you were using.
  3. Send us a Screenshot of the affected site
Some issues are unavoidable. There are some internet glitches that are part of tech. Most people never notice them. The best we can do is rule out bad equipment in a process. Occasional internet blips, and individual sites not loading is NORMAL. When using apps like Facebook. Occasional slowness is NORMAL.

 

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