The internet is down — the five-minute triage checklist

“The internet is down” turns out to be four different problems wearing the same coat. This checklist tells them apart quickly, and the answer changes what you should do next.

Run the Connection Check tool first — it takes a few seconds and gathers most of what we would ask you anyway.

Step 1: Is it just you?

Ask the person nearest you whether their internet is working.

• Working for them, not you — the problem is your computer or your connection to the network. Go to Step 2.
• Nobody has internet — go to Step 4.
• Only wireless users affected, wired ones fine — go to Step 3.

This single question saves more time than anything else on this page. It decides whether you are fixing a laptop or reporting an outage.

Step 2: Just your computer

1. Check the network icon by the clock. A globe means no internet. A small warning triangle means connected but not working.
2. Try a different site. If one site fails and others work, that site is down or blocked — not your connection. A block page from DNSFilter means the category is restricted, which is a policy question, not a fault.
3. Check the cable if you are wired. Both ends. Look for a green light at the wall socket and at the computer. Try a different port on the wall plate if there is one.
4. Turn Wi-Fi off and on from the network icon, then reconnect.
5. Restart the computer. This resolves a surprising proportion of single-machine network faults.
6. Try another device on the same connection. Your phone on the office Wi-Fi is a good control — if the phone works, the fault is definitely the computer.

Step 3: Wireless only

1. Check you are on the right network. Guest and staff networks look similar and behave very differently. Guest networks often block printers, shared drives, and VPN by design.
2. Move closer to an access point. Concrete walls, lift shafts, and metal shelving are effective radio blockers. See Wi-Fi is weak or keeps dropping for the fuller version.
3. Forget the network and rejoin. Click the network icon, right-click the network, choose Forget, then reconnect and re-enter the password.
4. Check whether wired users are fine. If they are, the problem is the wireless system rather than the internet connection, and that is worth telling us — it is a different fix.

Step 4: Nobody has internet

Before rebooting anything, check the obvious externals:

• Is the power on to the cabinet, switch, or comms room? A tripped breaker or an unplugged strip looks exactly like an internet outage.
• Has anything changed? Building work, an electrician on site, a cleaner who unplugged something overnight, a delivery that moved furniture near the cabinet.
• Are the lights on the router or modem normal? Most have a status light that is solid green when healthy, and red or flashing when not. Take a photo of the lights — that photo is genuinely useful to us.
• Check your provider’s status page or app from your phone on mobile data. A confirmed regional outage saves everyone an hour.

Then call us at 440-991-9980 rather than power-cycling equipment. We can usually see the site remotely and tell you within a minute whether it is the circuit, the firewall, or something inside the building. Rebooting a firewall at the wrong moment can turn a five-minute problem into an hour, and it also wipes the evidence of what went wrong.

If you cannot reach us and need to try something, power-cycling the modem — the box the provider’s cable enters — is the safest single action: unplug it, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in, and allow a full three minutes before judging the result.

What still works during an outage

Worth knowing so nobody panics:

• Your GoTo Connect desk phone will be down, since it runs over the internet. Use the GoTo mobile app on cellular data to keep taking calls — this is exactly the scenario it exists for.
• Email is not lost. Messages queue at Microsoft’s end and deliver when the connection returns.
• Files marked Always keep on this device in OneDrive are still editable offline and will sync later.
• Your mobile phone’s hotspot will get one or two people working, but do not expect a whole office on it.

What to tell us when you call

• Whether it affects one person, one area, or everyone.
• Wired, wireless, or both.
• What the router or firewall lights look like.
• When it started, and what changed around then.
• Whether the Connection Check tool loads at all — even that failing is a useful data point.

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Down and stuck? Call 440-991-9980 or email [email protected] — though if the internet is genuinely out, the phone is the only one of those that will reach us. If your desk phone is dead too, use a mobile.