Internet is down? Restart the router

When the internet stops working at home, you can almost always fix it yourself in a few minutes — usually just by restarting the equipment. Work through this in order; the first step that helps is the one you needed.

First: is it just one device?

Before restarting anything, check whether it’s only your device:

1. Try another device — does the internet work on a different phone, tablet, or the TV? If yes, the problem is just your one device.
2. If it’s just yours: turn that device’s Wi-Fi off and back on (or toggle airplane mode for five seconds), or restart the device.
3. Still only that one device? Make sure it’s on the right network — see Connecting to home Wi-Fi.

If everything is offline, restart the router (next).

The fix that works most of the time: restart the box

This is called a “power cycle.” It fixes the large majority of home internet problems.

1. Find the internet equipment. It’s the box (or boxes) with blinking lights — [the box in the ___ — e.g. the office closet / living room shelf]. There may be one box (a combo unit) or two (a modem and a router).
2. Unplug the power from the back of the box (or boxes). If there are two, unplug both.
3. Wait 30 seconds. (This part matters — count it out.)
4. Plug the modem back in first (the one the internet cable from the wall goes into) and wait about 2 minutes for its lights to settle.
5. Then plug the router back in and wait another 2 minutes. (If it’s a single combo box, just plug that one back in and wait.)
6. Test it — try a website or a video on any device.

Note

Give it the full couple of minutes after plugging back in. The lights blink and change color while it’s starting up; that’s normal. It’s ready when they’re solid (usually white, green, or blue depending on the brand).

Caution

Don’t press any Reset button with a pin, and don’t hold a button down. That factory-resets the equipment and wipes the Wi-Fi setup, which makes things worse. Unplugging the power is all you need.

Is it an outage, not your equipment?

If the restart didn’t help:

• Check your phone on cellular (turn Wi-Fi off on the phone). If websites work on cellular but nothing works on home Wi-Fi, it’s likely the equipment or the provider.
• A provider outage can knock out the whole neighborhood — nothing you do at home will fix that; it comes back on its own. You can check the provider’s app or status page from your cellular connection.

Still down after all that?

1. You restarted the box and waited the full few minutes.
2. You checked that it’s not just one device.
3. Cellular works but home Wi-Fi still doesn’t.

Text Stephen and tell him what the lights on the box are doing (solid? blinking? a red light?) — that tells him a lot, fast.