Connected to WiFi but no websites load — what it means
The WiFi icon shows full signal, your computer says it's connected, and yet no page will open. It's a common but misleading symptom — and it doesn't mean the same thing as having no internet at all.
Why "connected to WiFi" isn't the same as "I have internet"
Being connected to WiFi only means your computer is talking to the router. It says nothing about whether the router has a working connection from your internet provider, or whether the service that translates website names (like google.com) into the addresses where servers actually live is working. The failure can be at any of these three stages.
What to check, step by step
Try a different, simple website
If one specific site or company app isn't loading, but general sites open fine — it's not a network problem, just an issue with that one service (which may be having its own outage).
Check whether it's a DNS issue
If no site loads by name, but a raw IP address works in the browser, DNS — the internet's "phone book" — is usually the culprit. Restarting the router usually fixes this; if not, you can temporarily set a public DNS server manually in your computer's network settings.
Check whether it's a "captive portal" — a network requiring login
On guest networks (hotels, cafés, sometimes a guest WiFi at the office), you sometimes need to log in through a welcome page before internet starts working. If you just joined a new network, try opening any page — it should redirect you to a login screen.
Check your computer has a proper IP address
An address starting with "169.254." means your computer never got a real address from the router — it made one up on its own just to stay functional. Disconnecting and reconnecting to WiFi, or restarting the router, usually fixes this.
Check your system date and time
A wrong date on your computer can block secure (https) connections to many sites, even though the internet itself is working fine. It's a rare but surprisingly common cause after a computer has been unplugged for a while.
When it's a job for IT
- Restarting the router and computer doesn't help, and the problem affects every site, not just one service.
- The problem only happens on one computer, while other devices on the same network work fine.
- Manually changing DNS helps, but the problem comes back after every restart.
- You suspect it might be security-related (e.g., unusual page redirects).
Why this distinction matters
Reporting "I have no internet" versus "I have WiFi, but nothing loads" gives whoever is diagnosing the problem a completely different starting point. Giving that more precise detail right when you report the issue genuinely shortens the time it takes to fix it.
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