Find out if a site is down or not working for all users

If a site no longer responds or is unreachable, the fault may be our connection or the site, often leaving us with the doubt of having done something wrong or having typed incorrectly.

To understand whether it is our fault or a generalized problem we can use different methods, ranging from understand if the Internet connection is working correctlyif the site is really down or if other users have the same problem.

In the following guide we will show you all the tricks for understand in total autonomy whether a site is not accessible only to us or to all Internet usersso as to exclude problems with our line, our modem or our device.

READ ALSO -> Open disappeared sites and pages not found (404) from cached copy

1) Check your Internet connection

The Internet connection icon on our PC can indicate a line problem; in these cases we can immediately understand whether there is a data line or not by checking the lights of our modem or router to which the PC is connected.

If LED light Internet (which shows the correct IP and DNS assignment for our line) is regularly turned on, the connectivity is still present so the problem is elsewhere. These lights can be different on each model of modem or router, but it doesn’t take much to understand whether there is connectivity or not (we can also refer to the user manual to understand which light indicates network connectivity).

If the problem is limited only to the PC in use (other devices on the network open the site), we can also try the network ping route. We open the Start menu and search Command Prompt; from the black window that opens, type the following command:

ping google.it

We will see a small test performed on the transmission of packets on the network; The presence of lost packets is a good indicator of connection problems, but could still be related to a problem with our line.

In this case we recommend first of all restarting the modem/router to see if the connection recovers, then testing 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 they can carry out a check on our line to understand why Internet access no longer works.

To learn more we can read our guides on how to solve internet connection and network problems on your PC come on how to understand if the modem router is faulty.

2) Verify that a site or service is unreachable

To obtain irrefutable proof that the problem concerns exclusively the site and not our Internet connection we will have to use sites specialized in ping, carrying out the operation just seen but from an external server (so as to have irrefutable proof that the site is malfunctioning), if possible using a different connection than the one causing the problem (for example using a smartphone with a cellular data connection).

One of the best sites we can use is Down For Everyone o Just Mereachable from here -> Down For Everyone o Just Me. This very simple site offers a small field to enter the site (immediately after Is) and allows you to understand in a few seconds whether the site is really down or the problem can be found elsewhere. If the site is not reachable to anyone on the Internet, a very clear warning window will appear.

Another site we can use to check if a site is unresponsive is Downdetectorwhich collects the real-time reporting of all services and all fixed and mobile line operators in Italy. If we have a problem with the Internet or with a site, just open the dedicated page and check the reports of service interruptions.

Below we have collected the pages reporting interruptions of the main streaming or social services used in Italy:

• Netflix
• DAZN
• Disney+
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WhatsApp
• TikTok

In the following list we have collected the outage reporting pages of fixed and mobile telephone operators:

• TIM
• Vodafone
• WindTre
• Sky Wifi
• Fastweb
• Iliad
• On Mobile
• Very Mobile
• PosteMobile
• Got Mobile
• CoopVoce

A frequency of 50 reports every hour it is a sign that there is some problem with the operator or with the chosen service, while 100 reports per hour or higher indicate obvious problems at a national or international level (the servers are not reachable).

3) Check social media

To check if a site is down for everyone or only on our connection, one of the most effective methods is perhaps social network! If the unreachable site is very famous (such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Gmail, Instagram etc.) users will immediately share the news on functioning social networks.

So a good way to obtain this type of control is to immediately see if social media is talking about it, in particular we recommend use the X homepageonce known as Twitter. By subscribing to the microblogging service you can see the most popular messages, with the related hashtags that refer to the unreachable service (#whatsappdown it was one of the most used when WhatsApp went out of use for a few hours).

Once inside the personal page we check the left column, where the most popular hashtags or those that are receiving a lot of interactions are present (Trends for you). If among the hashtags we see something referring to the site or service that doesn’t work we can calm down, given that the problem is with the service and not with our connection.

If necessary, we can also click on the hashtag to follow all the messages and interactions on the topic, so as to understand how long the site or service has been unreachable.

Conclusions

If a site or service doesn’t work, there can be many causes: from a simple expired hosting, to an overload of the servers or DNS requests, up to DNS or IP blocks imposed by the authorities to no longer make a site accessible.

Apart from these scenarios that are so serious sometimes an unreachable site is simply the “victim” of an update to the server or its componentsor is having problems with the hosting service (which is very likely).

To learn more we can read our guides on like loading a broken link or a site that can’t be reached come on how to solve if the connection is there but the websites do not load and the downloads are stopped.