We are using the internet extensively these days due to our work from home and online schooling situation. When you are depending on your internet connection for all the work that you have to do, an outage seems like a nightmare. Internet outage usually occurs due to many reasons that can be technical issue or due to natural disasters.
Though we don’t face internet outages usually, it is inevitable. As a user, you can report an outage or find out why it occurred; for instance, if you use Spectrum internet, you will report the outage issue to one of the spectrum customer service representatives and ask them why. The good part is that almost all of the top ISP’s in the US provide 24/7 assistance to their customers, so you can reach out to them whenever you face an outage and it gets beyond your control. On the contrary, you might not need to report it if you resolve this issue within minutes on your own, provided that you understand the reason behind it.
There can be several reasons why an outage occurs, and what should we do in such a situation? We are presenting you with reasons why an outage occurs and what you can do to counter it.
Reasons for an internet outage
As mentioned earlier, outages are inevitable. There can be different reasons for an internet outage; we mention some most common reasons for an internet outage.
- Network congestion issue
- Hardware issues at the backend
- Equipment issue
- Weather conditions
- Electrical power surge
Network congestion issue
One of the most common reasons for an internet outage is network congestion. When the number of people who are using the same kind of network increases, it can cause the internet connection to work much slower, and at times it simply stops working due to the increased load. The congestion issue occurs mostly in colleges and university dorms where students are using the same network.
Hardware issues at the backend
At times there are technical issues; it can occur due to some cable blockage or modem issues at the ISP’s end. These issues get resolved by the technical teams of your internet service provider. The technical glitches occur occasionally, and it gets resolved quickly.
Equipment issue
When you are using an internet connection, you are free to either rent an internet modem along with a router so you can get the Wi-Fi signals, or you can buy your router and modem. Some users prefer to buy their equipment, so they do not have to pay the monthly charges in equipment rental. You can buy your equipment, but it has to be compatible with your internet service provider’s connection. If your equipment is not compatible, your internet will not work, and as a result, you will have no internet connection.
Weather conditions
We have no control over nature. Natural disasters such as storms can occur at any time. When heavy storms occur, it can cause issues in the wires that can cause an internet outage. The internet outages that occur because of poor weather conditions normally affect the internet connection of an entire neighbourhood.
Electrical power surge
Sometimes due to an electrical power surge, the underground wires can malfunction, which can cause an internet outage. This is not a common reason, but it cannot be foreseen.
Suggested solutions when an outage occurs
There are a few simple suggestions that you can use when you face an outage issue, but one essential thing is ‘patience’. Don’t lose your patience if an issue occurs because when you panic, you fail to think about finding a solution to that problem.
- Reboot your equipment
- Restart your devices
- Report to the customer service department
Reboot your equipment
When you face issues with your internet signals or the connection, you need to see if the light on your modem is blinking or not. If the light is static, then you should reboot your equipment. Turn off your equipment and restart it; it will refresh your modem and your router. Most of the time, this simple trick can help out of such situations.
Restart your devices
There is a possibility that your computer or laptop needs to be refreshed, and for that, you can restart your computer, mobile phone, or tablets. Once you refresh your device, if there is an issue caused by it, it will get removed.
Report to the customer service department
If nothing works, you may report an outage to the customer service department of your ISP and ask them to resolve it as soon as possible.
Wrapping it up
No matter how much we hate it as users, internet outages can still occur. Some situations are beyond the control of anyone, such as natural disasters. As a user, you don’t need to get stressed over an internet outage because it can get resolved, but it can take the same time. You can avoid such situations if you are an active user and you know how to make sure that nothing is wrong on your part; if you can fix that, you will hardly face an internet outage.