Why the question matters
There are two very different reasons a site might not load. Either the site itself has a problem, and no one can reach it until its operators fix it, or the site is fine and something on your side of the connection is failing. The second case is far more common, and it is the only one you can fix. Working out which case you are in first saves you from restarting routers during a real outage, and from waiting patiently for a site that was never down.
The five-minute routine
- Run an outside check
Enter the address in the website status checker on the homepage. The request comes from a server outside your home or office, so the result is independent of your connection. If it fails, the problem is not yours.
- Read the verdict, not just the colour
“Reachable” means the site answered normally. “Automated checks blocked” means the site filters bots and says nothing about people. “Unreachable” and “slow” point to a real problem.
- Try a second network
Switch your phone from Wi-Fi to mobile data and open the site. If it loads there, your home or office network is the cause.
- Open a private window
Private and incognito windows start without cookies, cache or most extensions. A site that loads there and not in a normal window has a browser-side problem.
- Flush the DNS cache
If the site moved to a new server recently, your device may still remember the old address. The DNS guide shows how to clear it on every system.
- Restart the router last
Only when the outside check passes and every device on your network fails is a router restart worth it.
Reading the combination of results
| Outside check | Mobile data | Private window | Where the problem is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fails | Fails | Fails | The site itself |
| Passes | Works | Fails in normal window only | Browser cache, cookies or an extension |
| Passes | Works | Fails on Wi-Fi | Home or office network, router or provider |
| Passes | Fails | Fails | Possibly a regional or provider-level block |
| Blocked | Works | Works | The site filters automated checks; it is fine |
Partial outages
Large services rarely fail completely. More often one feature breaks: logins, payments, uploads, search or video playback. In that case the main page can load normally while the part you need does not, and an outside check of the homepage will show the site as reachable. If one feature fails for you while the main page works, check the company’s official status page, which usually lists feature-level incidents, and try the same action again after a few minutes.
Regional problems
A site can also work in one country and fail in another. Routing problems between large networks, regional data centre failures and local blocks all produce that pattern. A single check from one location cannot rule them out, which is why the routine includes a second network: if mobile data and Wi-Fi go through different providers and both fail while the outside check passes, a regional issue becomes likely.
When one cloud provider takes many sites with it
Sometimes everything seems to be down at once. Many apps rent their servers from the same few cloud and network companies, and a fault there spreads widely. On October 20, 2025, a DNS failure in Amazon Web Services’ US-EAST-1 region in northern Virginia disrupted a long list of apps for hours, Slack among them, along with games, banks and messaging services. Less than a month later, on November 18, 2025, a Cloudflare outage put error pages in front of many sites that use its network.
In those cases the checker shows several unrelated sites failing in the same way, often with similar server errors. That pattern is the giveaway. Nothing on your side will help, and the cloud provider’s own status page usually says more than the individual sites do. A workplace tool like Slack also posts the cause on its status site once it is known.
Recovery is uneven. Apps come back one by one rather than in the same minute, so a site still failing an hour after the provider reports a fix may simply be slower to restart its own systems.
When to stop troubleshooting
Once the outside check fails, stop. Reinstalling apps, clearing caches and restarting routers will not help, and repeating a payment or form can create duplicates once the site comes back. Note the time, check again in a few minutes and follow the company’s official updates. When the check turns reachable again and the site still fails for you, return to step three.
Questions
What is the quickest way to tell if a site is down for everyone?
Check it from outside your own connection. The checker on the homepage sends a request from a server in a data centre, so your router, provider and browser are not involved. If that check fails too, the site has a real problem.
Why does a site work for my friend but not for me?
Your friend uses a different network, device and browser. Any one of those can be the difference: a provider routing problem, an old DNS entry on your device, a browser extension or a block on your network.
Can my internet provider block a single website?
Yes. Providers block sites because of court orders, parental controls or security filters, and some networks at schools or offices block whole categories. Mobile data or a different provider is the fastest way to compare.
Is a site down if it loads but looks broken?
Not necessarily. Missing styles, images or buttons often come from a browser extension, an outdated cache or a blocked content server. Try a private window before assuming an outage.
What if the site is down for everyone?
There is nothing to fix on your side. Check again after a few minutes, look at the company's official status page or support account, and avoid repeating payments or form submissions until it works again.
Do I need to restart my router every time?
No. Restart it only after the outside check shows the site as reachable and a second device on the same network fails too. Restarting during a real outage elsewhere changes nothing.