A Suddenlink internet outage simply is the total or partial loss of network supply or access experienced while using the Suddenlink internet. This can occur for various reasons, including maintenance, security, and terrible weather conditions, amongst others which are comprehensively discussed herein. 

In highlighting the causes, the causes due to non-technical factors would be highlighted first, so you can first determine if the outage is from Suddenlink’s end before reaching out to them. 

Natural Causes: The first, non-technical thing to consider in any case of internet outage is the weather condition at that time. Heavy winds, ice on the lines, rain, and lightning can result in an internet outage. Home Appliance: A power outage could sometimes be a result of a faulty or not well-connected router switch at home.   Power Outages: This can also pass as a non-technical factor to consider first. Power could go off, probably due to strong weather conditions that lead to fallen trees on electric wires or repair of an infrastructure, where power cables have to be removed for safety reasons. In either case, any issue in power would likely lead to an internet outage because wireless internet like Suddenlink depends on devices that need the power to work. For example, routers, and towers in the field.  Technology Issues: This problem is usually associated with the service provider. There could be a need for system maintenance or upgrade from their end. Other times, it could result from hardware or software failure. Once any of these occur, it can take down all Suddenlink’s users.  Congestion: This is usually the most common reason for an internet outage. It happens as a result of too many users trying to access the network at once. This is usually common with problems associated with a particular location at a specific time.  High-tech Attacks: Popularly known as cyber-attacks involve activities of hackers on a network. This can also lead to a massive internet outage.  Activities of the Police or Security Services: This can happen as a response to cyber attacks, or a warning of its tendency to occur. Security services or the Police would have to authorize network providers to shut down their systems or limit them at a certain location, depending on what they need to deal with the cyber attacks.   

What to do then?

For issues related to power outages or bad weather, you may need to wait for some hours for the connection to be restored, you can check with your service provider to know how long it would take.     Check your router or modem and ensure there is no issue with the switch and it is connected properly. Most times, these issues can be resolved by checking and/or rebooting your devices (router or device IP address). It may be that you recently moved and the network in that area is bad. So you need to be sure that it is not an issue from your end first before going to the next step. If you have tried or looked into the steps mentioned above and you still cannot access the internet, you should call the service provider for more details. They would be able to tell you what is wrong and how long it would take to get the internet back on.  

How to Restore the Internet After an Internet Outage?

After an outage and you have confirmation that the network is back up, you should first restart your network source (router, gateway, or modem) before trying to connect to the internet again. To do this you should first:

Take out the power cord connected to the switch or device. If there are batteries in the device, remove them as well. Hold on for thirty seconds, then put the batteries back and plug the cable back. After replugging the cable, wait for ten minutes, so everything can get properly connected. You would know it is connected when the connection lights are strong and not blinking. You can now check for an internet connection, you should be able to connect now.

Conclusion

In a case of an internet outage, you could be restless or frustrated in reacting to the situation. It is advisable that you keep your cool so you would be able to figure out what to do or identify where the problem is coming from because an internet outage is not an unsolvable problem. We trust this article will guide you.

  1. How do I check if it is a widespread outage or just a Suddenlink issue in my area? 

Sign in to your Suddenlink account, in “My Services”, and look for “Service Help”. An outage in your area would be seen on the information if there is. You can also be notified of any outages by turning on the notification. 

  1. Can an Internet Outage be avoided using Suddenlink?

An internet outage cannot easily be avoided. You can do everything on your art to ensure you have a good network but the outage could still happen due to reasons beyond your control, as we have seen above. 

You can simply get a backup network, so when there is a case of an outage with your main source of network, you can still have access to the internet using the backup network.