Download Speed Is Slower Than It Should Be

Ethernet internet cable next to a snail — Kerdkanno/Shutterstock

In that location are many reasons your Cyberspace connectedness might appear slow. It could be a problem with your modem or router, Wi-Fi signal, signal force on your cable line, devices on your network saturating your bandwidth, or even a slow DNS server. These troubleshooting steps will help you pivot down the cause.

Narrow Down the Problem With Multiple Websites and Devices

If your speed test confirms your cyberspace is wearisome, you should endeavor connecting to multiple websites and using multiple devices in your home if your Internet connection is slow. If the slowness is just with one website, information technology's probably that website'south problem—non your internet'southward. There's not actually annihilation you tin can practice about this except look for the people in charge of the website to gear up it.

Narrowing down where the problem lies will help you lot fix it. Does the slowness just happen on ane computer, or all your devices? If information technology'due south just one computer, you know the solution probably lies there. Y'all may just accept to reboot the reckoner, or you may need to perform a malware browse with your preferred antivirus to bank check that everything is fine. If the slowness happens on multiple devices—multiple computers, for example, or your computer and your phone—then it's almost certainly a network problem, and you'll have to go to your router.

Check Your Speed and Compare It to Your Program

Internet speed test results

RELATED: How to Exam Your Net Connection Speed or Cellular Data Speed

Before going through a agglomeration of troubleshooting on your end, it's worth running a speed examination using a website similar Speedtest.net to see how well it'southward actually performing. Be certain to stop any downloads, uploads, Netflix streaming, or other heavy internet activity before running the test to ensure equally little interference with the results as possible.

Compare the measured speed results against the expected speed of the Internet connectedness you're paying for. If you don't know this, in that location's a good hazard y'all tin find information technology on the bill for your Internet connexion or your Net service provider's website.

RELATED: Why Y'all Probably Aren't Getting the Internet Speeds Y'all're Paying For (and How to Tell)

There are some caveats here. Speed tests may sometimes appear rather loftier, as some Internet service providers may prioritize them and they may accept servers very close to you. If your connection speed appears a bit low, that can be normal—you generally pay for "upward to" a certain speed and you don't always become the verbal speed you pay for. Speeds may likewise be slower at busier times of the twenty-four hour period, when everyone in your neighborhood is using the Internet connection, than at off hours when many people are sleeping or at work.

Of course, information technology could as well just exist that y'all pay for a very boring internet programme—in which case yous'll need to call your net provider and pay more to upgrade your service!

However, if you're paying for a certain connection speed and consistently receive speed exam results that are well below that, it's time to move to the troubleshooting steps below.

Reboot Your Modem and Router

Make sure the power cable is securely plugged into your network equipment — trainman111/Shutterstock

Similar computers, modems and routers sometimes get stuck in a bad, tedious, overloaded state. This problem can be fixed with a reboot. If yous oasis't rebooted your router and modem in a while, you lot should do it at present.

If you have a combined modem/router unit of measurement, yous may just have one device to reboot. Just there's a good chance you lot need to reboot 2 pieces of hardware: the router and the modem. The router connects to the modem, which is continued to the cable coming out of the wall. To reboot them, unplug each from their respective power outlets for 10 seconds before plugging them back in. It may take a few minutes for your modem to reconnect to your Internet service provider and bring your Internet connection online, so be patient. Check if your speed improves subsequently the reboots.

RELATED: Why Rebooting Your Router Fixes So Many Problems (and Why Y'all Have to Wait x Seconds)

Improve Your Wi-Fi Betoken

closeup of a wireless router and a young man using a smartphone on living room at home with a window in the background — Casezy idea/Shutterstock

It's possible your net is fine, simply your Wi-Fi—which connects you to the internet—is having signal problems. A bad Wi-Fi connection tin can seem similar an Internet connection problem, especially since it can affect all the devices in your habitation. There are quite a few reasons you may have a bad Wi-Fi bespeak. The airwaves could exist congested with also many devices nearby, specially if you're using two.4 GHz and not 5 GHz, which tin can support a lot more devices. This is a particularly mutual problem in denser urban areas—for example, if you live in an apartment complex with neighbors who have a bunch of wireless routers and other devices.

You could as well just have a dead zone, something interfering with your Wi-Fi indicate, or poor converage throughout your home. Consult our guide to speeding upward your Wi-Fi and getting a better indicate for more tips.

If you take a larger home or yard and demand better Wi-FI coverage, consider getting a mesh Wi-Fi system that provides multiple base stations you can identify around your home or belongings.

RELATED: How To Get a Meliorate Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference

Finish Saturating Your Connection (or Try QoS)

Check which devices are saturating your network

Your Net connection is shared by all the devices in your home, and so other devices on your network could be saturating your Internet connection, slowing things downward for everyone else.

For example, if two people are streaming Netflix and one person is trying to download a file with BitTorrent, everyone's experience will boring down. Stop (or slow down) some of those other downloads to speed things up.

RELATED: How to Utilize Quality of Service (QoS) to Get Faster Internet When You Really Need Information technology

If this is a specially frequent problem, you may have to upgrade your internet bundle. Still, you can also meet if your router has a Quality of Service (QoS) characteristic, which volition allow your router to automatically manage and assign how much bandwidth different devices and services receive. For case, it can automatically throttle BitTorrent bandwidth to avoid slowing down Netflix streams.

Cheque for Coax Splitters

Splitter for connecting coaxial TV cable on white background — Valiik30/Shutterstock

If y'all have cable Internet and yous have coaxial cable splitters on the line going to your cablevision modem, these could exist degrading your signal strength and leading to slower Internet connection. Splitters vary in quality, and a bad, cheap one could lower your bespeak strength much more than a higher quality one would. A large number of splitters could cause a problem, likewise.

If you do have splitters on your cable line, try disconnecting them to troubleshoot your Internet connexion. Run across how your Internet connection performs without any splitters on the line. If you have a much faster Internet connexion speed, y'all've found your problem.

RELATED: How to Troubleshoot Your Internet Connection, Layer-By-Layer

Endeavour Another DNS Server

In some cases, switching DNS servers tin help speed up your apparent connection speed if your default Internet access provider DNS servers are deadening.

Here's how DNS works: When yous connect to a website like google.com, your reckoner contacts its DNS servers and asks "What numerical IP address is associated with google.com?" It gets an answer back and connects to that IP address, which may be something similar 216.58.193.78 and and then connects to that address.

Typically, your DNS servers are provided by your Internet service provider. But, if they're slow or overloaded, you may exist able to go better speed by switching to another set of DNS servers. Google Public DNS and OpenDNS are both pretty popular.

RELATED: The Ultimate Guide to Changing Your DNS Server

Call Your Internet service provider and Report the Problem

Close up of a man using mobile smart phone — file404/Shutterstock

If y'all've run through all these troubleshooting steps and tin can't fix the problem, there'southward a adept chance it's not a trouble y'all tin fix. Information technology may be your Internet service provider'southward trouble. For example, there may exist a problem with the cable line running from your house to your Internet access provider, or with another equipment they have. In this instance, you should call your Internet service provider and study the problem.

Yous're paying your Isp to provide a stable conneciton, and it'due south their job to fix any issues with information technology on their end. Just be sure it's really their trouble, and non a trouble on your stop—similar Wi-Fi betoken issues.