13 things to do at home when your internet goes down

Home & Business Internet Blog | MATE, Home & Lifestyle Blog | MATE | 26 July 2018

No one enjoys an unplanned internet downtime…

The truth is, internet downtime is a giant hassle no matter what time it occurs, day or night, at work or at the coffee shop, when you’re on a deadline or just hoping to stream some Westworld after a long day.

Today, more people than ever before are pulling up those browser windows and plugging into the worldwide web. According to a recent study of 107,000 respondents, 82% of Australians use the internet to stream, while 68% use it for browsing and email. An additional 36% use it routinely for studying, and 32% for work. Facebook and social media clock in at 61% of users, while 30% spend their time online gaming.

Keep in mind, too, that most of these users overlap in areas – meaning your online behaviours probably span multiple categories and uses, so internet downtime is an extra bummer.

Like anything else, the internet is not a perfect system. It’s had problems in the past, and sometimes it does drop out.

Best to be proactive, right? Let’s look at a few of the things you can do at home during an internet downtime. Some of these ideas are specifically internet-related, while others are geared toward helping you hang onto your sanity while you wait for the new opiate of the masses to return to your life.

1. Reboot the modem
First and foremost, when the internet goes down, try rebooting the modem. Not all downtime is related to your internet company; sometimes your own system just goes on the fritz. If that’s the case, you can find out by turning your modem off and on or pressing the reset button. Double-check any routers and extenders as well. This is the first thing your internet company will ask you to do when troubleshooting, so you might as well get it out of the way.

2. Reboot your computer
Did all that? Cool. Now try rebooting your computer. Sometimes it’s as easy as restarting your machine, which allows it to reset the WiFi, browsers and so on.

3. Try a different wifi signal
If that doesn’t work, try a different WiFi signal. Maybe the signal from your extender or a neighbour you know.

If none of that works, it’s time to give up for a while. When you call your internet company, they will walk through the above steps with you. While they may have some other suggestions, in many cases they will advise you to wait while they try to fix an outage or for your systems to reset.

If you can afford to, save yourself the phone call right now and use that downtime to better effect.

4. Do your offline work
Need to work? There’s probably a lot you can do without the internet. We’re used to hanging out online, so at first, it might seem as though we’re out to dry, but you can almost always find useful work without the web. Try it.

5. Draft emails
You can also draft email without the internet. If you use Outlook or another application on your computer, go in and draft emails there. If your email is fully online, like Gmail, just put your thoughts in Word docs.

6. Spend time with the kids
This could be the perfect opportunity you’ve been looking for to spend time with your little ones! Go to the park or pull out a puzzle. You deserve it.

7. Prep dinner
It’s possible you’re going to need your time back later if you need the internet to work, so go ahead and get some other chores out of the way. That way, when it comes back, you’ll have time.

8. Meditate
Going crazy? Missing a work deadline? Can’t get in touch with someone who matters, but don’t want to pull out all the stops yet? Close your eyes and take deep breaths for 5 minutes. You might be surprised by the awesome effects!

9. Take a shower
Here’s another tactic for keeping sane when you can’t get the internet back up. Showers relax you and jumpstart your creative thinking, so you might be able to come up with other solutions.

10. Take a walk
Ditto walking, which frees your brain from stress through physical activity. Even if you don’t come up with the perfect solution, you’ll get some endorphins going and dissipate that stress.

11. Call your internet company
Now that you’ve tried everything you can think of and give it time, you can safely call your internet provider. The initial crush of desperados has probably lessened, and you have lots of information to give them now. Way to wait it out and take the smart route! At MATE we’re Aussie based and so are all of our customer service reps, so call us any time you need to!

12. Use your phone
If you truly need the internet and the call does nothing, you can always use your phone. Make sure, however, that you have a data plan to support this use. There’s nothing worse than seeing a bill 3 weeks later and realising you massively overstepped your plan and now owe a boatload of dollars. If you really need internet, consider going to a coffee shop instead.

13. Freak out
Oh wait … no. That’s not one of the options. If you want to stay sane (and doesn’t everyone?), you’re better off finding an alternative to fill in time when your internet is down. Plus, you should have the option of connectivity that doesn’t come, well, connected to a lot of extra strings – like locked-in contracts, fees for changes and poor customer service.
MATE is here for you.

If you’d like to learn more about who we are and how we can help you with work, play, and Westworld, we invite you to get in touch with us at any time. Can’t wait to be mates!