Tell Wi-Fi from the internet
Which of the two has failed, which is most of fixing it.
Wi-Fi is the short hop from your device to the box in your hallway. The internet is everything beyond it. They fail separately.
So a phone can show full bars and open nothing: the hallway is fine, the front door is shut.
Key points
- Wi-Fi is your device to the box in the hall; the internet is everything past it
- “Connected, no internet” means your half is fine and theirs is not
What to remember
- Full bars and no pages means the fault is past your house, and waiting is a real repair.
- Connected means your half worked. No internet means the other half did not.
Try this
Next time nothing loads, look at the Wi-Fi symbol before touching anything. Full bars means the fault is not in your house — wait ten minutes rather than change a setting.
Practice: Tell Wi-Fi from the internet. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.