A network status is determined based on channel data specifying at least one channel characteristic of a communications channel. Changes in various channel characteristics are indicative of changes in a status of a distributed network. Therefore, these channel characteristics can be monitored over time to identify changes to the status of the distributed network. Changes to channel characteristics can be identified based on normalized channel data that is normalized relative to reference channel data. Status scores are generated based on the normalized channel data. The status scores are, in turn, normalized for channels that are identified as valid channels. The normalized status scores are adjusted based on variations of the channel data and the network status is identified based on status score variations. Status data identifying the network status is generated based on the status of the network.