If every device in your home is connected to Wi-Fi but none of them has internet access, stop troubleshooting the individual computer or phone. When laptops, phones, tablets and TVs all fail at the same time, the problem is much more likely to be somewhere they all share: the modem/router, home network, NBN connection or internet service.
The important distinction is that your Wi-Fi network can continue working even when its connection to the internet has stopped.
Devices -> Wi-Fi -> Router -> NBN / ISP -> Internet
If several different devices can reach the router but none can get beyond it, the useful troubleshooting moves outward toward the shared part of that path.
If you cannot establish whether the fault is with your equipment or the internet service, PcRiot provides Wi-Fi and internet help in Perth to diagnose the local network and determine when the ISP needs to take over.
All devices failing is an important diagnostic clue
One computer losing internet access can be caused by that computer’s Wi-Fi adapter, saved network profile, DNS settings, VPN, Windows configuration or other device-specific problems.
It becomes much less likely that several unrelated devices would all develop those faults at exactly the same time.
If your laptop, phone and television all lose internet access together, concentrate first on the equipment and connection they have in common.
- π‘ Modem/router: it may still be broadcasting Wi-Fi while its external internet connection has failed.
- π WAN connection: the router may no longer have a usable connection toward your ISP.
- π NBN equipment or cabling: a separate connection device, power supply or cable may have lost its normal link.
- π’ Internet provider: an outage, account problem or service provisioning fault can affect the whole house at once.
- π Router-wide DNS: a DNS failure supplied through the router or ISP can make many devices appear to have no internet.
- βοΈ Router failure: part of the modem/router can fail even while its Wi-Fi radio continues working normally.
The fact that Wi-Fi still appears on the devices does not rule any of these out.
First confirm that every device really is offline
Before changing anything, confirm that the problem genuinely affects the whole network.
Test at least two different devices through the same home Wi-Fi. A phone and a computer are a useful combination because they use different operating systems and network hardware.
- π± Turn off mobile data temporarily: otherwise a phone may silently switch to 4G or 5G and make the Wi-Fi appear to be working.
- π» Try another computer or tablet: check whether a completely different device can open several websites.
- πΊ Check an internet-connected TV or streaming device: if it has also stopped reaching online services, that strengthens the whole-network diagnosis.
- π Check Ethernet if available: if a wired computer also has no internet, the problem is less likely to be the Wi-Fi radio itself.
If one of those devices does work normally, the diagnosis changes. You no longer have a true all-device failure and should investigate why only particular devices are affected.
Wi-Fi can work perfectly while the internet is down
A modem or router performs more than one job. It can create the wireless network inside your home while also maintaining a separate connection toward your internet provider.
Those functions can fail independently.
This part can remain completely healthy:
Phone / Laptop / TV -> Wi-Fi -> Router
while this part is broken:
Router -> NBN / ISP -> Internet
That is why you may still see your normal Wi-Fi name, full signal bars and a successful connection on every device even when nothing online will load.
Moving closer to the router or repeatedly reconnecting devices will not repair a failed WAN or NBN connection when the local Wi-Fi link is already working.
Check what the modem or router is telling you
Look at the modem/router before changing its settings. The exact lights and labels vary between manufacturers and internet providers, but you are looking for anything that differs from its normal state.
- π‘ Internet or WAN light: an unusual colour, flashing pattern or missing light may indicate that the router has lost its external connection.
- πΆ Wi-Fi light: this may remain normal even when the internet connection is down, so do not use it as proof that the service is working.
- π΄ Warning or connection indicator: some ISP-supplied modems display a warning state when their broadband connection disappears.
- π Repeated reconnecting: a modem that continually cycles through connection states may be trying and failing to establish service.
If you know how the equipment normally looks when everything is working, a changed status light can be one of the quickest clues to where the connection has failed.
Check the NBN equipment and the cable to the router
Depending on your NBN connection type, your service may use separate NBN equipment before it reaches the modem/router, or the connection may go directly into the modem/router.
Where separate equipment is installed, the basic path may look like:
NBN connection device -> Ethernet cable -> Router WAN port -> Home devices
A problem anywhere along that shared path can take the whole household offline while leaving Wi-Fi running.
- π Power: confirm the NBN equipment and router are powered normally.
- 𧡠Cabling: check that the cable between the NBN equipment and router has not become loose or damaged.
- βοΈ Correct port: confirm the external connection is still plugged into the router’s correct WAN or internet port rather than a different socket.
- π‘ NBN status: look for a changed or abnormal connection indication on any separate NBN device.
Do not press recessed reset buttons while performing these checks. A reset is very different from simply restarting the equipment.
One controlled restart is reasonable
If the cables and status lights do not reveal an obvious fault, restarting the modem/router once is a sensible low-risk test.
Use the normal power switch or disconnect its power briefly, then allow the equipment enough time to start completely and re-establish its external connection before testing again.
If there is separate NBN equipment and it appears to be part of the failure, it may also be appropriate to power-cycle that equipment rather than reset it to factory defaults.
What matters is the result:
- β Internet returns and stays working: the modem/router or connection may simply have been stuck temporarily.
