Internet Outage Maps and Resources

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An internet outage is one of the scariest things to happen in the current era; probably worse than a zombie apocalypse. Imagine having a project deadline while working from home or looking forward to catching up with your favorite shows over the weekend – and boom! The internet decided to take a vacation…

Do you know what would be nice under such circumstances? Perhaps a quick-access portal to confirm that your internet connection has been cut off due to an outage in your area, and an estimated time for restoration if that’s the case.

Guess what? Internet outage maps and resources do exactly that. I’m going to tell you where to find them, so you can get the necessary information you need and calmly deal with the temporary disconnection.

Understanding Internet Outages

An internet outage is a temporary suspension of internet services (not the same as a power outage). The scale of the outage may vary, i.e., it may affect a few houses on the street, the complete neighborhood, or even an entire state.

Power outage refers to an interruption in electricity supply, and while it doesn’t affect internet service from your provider, it may cut off access. This happens because electricity is required to power the internet modem and router in your home.

Learn How to Use the Internet During a Power Outage

Common Causes of Internet Outages

Natural Disasters – Earthquakes, storms, wildfires, etc., may damage the internet infrastructure.
Cyberattacks – Malicious hackers disrupt internet services to create chaos and gain financial benefits.
Equipment Failure – Back-end servers, routers, or other hardware malfunction due to various issues like power outage, human error, network congestion, etc.
Maintenance & Repairs – Internet providers temporarily pause services to fix, upgrade, improve, or replace parts of the network infrastructure.

Internet Providers with Outage Maps and Resources

When the internet stops working and you’ve tried all the quick DIY fixes, it’s time to assume that an internet outage is at play. The next plausible step would be to contact your provider’s customer support team to verify your suspicion and request a timeline for service restoration.

However, many see calling customer support as a tedious task, which is why several internet providers have taken the initiative to make things easier. Internet outage maps and resources allow efficient verification by eliminating the need to communicate with an actual person.

Customers of the following internet service providers can quickly check for outages with the provided links:

Maintenance & Outages

Outage Information

Best Third-Party Internet Outage Maps

Since not all internet providers offer easily accessible outage maps, you can rely on third-party applications. Here are the top sites that display elaborate data regarding internet outages on a national or global level:

CISCO ThousandEyes

ThousandEyes was founded in 2010 by experts at UCLA, and the goal was to improve digital experiences. The site monitors global internet health and issues updates every five minutes. Apart from pointing out outages, you can also learn about the overall impact on your network.

SOLARWINDS Pingdom

SOLARWINDS Pingdom was created as an internet performance monitoring solution to help websites, apps, and servers maintain an excellent user experience and maximize uptime. This online resource reports all outages occurring worldwide within the last hour.

Catchpoint Internet Sonar

Catchpoint Internet Sonar is a web app that features an interactive map presenting real-time notifications about internet outages around the world. You can hover the mouse icon over different points on a rotating globe to view outage updates within the past 24 hours.

Tips to Get Through an Internet Outage

Once you’ve confirmed that your area is indeed affected by an internet outage and there’s nothing you can do about it, consider alternative methods to stay online in the meantime. Here are a few suggestions to tackle the situation:

Use your mobile data until your home internet connection is restored. You can create a hotspot via smartphone tethering and use your mobile data as Wi-Fi on another device, such as a work laptop.
While your internet provider is conducting a scheduled outage, other internet services are still running. You can ask a friendly neighbor to lend their Wi-Fi password for a while till your internet service is back up.
Public Wi-Fi is another option you can avail in times of need. Visit your nearest mall or go to your favorite café to use their free Wi-Fi hotspot.

FAQs

How do I check for an internet outage in my area?

You can call on your internet provider’s customer support number or look up their outage map to find out if your area is affected by an internet outage.

How long does an internet outage last?

The duration of an internet outage may vary, depending on the cause. Most scheduled outages for maintenance or upgrades do not last more than a few hours. Outages caused as a result of severe damage to the internet infrastructure by natural disasters may last days or even weeks.

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