5 Common Factors Affecting Your Internet Speeds
There are a few things that most people cannot stand, and a slow internet connection is one of them. Today, the internet has a major role to play in our lives; be it work, communication, or entertainment, everything needs a swift internet connection.
Our internet speeds may drop due to a lot of factors. However, some common problems can be fixed easily and I have highlighted them below. So, let’s start:
- Your Router Needs a Better Placement:
Where have you placed the router in your home? On your TV or top of your refrigerator? Have you mounted it on a wall like most people do? Or is it on a side table in your living room? Well, if you’ve placed your router in any of these locations, it could be the reason for your slow internet.
The internet signals emitting from the router and make their way to your devices travel via airwaves. These signals need an uninterrupted path, one that is free from any obstacles, to travel freely. Any obstruction in their way may divert them from their path and resultantly, you feel slower internet speeds.
Well, not just obstructions like walls or heavy furniture, but also electronic devices such as baby monitors, TV sets, refrigerators, microwave ovens, or neighboring internet connections may impede your router’s signals. Plus, signals may not cover your house if it is too big or dissipate along the way.
Quick Fix:
The easiest fix here is to ensure that your router is placed in a high position with no interference from walls or heavy furniture nearby. Also, make sure no electronic devices that are mentioned above and more are placed nearby. And you can always take help from WiFi extenders or WiFi mesh if you want to extend the signals’ range in your house. This way, you can make sure the internet signals are equally distributed in your house.
- Your Internet Plan Does Not Cover Your Needs:
One major reason that causes the internet to slow down is simply a low-tiered internet plan. Most users, when their online activity is minimal choose an internet plan with lower download speeds.
For that time, the opted plan may cater to their needs perfectly but as soon as their online needs increase, their internet speed gets slower and slower. Simply because the chosen internet plan cannot cater to the high number of devices or support the increased online activity.
Quick Fix:
It’s best to upgrade your internet plan when you’re facing this problem. A high-speed internet plan would provide better internet speeds and cater to your online needs seamlessly. For recommendations, I suggest contacting the Optimum customer service for a reliable yet affordable internet plans.
- Your ISP May Be Throttling Your Internet:
Sometimes, ISPs may throttle our internet and as a result, we may feel slower speeds in our devices.
ISPs can throttle the internet for several different reasons. It may be because the users access illegal websites or use proxy sites to access illegal content. They may also throttle your internet in specific activities like online gaming or 4K streaming. Another apparent reason is to manage the traffic load on a network during peak hours. Also, they may throttle users’ connections because they want users to upgrade to a better plan.
Quick Fix:
Using a VPN is the best way to ensure your safety from throttling. Generally, ISPs throttle user’s internet via their IP address. However, when you’re connected to a VPN, it alters your IP address and assigns it a fake one.
With that fake IP address, all your internet activity will be encrypted via the VPN’s server and your ISP won’t know what activities you’re using the data. However, your ISP will still know what websites you’re visiting but it won’t know your activity on those websites.
- Your Browser History Needs Cleaning:
The browsers we use to surf the internet have a cache memory and it’s important to note that it has limited storage. This has a direct impact on your internet speeds. When the cache memory is about to be full, the browser needs more bandwidth to store the cache memory.
Quick Fix:
One of the easiest ways to fix this problem is to clear the browser cache, every once in a while. This way, when your browser has ample space to save cache memory, it won’t need the extra bandwidth and hence, the internet speed won’t be affected.
- Your Internet Equipment is Faulty:
Sometimes, it’s our internet equipment that needs a refresher. Like most electronic devices that get old and faulty with time, our internet equipment, that is routers and modems, can malfunction and cause a dip in the internet speed.
Quick Fix:
One way to ensure your internet equipment works fine is to update it regularly. The internet equipment receives updates from companies that may install new security features, firmware updates, or protocols to make it efficient. Also, look for any physical damage to its antennas or wiring as it may also cause them to work inefficiently.
Bonus Section: Your Device Has Active Apps in the Background:
Sometimes, apps run in the background and use the internet. As a result, our internet bandwidth decreases. Also, some apps may update in the background and can cause our internet to slow down.
Quick Fix:
The quick fix here is to close down the apps that run in the background so that they don’t consume any bandwidth. Also, you can plan updates during off-peak hours or when your device is idle. This way, background apps or updates won’t cause your internet speed to slow down during peak hours.