- π Internet returns but fails again: an intermittent router, WAN or NBN problem deserves further diagnosis rather than repeated restarting.
- β Nothing changes: repeatedly restarting the same equipment is unlikely to reveal much more. The next step is to determine whether the failure is local or upstream.
If you have already restarted the modem or router and still have no internet, that failed restart is useful information. It means the problem needs to be narrowed further instead of simply repeating the universal first troubleshooting step.
Check whether your internet provider has an outage
Use mobile data on your phone to check your internet provider’s service-status information if possible.
A confirmed outage affecting your service can explain why every device in the home suddenly went offline at the same time.
Provider-side causes can include:
- π’ A reported service outage in your area.
- ποΈ An NBN or carrier infrastructure fault.
- π An authentication or service provisioning problem.
- π€ An account or service-status issue affecting your connection.
If the provider confirms an upstream fault, repeatedly changing settings inside the home will not repair it.
However, an outage page showing no known problem does not prove your modem/router or NBN connection is healthy. Individual service faults and local equipment problems can produce almost identical symptoms.
A router-wide DNS problem can affect every device
Not every whole-house failure means the physical internet connection is completely gone.
Devices commonly receive their DNS settings from the router, which may in turn receive them from the ISP. If that shared DNS path fails, several devices can all stop translating website names into the addresses required to reach them.
To the person using the network, the result can look very much like the internet is down.
This is why immediately changing the DNS setting on every phone and computer is not ideal troubleshooting. A better diagnosis is to determine whether the router still has external connectivity and whether name resolution is the specific part that has failed.
If DNS is the cause, fixing it at the appropriate point in the network is preferable to applying unrelated workarounds separately to every device.
The modem/router itself can partly fail
A modem/router does not always fail completely.
Its Wi-Fi network can remain visible and devices can continue receiving local network addresses while another part of the device stops working correctly.
Possible router-side failures include:
- π Loss of the WAN or internet connection.
- π’ Failure of DHCP, DNS or routing functions used by the whole network.
- π§ Firmware or internal software becoming unstable.
- π A failing WAN port, power supply or other hardware component.
- βοΈ Incorrect WAN or ISP configuration.
This is why a normal-looking Wi-Fi network does not prove the modem/router is fully operational.
If the problem started after installing a new modem or router
A whole-house outage that begins immediately after a modem or router replacement has an especially useful before-and-after clue.
The new equipment may be broadcasting Wi-Fi perfectly while still lacking a working internet connection.
Possible causes include:
- π The new router is connected to the wrong NBN port or through the wrong cable.
- π Its WAN or internet connection has not been configured correctly.
- π€ The ISP service has not provisioned correctly for the replacement equipment.
- βοΈ Required ISP settings were present on the previous modem but are missing from the replacement.
- π A second router, mesh system or other network device is now connected differently from before.
In that situation, reconnecting every phone and laptop over and over is unlikely to help. The shared failure began with the network equipment change, so that is where the diagnosis should concentrate.
Mesh systems and extenders can complicate the picture
If the home uses a mesh network or Wi-Fi extender, check whether the failure truly affects the main router as well as the secondary Wi-Fi equipment.
A device can have an excellent wireless connection to a nearby mesh node or extender even when that node has lost its connection back to the main router.
That can produce:
Strong Wi-Fi signal + no internet
If every node and the main router are affected, investigate the router, WAN, NBN and ISP path. If only devices connected through one particular node fail, the problem may instead be within the mesh or extender system.
Do not factory-reset the modem as the first response
A factory reset is much more disruptive than a restart. It can erase working Wi-Fi and internet settings without fixing the original cause.
- β οΈ Do not factory-reset the modem/router merely because all devices are offline.
- β οΈ Do not reset Windows networking on several computers when they all failed together.
- β οΈ Do not change DNS, DHCP and IP settings across every device at the same time.
- β οΈ Do not replace the router solely because its internet connection is currently down.
Changing several things at once also destroys useful diagnostic evidence. If the connection later starts working, you may not know which change mattered or whether the original fault is likely to return.
When the ISP should take over
Your internet provider is the appropriate party to resolve faults in the service beyond your local equipment.
That includes confirmed NBN or carrier outages, upstream line faults, service provisioning problems and other failures within the provider’s network.
The difficult part is often proving that the problem has actually reached that boundary.
A failed modem/router, incorrect WAN configuration, loose local cable or home-network problem can make every household device lose internet in almost the same way as an ISP outage.
That is why βnothing worksβ does not automatically answer the question of whether you need a computer technician, a replacement router or your internet provider.
Get help finding where the whole-house connection is failing
If every device is offline and you cannot establish whether the fault is with the modem/router, NBN equipment, home network or internet provider, PcRiot can diagnose the local side of the connection rather than troubleshooting each computer separately.
That can include checking the modem/router, WAN connection, NBN equipment, cabling, DNS and DHCP behaviour, mesh or extender setup and whether your local network is correctly reaching the internet service.
If the equipment inside the home is working correctly and the fault is upstream, the diagnosis can also establish that the ISP needs to take over rather than replacing or resetting working equipment unnecessarily.
PcRiot provides onsite Wi-Fi and internet troubleshooting in Perth for homes and small businesses.