🌐 Internet Outage Monitor

A lightweight, zero-dependency Python script designed to continuously monitor your internet connection, record downtimes with exact timestamps, and calculate total outage durations.

📖 The Backstory

This tool was created out of frustration with persistent neighborhood internet drops. Whenever residents called our ISP (AT&T), support claimed there were no active outages in the area and suggested basic support actions like router reboots, even suggesting router upgrades.

By running this script 24/7 on a local machine, I gathered two months of precise outage timestamps and compared the data with outage complaints on our neighborhood forum. When the outages were cross referenced with posts from multiple neighbors, I presented the combined evidence to the ISP.

The Result:

• The ISP escalated the issue and discovered a faulty card in the local central switch servicing our neighborhood.
• Hardware was replaced, reducing neighborhood outages to zero major drops over 6+ months.
• Multiple affected neighbors received account statement credits.

If your ISP denies recurring connection issues, this script provides the raw data you need to prove it.

---

✨ Features

• Zero External Dependencies: Built entirely with standard Python library modules (socket, time, datetime).
• Low Overhead: Runs continuously with negligible CPU and memory usage.
• Automatic Downtime Tracking: Detects when the connection drops, logs the failure, and records total duration once restored.
• Persistent Logging: Writes all downtime events to a plain-text log file (internet_outages.txt).

---

📋 Prerequisites

• Python 3.x installed on your system.
• A computer that stays powered on 24/7 (Windows, macOS, Linux, or a Raspberry Pi).

---

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/OriginDevIT/internet-outage-monitor.git
   cd internet-outage-monitor

2. Run the script:

   python monitor.py

---

⚙️ Configuration

You can customize the monitoring parameters directly in monitor.py:

CHECK_INTERVAL = 300  # Time between checks in seconds (default: 5 minutes)
LOG_FILE = "internet_outages.txt"  # Name of the output log file
REMOTE_SERVER = "8.8.8.8"  # Server to check against (default: Google DNS)

---

📄 Log Output Example

The script creates and updates internet_outages.txt whenever a status change occurs:

2026-08-01 14:10:05 - INTERNET DOWN
2026-08-01 14:25:12 - INTERNET RESTORED. Total downtime: 0:15:07

---

💻 Running in the Background (Windows)

To keep the script running automatically on Windows without keeping a command prompt window visible:

1. Option A (Task Scheduler): Create a task in Windows Task Scheduler set to run at system startup using pythonw.exe monitor.py.
2. Option B (Batch Startup): Place a shortcut to your script in the Windows Startup folder (shell:startup).

---

⚖️ License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.