Alex Payne, 24, created downforeveryoneorjustme.com, as in, "Down for everyone, or just me?" The New York Times reported Sunday

The service allows visitors to type in a Web address and see whether a site is generally inaccessible or whether the problem is with their own Internet connection, the newspaper reported.

"I had seen that question posed so often," Payne said. "Technology companies have branded the Internet as a place that is always on and where information is always available. People are disappointed and looking for answers when it turns out not to be true."

Jesse Robbins, a former Amazon executive responsible for keeping Amazon online from 2004 to 2006, said frustration over down sites is understandable.

He said companies "have a responsibility to people who rely and depend on them, just as people going over a public bridge expect that the bridge won't suddenly collapse."