What To Do When You Are Working From Home and Your Internet Goes Down
Chances are that you, someone in your home, or at least someone you know has transitioned to working from home since the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic. Many businesses and organizations have moved everyone they can to a work-from-home or hybrid position, only having them in the building when needed. Many businesses have seen big savings by this transition due to lower overhead and plan to keep employees remote.
Working from home comes with its own set of challenges, from kids and pets to technical issues. You tend to have a bit more technical support when working in the office as opposed to working from home.
Say that you are in the middle of a virtual meeting or working on an important project when all of sudden you lose connection and your home internet is down. What do you do now?
Check to make sure your connection is actually down
When a website, work network, or more is not loading quickly, the particular website may be inundated by traffic, causing subpar performance. Check a few other websites to see if they load faster or if your connection is truly weak or down.
Check your other devices
These days, many of our devices are connected to the internet. Check your phone and tablet to see if they are still connected to the internet. If they are, it may be your computer. Try restarting your computer to see if that solves the connection issue.
The unplug and replug dance
If your other devices aren’t connected either, try to reboot your router. Unplug your router and leave it unplugged for a few minutes. After the router has been without power for a few minutes, plug it back in and let it boot up. After the router is back up and running, check to see if you are connected to the internet.
Try to hard connect
By a hard connect, we simply mean running an ethernet cable from your router to your computer. See if the hard connect performs better for you.
Contact your service provider
We know this may be a time-consuming endeavor. However, if nothing seems to be working, give the service provider a call. They may walk you through various steps to solve the connection issue or let you know if their service is down and when to expect it to be resolved.
Turn your smartphone into a WiFi hotspot
The quickest way to get back up and running is to turn your smartphone into a WiFi hotspot. To do this may vary from phone to phone, but generally, Android smartphones have it set up something like this:
Connections > Mobile Hotspot and Tethering > Mobile Hotspot
Once you have turned your smartphone into a hotspot, you should see a network name and password displayed on the setting screen. Use the given password to connect to the hotspot network, and your temporary solution is good to go.
Consider a dedicated WiFi hotspot
These days, much business is done on the go. A dedicated hotspot not only helps when the internet goes down but also if you’re working from a different remote location. Not all WiFi connections are safe and reliable. A dedicated WiFi hotspot will keep you from logging onto “Guest” WiFi connections.
A dedicated hotspot is more powerful of a connection compared to your phone and offers a more reliable internet connection. Another bonus is that it does not drain the battery of your phone or use its data. You are also able to connect more devices to it as opposed to your phone.
In conclusion, it is frustrating when we cannot connect to the internet. It may be holding up or preventing you from completing something important to your business. While there may be several reasons you’re having connection issues, the above should solve or at least temporarily solve the issue. If you’re still experiencing connection issues, you may try replacing your router, lowering your household’s internet usage, and if you have options, switching your internet service provider.