This will rule out local problems like Wi-Fi or DNS and tell users in extremely simple terms whether the ISP's service itself is up or down. The technically challenged folks can just look at the screen to see if it's green for go, purple for 'uhhh.,' or red for fail. Monitor-IO's deceptively simple premise (tell me if the Internet is on or not) is backed by a surprising amount of attention to detail and accompanied by a bunch of cool additional features. Monitor-IO's screen backlight changes color depending on your current internet status: green for A-OK, purple for problems, red for complete outage.Īccepting a review unit turned out to be a good decision. All the while, I know, support, and in some cases love a bunch of people who have a much simpler one-step flowchart that reads 'call Jim, and say things that sound like they might be technical until the problem goes away.' Advertisement

From there, I'm isolating any remaining problems from switch, to router, to modem, to ISP. Then again, there's an entire troubleshooting flowchart burned into my brain, beginning with ping 8.8.8.8 from a wired computer, to make sure the problem is neither Wi-Fi nor DNS. Look, I already know if the Internet is down! My wife and I feed and clothe three small but highly motivated Internet downtime detectors who let us know in a hurry if videos and games stop streaming to their tablets, the Rokus, etc. Monitor-IO even promises to tell users granular details like how long a connection has been up, or sketchy, or out.Īll of this raises the question: do you need a gadget for that? Tap, tap-is this thing on?Īt first glance, Monitor-IO reminded me of the butter-passing robot from Rick and Morty, doomed to a trivialized existence fulfilling an insignificant task. The idea is you put this little black box next to (and plugged directly into) your router, and a quick glance at its color-coded screen will let you know if the Internet's working solidly, if it's having some problems, or if everything is just plain out. Monitor-IO is a $100 IoT gadget that tells you whether your Internet is working well, poorly, or not at all.

Internet uptime monitor