The Internet is literally the lifeline of everyone almost around the globe today and for mostly good reasons. From getting in touch with someone to earning a livelihood, you can do almost anything via the internet today and the majority of people are doing it so preferably and that number is increasing on a daily basis.
With the vast number of broadband connections being laid out, faults and errors are also bound to increase and in the era of fast everything, things get really hectic when you have to face slow internet.
From the system troubleshooting and reset hardware to changing them and making changes in your router or internet settings, we have covered the very best methods for you to make sure that you never have to face the irksome slow internet ever again.
Reasons For Slow Internet Connection
- Very often, due to weather circumstances or heavy traffic rush, your internet may not be able to provide you as smooth a connection as usual times or as much as bandwidth as it does in normal hours.
- Your ISP can also be responsible for it sometimes, if its peak hours for example and you are taking up too much bandwidth and for a longer duration than your speed maybe curbed to ensure that other users in your area don’t suffer unnecessarily.
- Using cables to extend the length between router and system or someplace else. More cable length you use, many effects it will have on your internet speed.
- Outdated software such as browsers or their extensions are also a reason behind it, update them regularly or keep them on automatic update.
- Clearing your cache, cookies and other temporary data from your browser as well as system is a good idea from time to time.
- Having issues with some particular website only, then flush your DNS configuration using command ‘ipconfig flushdns’ in your command prompt.
- If your hardware is old or not able to meet up to your needs then you need to change it to make sure that it covers the entire area of your needs and is able to support your internet plans too. Read out our compilation of some of the best wireless router and best wifi extenders available to fit all your needs.
- DNS configuration is another major reason for slow internet, to boost your internet speed, change your DNS configuration from the default settings to some other custom ones such as Google DNS. You can read all about changing your DNS settings and figuring out what’s best for you in this tutorial.
Apply Fixes to Speed Up Internet
If the above basic steps don’t help you much or at all, then it is time for you to take some other measures and apply some advanced methods to speed up your slow internet. Before you do all the below things, it’s always best to check up on your ISP once and ensure you are not facing this problem due to some error at their side. If so, then it’s probably temporary and will get fixed at its own, otherwise, you can read further.
Running an antivirus/antimalware scan beforehand is also a good idea as half the time, these things are responsible for all your troubles and no matter how secure you think you are, it does no harm to perform some extra checks. Your firewall settings might be slowing down the incoming packets as well, you could do with easing up on packet rules. Very often your windows firewall and that of third-party tool might be interfering with each other and causing hindrances in internet connection, disable one or the other to ensure smooth operation.
- The very first step would be to perform the basic cleaning and maintenance tasks such as clearing the cache and cookies from your browser amongst other temporary files. To flush the dns settings using the command given above, and to reset your modem and router along with rebooting your system.
- Afterward, you should check to see if your web browsers, any other applications that may use the internet for any purpose, your antivirus and firewall are up to date and if not then update them. You should also check the installed plugins and extensions in browsers for this as well.
- Perform a check to see which apps run in the background and which apps use the data connection secretly without asking. Not just windows update, often many other apps also do the same. Software such as download managers should be quitted soon after there work is done otherwise they may remain open and perform minor tasks using internet bandwidth such as sending information or receiving updates.
- Prevent your connection from being used by others, setup a password and encryption for it. You should also check for wireless interference with other devices in the neighborhood. Most routers nowadays keep performing this check to tune to a less busy channel on their own. You can do this too, however it is a fairly technical process and you need to refer to your modem manual for the same.
- If your broadband connection might be interfering with your telephone line then you can use microfilters. These are small devices which allow you to use both and prevent each other from interfering. You can buy them at any good electrical store.
- You should check for other electronic devices as well located near the router and see if they might be interfering with it’s a connection and if so then keep them far away.
- You can get a router with QoS technology enabled in it. QoS is short for the quality of service which enhances routers to prioritize network traffic on their own and prevent bandwidth clogging.
- Contrary to popular belief that VPNs slow down the internet, investing in a good VPN may actually be the best thing that you can do to speed up your internet. Choose your VPN carefully as if chosen proper it can enhance your internet speed or if otherwise, it can clog it furthermore.
If even afterward doing all the above measures, your problem still persists, then we suggest to get a technician and get your system checked thoroughly as the problem might be much more deep-rooted than usual. Know any other quick hacks related to this? Let us know in comments.
