When the internet is down
Most internet outages in Vietnam fix themselves within a few hours. The minority that don’t, we fix.
Try this first
1. Look at the router. It’s usually in the living room or by the TV. There are several small lights on it. If most lights are red, off, or blinking irregularly, the issue is at the building or provider level, so skip to step 3.
If the lights look normal but your devices can’t connect, try step 2.
2. Restart the router.
- Unplug the power cable from the back of the router.
- Wait 30 seconds. Actually 30 seconds, not 5.
- Plug it back in.
- Wait 2-3 minutes for it to fully boot. Lights should settle into a steady pattern.
- Try connecting again.
If this works, you’re done. If it doesn’t, continue.
3. Restart your device’s wifi. Turn wifi off and back on on your phone or laptop. Forget the network and re-add it with the password from your welcome packet.
If still nothing, message us.
When to message us
If the steps above didn’t fix it, or you can already see it’s a building-wide outage (no internet in the lobby, doorman has heard from other tenants), message us right away.
Include:
- Apartment number
- What you tried
- How long it’s been out
- Whether you need internet urgently (work call, ongoing work session)
We’ll acknowledge within an hour. The first thing we do is call the building’s internet provider to find out if it’s an outage on their side. Most outages are.
How we handle longer outages
Same-day fix: if the issue is at the router or in the apartment, we’ll have a technician there within 4 hours during business hours. Most apartment-level issues are a 30-minute fix.
Provider outage: if the provider has a city-wide or building-wide issue, we wait it out with you. If the outage lasts more than 4 hours and you have urgent work, we’ll set up a 4G hotspot for you to use until service is restored. We cover the data cost.
Hardware failure: if the router itself has died, we replace it. Usually a same-day swap.
What it costs you
Nothing. Internet is in your monthly rent and we handle the rest, including 4G backup during longer outages.
A note on Vietnamese internet
Internet in Vietnam is fast and cheap but occasionally has multi-hour outages, especially during heavy rain, scheduled maintenance, or undersea cable issues (yes, that’s a real thing: the cables connecting Vietnam to the global internet sometimes need repair). When this happens, internet works inside Vietnam but international sites are slow or unreachable.
A VPN can sometimes help during these international-route outages. Most expats keep one installed (NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN all work in Vietnam). Not required, occasionally useful.