How to Check if Internet is Down in Your Area?

There's a website called Down Detector, which provides real-time monitoring of Internet issues and network outages in your area. It lets us know if there are any services that are down in the area or any services that are not available online.

For example, if your kids jump onto Xbox Live or whatever it might be, you can jump on that website. It will tell you if Netflix is down in the area or down globally or whatever the catchment area is of how far that spread goes. It also shows different providers. Maybe Telstra is down or maybe Optus is down. You can click on it and select your area. You can view a map and see whether it's just you and no one else is having Internet issues or there's a huge spike in the number of people that are reporting the same problem with that telco.

Down Detector is a handy website to be able to work out what's going on, and whether or not there are Internet issues in the area. It will help you make sure that you didn't just have too many winos the night before that resulted in you accidentally kicking the cord out of the router or unplugging something by accident.

It gives you a bit more insight into the Internet issues before you jump on the blower and drop some dosh on an IT guy or some other service that you might have to pay for to bring it up and running. You don't want to be on the phone talking to those people on hold for a long time and finding out that it's just your cord—not a network outage in the area—and you feel like an idiot.

Instead, go to Down Detector and you'll at least know if it's just your Internet connection having issues or if it's a bigger fault that you probably can't do anything about. It's still good to report it.

Use Your Phone to Check Network Outages in Your Area:

You might be wondering, 'But Josh, my Internet is down. How do I go to the website?'

Very good question. I'm glad you asked. And the answer to that is hopefully if your mobile phone's down, you still have an Internet connection that you can use: at home, your landline, or your partner's phone. If you're experiencing Internet issues—your landline Internet connection, your NVN or ADSL service, is down—hopefully, you can jump on your phone. If not, think outside the box. Take a 50/50, phone a friend, and see what they say when they go to the website and look up your area.

The Final Word 

During the storm season in southeast Queensland, we experience more Internet issues and network outages in the area. Down Detector is an invaluable tool for you guys to jump on and check out.

If you're having constant problems with your business internet service plan, talk to a dork. We can help!