What each light on your router is telling you

Your home router is a small computer with a very simple dashboard: its lights. Each one reports on a different part of the connection, from the power supply to the wireless radio. Once you know the basic set, most broadband problems take under a minute to diagnose.

Most routers have five or six lights, though labelling varies. Look for these:

• Power: should be solid green or white. If it is off, red, or flashing amber, the router is not starting up properly. Check the plug and socket first.
• Broadband, DSL, or WAN: this shows the link between your router and the street cabinet or fibre box. A solid light means the line is synced. Flashing usually means it is trying to connect.
• Internet: often a globe symbol. Solid green means your provider has given you an IP address and you are online. Red or amber means the line is up but authentication or routing has failed.
• Wi-Fi: solid or gently flickering when devices are active. If it is off, someone may have pressed the Wi-Fi button, or wireless has been disabled in the router settings.
• LAN or Ethernet: one light per port. They blink with traffic. A steady light with no blinking often means a cable is plugged in but no data is moving.
• USB or WPS: usually off unless you are using a printer, storage drive, or pairing a device. A stubborn WPS light can mean a failed pairing attempt.

Colours vary between models, so the pattern matters more than the colour alone.

Normal patterns versus warning signs

During the first two minutes after power-on, almost anything is normal. Lights will flash in sequence as the router runs its self-test. After that, a healthy router usually settles into a calm pattern:

• Power: solid, never flickering.
• Broadband/DSL: solid, not flashing.
• Internet: solid green or white.
• Wi-Fi: solid, with occasional flickers during heavy use.
• LAN: blinking when you browse, stream, or download.

Warning signs include a power light that stays red, an internet light that stays red or off for more than five minutes, a broadband light that flashes for more than ten minutes, or all lights going out at once. If the internet light is off but the broadband light is solid, the line is fine but your provider login or router configuration is not.

Check your cables before you panic

Most "router faults" are physical. Before restarting, spend thirty seconds on the connections.

• Power lead: push it firmly into the router and the plug socket. Try a different socket.
• Broadband cable: for copper broadband, the grey phone cable should go into the DSL port, not the phone port. Use the microfilter supplied, and avoid long extension cables where possible.
• Ethernet cable: for full fibre, check the cable from the fibre box (ONT) to the router's WAN port. It should click into place. Swap it with a known-good cable if you have one.
• Fibre box lights: if you have an ONT on the wall, check its lights too. A red or off power light there means the problem is outside your router.
• Wi-Fi button: look for a button marked Wi-Fi or WLAN. A quick press may have turned wireless off. Press it again and watch the light.

If you use a desktop PC, connect it directly to a LAN port with an Ethernet cable. If the internet works wired but not wirelessly, the router is online and the issue is Wi-Fi coverage or settings, not the broadband line.

How to restart your router properly

A restart, also called a power cycle, is not the same as a factory reset. Restarting clears temporary memory and forces the router to reconnect. A factory reset erases your settings, including your Wi-Fi name and password, so avoid the reset button unless your provider tells you to use it.

To restart safely:

• Unplug the router's power lead from the wall socket. Leave the broadband or Ethernet cable connected.
• Wait at least thirty seconds. This lets internal capacitors discharge.
• Plug the power back in and wait two to three minutes. Do not unplug it again while the lights are still cycling.
• If you have a separate fibre box, restart the router first. If the internet light stays red, restart the fibre box too, then wait another two minutes.

Restart once a month, or when the connection feels sluggish. If a restart fixes the problem, note which lights were wrong beforehand; that pattern will help if it happens again.

When a restart is not enough

If the lights are still wrong after two proper restarts, stop and gather information. Write down which lights are on, their colours, and whether they are solid or blinking. Try a different device, ideally one connected by Ethernet. Check whether your neighbours have the same problem, as a local outage is common.

Give the router airflow. Heat and dust make electronics unreliable, so do not stack it under books or behind a television. If it is over five years old and regularly drops connections, it may be nearing the end of its life.

When you contact your provider, give them the exact light pattern, what you have already tried, and whether a wired connection works. With practice, those blinking lights become your most useful troubleshooting tool.