One of our favorite sites no longer responds or is no longer reachable "> If the DSL lights (which indicates the effective presence of the carrier from the control unit to our home) and the Internet (which shows the correct assignment of IP and DNS for our line) are regularly on, connectivity is still present so the problem is somewhere else.
These lights may be different on each model of modem or router, but it takes very little to understand if there is connectivity or not (we can also refer to the user manual to understand which light indicates connectivity to the network).
If the problem is limited only to the PC in use (other devices on the network open the site), we can also try the path of network ping.
We open the Start menu and look for Command Prompt ; from the black window that will open type the following command:
table
We will see a small test on the transmission of packets on the network.
If the test fails, you will see a result similar to that visible in the image below.
Lost packets are a good indicator of connection problems, but they may still be legal to a problem on our line.
In this case we recommend first of all to restart the modem / router to see if the connection resumes, then to test the connection via a device connected via Ethernet cable (to exclude any type of interference on the home WiFi) and finally as a last resort call the telephone operator so that he can carry out a check on our line to understand why Internet access no longer works.
Sites to verify that a site is down
To obtain irrefutable proof that the problem only concerns the site and not our Internet connection we will have to use specialized ping sites, carrying out the operation just seen but from an external server (so as to have irrefutable proof of the malfunction of the site).
One of the best sites we can use is Down For Everyone or Just Me, reachable from here -> Down For Everyone or Just Me .
This very simple site offers a small field to insert the site (immediately after Is ) and allows you to understand in a few seconds if the site is really down or the problem is to be found elsewhere.
In fact, if the site is fully functional it will show a window similar to the one below.
If instead the site is not accessible to anyone on the Internet, a window like the one shown below will appear.
If we get this last window as an answer, the site is not accessible to anyone in the world, so our connection has nothing to do with it.
The causes can be manifold: from a simple expired and not renewed hosting to real DNS or IP blocks imposed by the authorities in order not to make a site more accessible.
Apart from these serious scenarios, sometimes an unreachable site is simply "victim" of an update of the server or its components, or is experiencing problems with the hosting service (which is very likely).
Other similar services that we can test for feedback on the reachability of a particular site can be found in the following list:
- Is it up
- Site 24x7
Another very practical solution: check social media
To check if a site is down for everyone or only on our connection we discovered one of the most effective methods: see if social networks talk about it !
If the unreachable site is very famous (such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Gmail, Instagram etc.) users will immediately share the news on social networks (at least the functioning ones!).
So a good way to get this type of check is to see if social media talk about it right away, in particular we recommend using the Twitter homepage .
By subscribing to the microblogging service, you can see the most popular messages, with the related hashtags that refer to the unreachable service (#whatsappdown was one of the most used when WhatsApp went out of use for a few hours).
First we open Twitter from the link here -> Twitter .
Let's check the homepage immediately: are we talking about the unreachable site?
If we do not see anything about it, we log in or register using the buttons at the top right of the page ( Sign up and Sign in ).
Once inside the personal page we check the left column, where the most popular hashtags are present or which are receiving a lot of interactions ( Trends for you ).
If among the hashtags we see something related to the site or service that is not working, we can rest assured!
If necessary, we can also click on the hashtag to chase all messages and interactions on the topic, so as to realize since when the site or service is no longer accessible.
