It's not you, it's them…

While awaiting the arrival of snowmaggeddon here in the northeast, I had a few clients call me with

It's not you, it's them…

complaints of no email service. That's always disturbing, especially in cases where I have just recently been visiting… and tinkering. "That Rob, he's always tinkering…"

The sudden loss of email connectivity can create quite a panic. But here's the good news: it's almost always temporary, and it usually has nothing to do with your own computer, your settings, or your own in-home/office wifi or network connection.

Definitely an east coast problem

When your email goes down, here's a few things to check:

1. Do I have other Internet features? Does my web browser still connect? If so, you know your connection is OK.
2. Can I get my email from the web interface? In other words, if you usually use an "email client," i.e. Mail App, Outlook, Inbox, Cloud Magic…, can I get my mail by using Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc. (If so, this is almost always an indication that POP/IMAP service is down with your provider, and it will be fixed soon.
3. Is there a problem with my ISP or mail host? Here's where Down Detector and http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com can help.

To see if it's you or if it's them, visit either of these two sites, enter the address of the website and you'll see information that will give you a good indication of whether there's a problem outside of your (or my control) or whether it's something that requires more "tinkering."