Wifi or internet is acting up

Before you call your internet company, try these. Most of the time you can fix it in 5 minutes.

1. Check if it's just one device or everything

Try the internet on another device — your phone, tablet, or another computer.

• Just one device having trouble? Skip to step 4.
• Nothing in the house works? Keep going with step 2.

2. Restart the modem and router

This fixes the most internet problems by far. Don't skip the wait time.

1. Find your modem (the box from Comcast/Frontier/etc., usually has a coax cable or a phone line into it).
2. Find your router (the box that broadcasts wifi — sometimes it's the same box, sometimes a separate one).
3. Unplug the power cable from both. Just the power — leave other cables alone.
4. Wait 60 seconds. (Set a timer, it's longer than it feels.)
5. Plug the modem back in first. Wait until all the lights stop blinking and look normal (usually 2–3 minutes).
6. Then plug the router back in. Wait another 2 minutes.
7. Try the internet again.

3. Check the lights on the modem

Most modems have lights labeled Power, Internet, WAN, or Online.

• If any of those are red, off, or blinking after a full restart — the problem is with your internet provider, not your equipment. Call them.
• If everything is green or white and steady, the modem is fine.

4. If only one device is having trouble

1. Turn wifi off on the device, wait 10 seconds, turn it back on.
2. Restart the device (full shutdown and turn on).
3. Forget the wifi network and reconnect:
   • Windows: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi → Manage known networks → click your network → Forget. Then reconnect and enter the password.
   • iPhone: Settings → Wi-Fi → tap the (i) next to your network → Forget This Network.
   • Android: Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi → long-press your network → Forget.

5. Slow but not totally down?

Go to fast.com and run a speed test.

• If it's much slower than what you pay for, restart the modem (step 2) and test again.
• If it's still slow, that's worth a call to your internet company — or send us a message and we'll help you figure out who to call.

Still no internet?

If your provider says everything is fine on their end and it still doesn't work, it could be your router. We can take a look.