7 Common Reasons Why Your Internet Speed Is Slow

Everyone hates the feeling that you get when you are watching a video on the internet and it is constantly buffering or downloads are taking forever to complete or web pages take ages to load up. There could be several reasons why you may be experiencing slow internet, from programs running in the background and cheap routers to being low on bandwidth. Let’s have a detailed look at a few reasons why your internet is slow:

1. Using a Wireless Connection Instead of a Wired Connection

If you are using the home computer then it would be better that you use a wired connection using an Ethernet Cable rather than a wireless connection. Wired Connections are better at transmitting the information and the information is transferred directly through Wired Connections than Wireless Connections. Wired Connections also suffer fewer data packets losses since they are a closed system in contrast to wireless connections that are open systems.

2. Low-Bandwidth Internet Plan

If you have checked the speeds and you are getting exactly the speeds that you are paying for then it means that you need higher bandwidth because the current internet plan is just not enough for you. You might be paying for an internet plan that is not viable for your household and in this case, you have to consider upgrading your internet plan.

3. Router Cache

If you are still getting slower internet speeds than you are supposed to get then one of the things that you can try is to reset your modem and router. This resetting can be done by either turning the router/modem off and on again or if you are lazy and cannot get up to turn the router/modem off and on again then you can try resetting it through the admin interface of the router. Once you log into the admin interface through the default gateway address i.e 192.168.0.1, you will see there is an option to reboot the router. You can reboot the router from there and it will be the same as turning it off and then turning it on again.

Sometimes when the routers are on for a long while then they might experience some cache issues which can result in the internet speeds being slower. This can easily be resolved by rebooting the modem/router and if the problem is related to this then it will be resolved after the reboot. 

4. Obsolete Hardware

Sometimes the problem is with the router and either it is not on the latest version of firmware or the hardware is too outdated. This can cause the internet speeds to slow down without any reason. What you can do to fix it is either update your firmware by logging into the admin interface of the router through 192.168.1.1 and updating the firmware from there or if you think that the router is obsolete and no longer usable then you can consider buying a new router but make sure that you buy a good router because the cheap ones aren’t gonna do the job.

5. Poor Router Placement

One of the most common yet overlooked reasons why the internet speed is slow is because your WiFi router is in a bad spot. If you normally keep your WiFi router placed in a cabinet or closet then it is time for you to move it into open space from where the signal strength would improve and it will have a significant effect on the speed of the internet. 

If you have got a big house then the distance will be the main issue because the range of your router may not be enough to cover the whole house. In such cases, you can make use of different devices such as Wi-Fi Repeaters, Wi-Fi Extenders, Wi-Fi Signal Boosters, etc that can amplify the signal strength of your WiFi connection and transmit signals to the place where it wasn’t able to reach before.

6. Multiple Devices Connected

If you have got fine bandwidth and the WiFi signals are also good then perhaps the culprit might be the other devices that are connected to the network. When multiple devices in a household are connected to the same network then obviously it would cause the internet speeds to slow down.

Every device that is connected to the network uses some portion of the internet bandwidth and if they are being used for heavy services like downloading or video streaming then it would cause the internet to slow down even more. Check whether someone is downloading something in the other room or watching Netflix on the TV that is causing the internet to slow down.

7. Background Apps and Programs

Background programs and apps can be culprits sometimes that are causing your internet to slow down. On mobile phones, it is usually the apps and games that are full of video advertisements and cause the internet to slow down. On PC, it is usually the programs running in the background that are either updating or downloading some updates that can cause the internet to slow down. Always check for programs and apps running in the background when you troubleshoot your internet network.