The internet is down OH NOES WHAT DO

[Meganium]

Spoiler:

That dreadful, dreadful feeling when you find out that your internet goes down after browsing just fine. How do you react when that happens? Do you sit by the computer and wait for it to come back up? Or be like the guy in the comic and sit by the modem until it flashes green again? If the downtime lasts longer than it should, what do you do while you wait?

 

[Hiatus]

It could be quite frustrating when internet goes down--especially when you're working on something important. If it ends up happening to me, though, first thing I would most likely do is restart my modem. If this doesn't work, then I'd disconnect all our devices and reconnect them to see what happens. If none of this resolves the issue, then I would call my service provider (which would be Verizon) for assistance. If they're unable to help for some reason, then I'm not sure what I'd do... maybe I would just wait and see if it fixes itself automatically. :b

 

[Astinus]

Whenever my Internet goes down, I unplug everything except for the computer and wait a few seconds. Usually, this resets everything and things return to normal. Sometimes, though, my Internet connection is cut on my computer because I need to update something on the desktop, and that gets annoying.

Yes, I do wait for all the lights to come on before I relax. When the fifth light is flashing, I know everything can proceed as normal again.

If nothing is fixed in a few minutes, I panic. Usually I just leave a note to call my service provider in the morning to fix something on their end.

 

[Hikamaru]

I usually turn my computer off and watch TV, don't worry I often have to deal with this because of how things with my family often get out of hand.

 

[donavannj]

If the internet goes down, I investigate the cause and attempt to fix it. I mean, I was the one who set up the network in our house, so if it's on our end I can fix it.

If I suspect it's on the ISP's end, I'll give it half a day then call if it's still not fixed.

 

[Cordelia]

I reset the modem and wireless router and while it's doing it's thing, I go to my phone and browse the internet using it xD Yeah, total addict I know pahaha

 

[Kikaito plush]

If my internet goes down I ask my husband if the virgin box is down incase it's a problem down their end. if it is then I will write Talli Tales until it is back on.

 

[Decimosoma]

Wait till it fix by itself, which is the usual problem here.

I have many handhelds and consoles to kill the time with it.

 

[GreyVirgo]

I make some random wallpapers and some graphical stuff in Paint.NET.
Then be bored to death then watch The Little Mermaid.

 

[Tsutarja]

Usually what I'll do is I reset/reboot the router in many ways possible to diagnose if it's a problem on my end or Verizon's end, because it's rather rare for me to have internet downtimes not of my fault.. but the last time I had an ISP-faulted outage, I was able to get onto a neighbor's wifi (which they have open) and get online to see an outage map, and it was over my area. Also called the Verizon hotline and they confirmed a service outage as well.

What I do in my free time though if the internet is out is just either play video games or watch TV and relax.

 

[Blade_of_darkness]

Most of the time that it happens, a simple reset of my router will do the trick, if the issue is not on the modem's end.

But... we've just got a new modem, so it should work for at least a year.

 

[Starry Windy]

If my internet goes down, I'd disconnect the internet and reconnect it again to make sure it's fine. But if the problem persists, I'm turning off the internet and waited for hours meanwhile doing something else.

 

[Synerjee]

If my internet suddenly goes down, I do the necessary standard procedures: switching off and on all devices required to provide internet connection such as router, modem, etc. and/or switching off and on the wireless on my gadget/laptop. If none if the above works, I would wait for a while or try to repair the connection as there might be some sort of complications that might be interfering with it. If all else fails, I would report this to my parents and either keep on trying to connect/sit down and mope and stare at my computer screen/go do something else more productive such as reading a book or watching the television until help arrives/the connection decides to work again.

 

[«Chuckles»]

My eyes start to water up and I begin to get angry before destroying everything in my path until I get my internet back

I disconnect my modem before reconnecting it because I'm to lazy to walk out of my room to find the router literally right in front of me. If that doesn't work I do something offline like play video games or eat all the cereal or sleep etc.

 

[Krazzikk]

Of course, I restart the router, and if that doesn't work I reset my computer.
If all else fails, I just wait. My internet goes down at least once every week (at&t makes me cry), so I've downloaded a reserve of YouTube videos to watch for when the internet goes down if I don't feel like playing any offline games, or working on coding projects. There's plenty of other things to do off the computer though. If the internet is down I don't have too much to do and neither does my brother. So we might just plays cards or video games.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

I try to solve the problem first by Windows Problem Solving and then by switching router on and off.
If it doesn't work, I'll just keep playing on PSV/PS3 or watching anime until the internet comes back.
Internet failure is not that critical as it was in the past =D
My nemesis is a power failure =D

 

[twocows]

I hate to one-up all of you (well, all right, that's not true, I actually love it), but I guarantee my problems here are worse than yours.

In the past year and a half, I have been forced to use dial-up for six months and, after that, had a faulty cable in the wall that cut the internet connection out for minutes at a time every few dozen minutes, making gaming impossible.

Also, my graphics card failed yesterday and it took me several hours to pin down that it was the issue before removing it and activating the integrated. That's not really internet-related, but it's limiting in a similar sort of way.

Anyway, depending on how severe whatever situation is, I usually have some backup plans. When I was on dial-up, I still had IRC and could transport things by flash drive, so I would download a single player game or something to my laptop and then take it back home and put it on my desktop. When the internet connection decided to start going out randomly, again, single player games were usually where I turned to. And now that I'm without a graphics card, I'm probably going to be sticking to older or less graphics-intensive games and maybe watching more regular entertainment (e.g., movies, TV shows, etc.), since all of those things can be done on integrated.

In the end, when you start having problems (and it will happen), the best thing to do (aside from fixing the problem, which is sometimes impossible) is find a way to adapt. Sitting there pulling your hair out isn't going to make it better, it's just going to drive you nuts.


As for how I solve connectivity issues, well first, I diagnose where the problem is. If I have no connectivity at all, I check all my hardware (wireless device, router, modem). If that doesn't fix it, I check the logs to make sure it's not anything on my end. If it looks like the problem's coming from outside, it's probably an issue with the provider and I call them up.

If I have any connectivity at all, I'll do a tracert and see where things are failing. Just Friday, my connection was really awful most of the night. I did a tracert to Google and found that the issue was two hops out from my location (packets started dropping there), so I was able to determine that the problem was at one of Comcast's local exchanges and that there was nothing I could do aside from call them and complain. So I played Civ4, which doesn't require internet.

 

[Sheep]

I sit by the computer and refresh pages for a few minutes. If that doesn't work I go downstairs to see if someone accidentally messed with the wires or modem.. and if none of that works I assume it's on the provider's end and do other things. You know, playin' the 3DS or sitting on the massage chair. Because I'm always productive.

@twocows.. eek. That sounds like a pain. :(