Is it down, or is it just me?
Telling a real outage from a local problem: Wi-Fi versus mobile data, browser profiles, blocked networks, VPNs, and the failures that hit some users and not others.
Why a website works on mobile data but not Wi-Fi
If a site loads on mobile data but fails on Wi-Fi, the site is up and the fault is on your network path. The seven causes, in the order worth testing.
Why a site works in Incognito but not your normal browser
Incognito differs from your normal profile in four specific ways. Knowing which one is responsible turns a mysterious failure into a thirty-second fix.
Blocked at school, work, or on public Wi-Fi: outage or network policy?
A blocked site and a down site fail differently. How to read the failure mode and tell an administrative block from a real outage in under a minute.
How to tell whether an outage is regional
Regional outages are common and rarely announced. What causes them, what evidence actually distinguishes one from a global failure, and the limits of any single vantage point.
Site outage, login outage, app outage: telling them apart
A status check says the site is up while you cannot sign in or the mobile app is dead. These are three different systems, and each fails in its own way.
The site loads, but checkout, login, images or the API are broken
Partial outages are the most common kind and the least likely to be detected. Why a homepage check misses them, and what to check instead.
Why a site works for some people and not others
Discord loads for your friend and not for you, and neither of you is wrong. Seven reasons a service can be genuinely up and down at the same time.
VPN troubleshooting: when a VPN fixes an outage and when it causes one
A VPN is the fastest way to test for a regional block and a common cause of failures people blame on the site. How to tell which is happening.