People sometimes lose their home Internet connections. If this ever happens to you, there’s a chance that you might fix the problem in five minutes or less.
The next time your connection fails, try the following steps. Keep going through the list until one provides results:
- Check for lights on your modem. If the modem’s lights are off or it shows fewer lights than normal, turn off your modem, wait ten seconds, turn it on again and try your connection after a minute.
- Check the wires connected to the modem. (This step is especially important if you own inquisitive cats.)
- If you share your connection through a router, perform the same light and cable checks and reset on said router.
- Check any wired Internet connections to your computer.
- Run the network diagnostic tools on your computer. You can find these in Windows Control Panel or Mac Preferences, usually in something called Network.
- Still not working? Call your ISP. If there’s a service outage in your area, the ISP may have created a voice mail message to alert callers. If not, a service representative can help you.
This process won’t help you fix every foreseeable problem with your Internet connection. That said, the process will help you deal with the simpler causes of outages.
Have any other quick tips for troubleshooting Internet connections? Add them to the comments below.