The internet has so much more to offer than just dirty films, even if that was said more than 15 years ago in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Avenue Q”. In times of the Corona crisis, it is vital for many people to survive. The network makes home office possible in many professions, groceries are ordered directly at the front door and the necessary entertainment in self-insulation is also provided. But what to do if the line is paralyzed or nothing works?
First of all, users should check whether the problem is perhaps in their own household. Three questions can be answered quickly: Does the wired PC only have no network, or is there no WiFi for smartphones, tablets and laptops? Are all cables plugged into the router and the computer – or has one perhaps come loose? Is there a flashing light on the router that is otherwise not on, or has a normally shining light gone out?
In the event of household malfunctions, it is often sufficient to restart the router and wait a few minutes for the device to start up and connect again. A restart of the end device – PC, console and Co. – is sometimes sufficient. A look at the settings of the router can also help. Inexperienced users should not play around unnecessarily here.
If the connection is paralyzed, a speed test should be carried out first. On sites like “speedmeter.de” , consumers can see how fast their own connection is. Does the provider deliver the promised speed, or do the values for upload and download come together significantly lower? If the displayed values are within the range, the problem is probably not with the provider.
Is everything okay, only Netflix is not working or the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live are bumbling? Then the probability is very high that there is no problem with your own provider or in the household. Because the servers of individual providers can also break.
It is worth taking a look at sites such as “downdetector.com” and the German offshoot “allestault.de” . Customers can report there whether they have problems with their provider or with individual services. If the curve of fault reports has risen sharply in the past few hours, it is likely that there is currently a major fault. Users can also check this in part on the providers’ own pages or in social media. For example, many large companies have their own accounts on Twitter, which they use to answer inquiries or provide information about general disruptions.
If nothing can be found there, contacting the service provider should help. Providers such as Telekom, O2 or Vodafone have customer hotlines or offer contact options via email and the like to be able to report malfunctions. In an emergency, customers have to look up the corresponding number with their smartphone – or extract the documents that the provider sent after the contract was signed. The corresponding hotline is usually noted there as well.
If you want to be on the safe side and at least do not want to do without entertainment during a malfunction, you should make provisions for an emergency. Podcasts, audio books, music and films can also be downloaded directly to end devices from many streaming providers. Even YouTube videos can be officially downloaded – but you have to be a YouTube Premium customer.
(wue / spot)
