Is my internet down, or is it just me?

Acutis · plain-English network help · updated August 2026

The page will not load, the video buffers forever, and the question is always the same: is the internet actually down, or is something wrong on my side? The answer is knowable in about sixty seconds, without guessing and without restarting everything you own in a random order. The trick is to test from the inside out: this device, then your network, then the line to your provider.

First: is it every device, or just this one?

Grab the nearest other device on the same Wi-Fi, usually your phone, and load any website. Make sure the phone is on Wi-Fi and not quietly falling back to mobile data, or the test lies to you.

The phone loads pages fine: the internet is up. The problem is the first device: its Wi-Fi, its DNS, its VPN, or the machine itself.
Nothing on the network works: the problem is shared. Move on to the router, the modem, and the line.

This one comparison cuts the problem in half, and it is the same first move a network engineer makes.

Read the modem and router lights

The lights are a status report most people never read. Names vary by model, but the pattern holds:

Power should be solid on both boxes.
Internet / WAN / Online on the modem is the one that matters. Solid (usually white or green) means your provider's line is up. Dark, red, or endlessly blinking means the connection to your provider is down, and nothing you do on your devices will change that.
Wi-Fi off on the router means the wireless radio itself is off; wired devices may still work.

A dead internet light on the modem is your answer: the outage is upstream of you.

The two-ping test: your network vs the internet

This is the cleanest way to find the boundary of the failure. Open a terminal (Command Prompt on Windows) and ping your router first, then a public address.

Find your router's address with ipconfig on Windows (the Default Gateway line) or in Wi-Fi settings on a Mac. It is usually something like 192.168.1.1. Then:

ping 192.168.1.1 then ping 1.1.1.1

Both answer: the path to the internet works. If websites still fail, the problem is almost certainly DNS; our free Is it DNS? checker settles that in one click.
Gateway answers, 1.1.1.1 does not: your network is fine and the internet beyond your router is unreachable. That is a modem or provider problem.
Even the gateway does not answer: the problem is between this device and your router: Wi-Fi, cable, or the router itself. Our guide to the default gateway explains what you are testing.

No terminal handy? Our browser ping test measures your latency to the major clouds and shows whether the line is stable at all.

Check whether your provider already knows

Switch your phone to mobile data and look up your ISP's status page, or search the provider's name plus "outage." Most large providers also show known outages in their app, mapped to your address.

If an outage is reported for your area, stop troubleshooting. Nothing you restart will bring it back; the fix is on a truck. If nothing is reported, it is still worth a report from you, and worth the last step below in the meantime.

The power cycle that actually works

Order matters more than people think:

Unplug the modem (and the router, if separate) from power. Wait 30 seconds; that is long enough for the provider's side to notice the session dropped.
Plug the modem back in first. Wait until its internet light goes solid. That can take a few minutes.
Then plug the router back in and let it settle.

If the modem's internet light never goes solid after a clean power cycle, the line or the modem is the fault, and that is a call to your provider with a clear description: "modem power-cycled, online light never comes back."

A clean order to test in

Second device on the same Wi-Fi: does anything load?
Modem's internet light: solid, or dark and red?
Ping the gateway, then 1.1.1.1: where does it stop answering?
On mobile data: does the provider report an outage?
Power-cycle modem first, router second, and watch the internet light.

Stop guessing. Is it the network or your machine?

Half of "the internet is down" turns out to be one slow, struggling computer. Acutis Go runs this exact inside-out check every 60 seconds and tells you plainly which side to fix. Free, no account to try.

Get Acutis Go, free

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my internet is down or just my WiFi?

Test a wired device, or stand next to the router with your phone. If devices near the router work but far ones do not, that is Wi-Fi coverage, not an internet outage. If nothing works even beside the router while the modem's internet light is dark, the line itself is down.

Why does my internet say connected but nothing loads?

"Connected" means you reached your router, not the internet. The usual causes are the line beyond the router being down or DNS failing, where addresses stop resolving even though the connection is alive. The two-ping test above tells you which one you have in about twenty seconds.

How long do internet outages usually last?

Small neighborhood faults are often minutes to a couple of hours; damage to physical lines can take longer. The provider's outage page or app is the honest source, and reporting your address adds pressure and gets you notified when it clears.

Should I restart my router or my modem first?

Modem first, always. The modem owns the connection to your provider, and the router needs that connection to hand out working internet. Power both down, bring the modem up, wait for its online light to go solid, then start the router.