When you cannot access your favorite website, it's easy to assume the site itself is offline. However, the problem often lies closer to home: a routing issue or outage with your Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISPs manage complex networks, and fiber cuts, server crashes, or configuration failures can disrupt connectivity to parts of the web.

In this guide, we will show you how to diagnose whether an outage is localized to your ISP and how to pinpoint routing faults.

1. Check Uptime status of Your ISP

If your entire internet connection is completely down, check if your ISP is experiencing a widespread regional outage:

  • Use your mobile data network (cellular) to visit outage status aggregates like Downdetector.
  • Check your ISP's official customer portal, Twitter/X support handle, or network status dashboard.
  • Look at your router's physical indicator lights. A blinking red or orange internet light indicates a fiber or cable signal loss from your provider.

2. Test Local Routing Using "Ping"

The Ping tool sends small test packets of data to a target IP or domain to measure response latency and packet loss. Testing both an IP address and a domain helps isolate DNS failures.

How to Run a Ping Test:

  1. Open command-prompt (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux).
  2. Run a ping to a public IP (like Google DNS) to check raw connectivity: 
    ping 8.8.8.8
  3. Run a ping to the domain name: 
    ping google.com

Diagnosis: If pinging 8.8.8.8 succeeds but pinging google.com fails, your ISP's DNS servers are down. Refer to our DNS Troubleshooting guide to switch to public DNS resolvers. If both fail, your connection is completely down.

3. Map the Routing Path Using "Traceroute"

If you can access some websites but others fail to load, your ISP is likely experiencing a routing bottleneck. You can map every network hop between your computer and the destination using the Traceroute utility.

How to Run a Traceroute:

  • Windows: tracert example.com
  • macOS/Linux: traceroute example.com

Traceroute lists each server (hop) your request travels through, along with transit latency. If the request suddenly halts and displays asterisks (* * *) repeatedly or exhibits massive latency spikes at a specific ISP hop, it indicates a network failure within your provider's routing grid.

4. Quick Fixes for ISP Routing Hangups

If traceroute reveals a bottleneck within your ISP's network, here is how you can bypass it:

  1. Restart Your Modem/Router: This forces your device to lease a new IP address and establish a fresh connection route with the local ISP gate.
  2. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN): A VPN encrypts your traffic and routes it through a separate gateway server, entirely bypassing your ISP's broken routing path.
  3. Switch to Mobile Hotspot: Share your mobile data connection (from a different provider) with your computer to verify if the site loads. If it does, the ISP is definitely at fault.