Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a small commission if you make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you. For more information, please visit our Disclaimer Page.
Verizon internet is better known as FIOS, which is just a short acronym for fiber optic service. It sounds pretty cool but, as it turns out, is just a generic acronym for a fairly standard service throughout the United States.
Regardless, FIOS is pretty popular, as well as Verizon’s hotspot Wi-Fi, otherwise known as Mi-Fi, services that you can take with you on the go. Whether you are using FIOS for your at-home internet or one of Verizon’s Mi-Fi devices while you’re on the road, you depend on the internet for work and entertainment.
Verizon wouldn’t have become the business it is because all of its innovations turn out to be duds. Verizon is ranked #4 in most popular ISPs in the US, out of 25 ISPs, including scores of additional, secondary ISP groups. So, It’s not often that something goes wrong with Verizon’s internet service.
Table of Contents
5 Fixes To Verizon Internet That Keeps Going Out
1. Outages in Your Area
This is the most common factor that could be affecting your internet connection. If you are using Mi-Fi, outages are still something you have to deal with, depending on your location. For the most part, all you can do is contact Verizon’s service status page.
Once you’re on the site, you will need to enter your zip code, city, and state. Verizon will display a map of the area, with red highlights indicating service is down in the respective area. Usually, it will say they are working on it, but that’s an automated response.
This is the kind of thing that happens after or during thunderstorms. It can also happen in nasty auto accidents, but it’s rarer. You also have the option of calling *611. Again, you wil have to enter all of your location information before Verizon will tell you if there is a service outage in your area.
There’s nothing you can really do to change a service outage on your own. Instead, simply rely on your LTE service via your smartphone. If you have Mi-Fi or hotspot on your Verizon service plan, you can always switch to that. It’s also a good idea to set up Verizon hotspot if you need backup internet in the case of another outage.
For those of you that work at home, having a hotspot backup, although it’s often far slower than cable and fiber internet, is a lifesaver. Of course, if you are using Verizon’s Mi-Fi, and it’s the one that’s giving you the problem, turning on your phone’s hotspot is not likely to fix it, since the two are essentially one and the same.
2. Check Your Verizon Gateway
Most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) supply their customers with a gateway. A gateway is nothing more than a router and modem combined into a single unit. It saves space and, although It’s not as effective as a gaming router alone, is still plenty powerful on its own.
However, regardless of the source of your wireless internet throughout the home, you’re always dealing with Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi is known for having several vulnerabilities. That’s not a Verizon thing; it’s a Wi-Fi thing.
Concrete, interior walls, wood, metal, glass, microwaves, Bluetooth, and other radio waves are all capable of reducing or blocking Wi-Fi bands within your home. Depending on where the gateway is positioned and where you are at the moment, your Wi-Fi signal may not be sufficient.
There are a number of ways to fix this, especially if you can clearly see that your Wi-Fi gateway is operating properly and nothing else is wrong.
- Move your gateway to a more efficient position within the home
- Make sure there is nothing between you and the gateway that might disrupt the signal
- Make sure there is nothing sitting next to the gateway that is capable of blocking or disrupting Wi-Fi coverage
- Purchase and install a FIOS extender inside your home
- Make sure that your most internet-dependent devices have line of sight or are very close to the gateway
For whole-home coverage, an extender is usually the optimal choice. You can place it anywhere in the home that needs better Wi-Fi signal. However, it needs to be placed in such a way that the extender has a line of sight connection with the gateway.
Everything else is just a matter of optimizing your gateway’s capabilities without turning your home upside down. Remove devices or items that are potentially disrupting the Wi-Fi signal. You can even place a sheet of aluminum on the side of the gateway where there are no devices to communicate with.
This reduces wasted Wi-Fi signal and provides better coverage in the immediate area, which will also benefit a line of sight extender.
3. Check All of Your Connections
FIOS offers both coax and fiber internet. While coax is far more difficult to damage, the same cannot be said of fiber. Check your cables going into and coming from the gateway. Make sure there are no crimps (areas that are bent at a nasty angle).
Unplug the gateway while you check all the cables, from beginning to end, and where they connect into the ports on the back of the gateway. Make sure your ports are clear and clean of any debris and that everything plugs in correctly. For instance, your Ethernet cables should plug in with an audible snap.
4. Reset the Gateway
Sometimes, a good reset does wonders for your in-home network. Resetting the gateway will often clear up any issues going on with your internet because it’s essentially a fresh start. Besides, this is something you should do with your network from time to time as a preventative maintenance measure.
- Press and hold the power button on your Verizon FIOS gateway
- You should only have to hold the power button for about 10 seconds
- Once the gateway is off, unplug the internet cable running into the WAN port
- Unplug the gateway from the power outlet
- Go have lunch
- When you come back, plug the cable back into the WAN port
- Plug the gateway back into the power outlet
- Press the power button to turn the gateway back on (if necessary, assuming plugging it back in doesn’t turn it on automatically)
This is a fairly typical reset, and it should do the trick if your internet connections have been up and down all day. You should also do it once a week, just as a preventative maintenance measure.
5. Data Caps
You may want to check and see if you have a data cap. It’s important to thoroughly go over your internet service plan before you make that first payment. Oftentimes, there’s a data cap in the fine print, meaning that once you exceed your allotted data for the month, your internet speeds are severely throttled.
Data caps are a pain and becoming less and less of an issue as customers rage against it with a variety of ISPs. However, ISPs still do it, so it’s always worth checking out. Being severely throttled is almost identical to losing internet access. Sometimes, the throttling is so bad that you may as well not have internet at all.
Final Thoughts
Every ISP handles things a bit differently, and they all have their own equipment that they rent out and install inside your home. One of the best preventative actions you can take is to send their gateway back to them and replace it with your own.
However, more and more ISPs are forcing customers to accept their gateways, denying internet service through one of your own gateways or router setups. It’s aggravating, but it is what it is until consumers start pushing back. Until then, the above troubleshooting tips should help get you back online.
Meta Description
Discover effective solutions to resolve the frustrating issue of Verizon internet repeatedly going out with these 5 helpful fixes.
Reference Sources
Connection dropping on FIOS Retrieved from: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fios/comments/woszfo/connection_dropping_on_fios/ Why would Verizon 5G wireless home internet have constant connection loss and timing out when download/upload speeds and ping are good? Retrieved from:
