At some point, we've probably all found ourselves asking the question, why is my internet so slow?
The more we depend on this technology, the more maddening it can become when it's not working right.
When the internet's down, it takes our learning, entertainment, and productivity away from us. In this article, we'll explore the likeliest causes. Let's connect!
If you are reading this in March or April of 2020, you (and everybody else in your family and neighborhood) is home right now due to Covid-19. Depending on your home connection speed coupled with the fact that you are all streaming and using the internet more than typically do, this could be the issue. Also, like I mentioned before, your whole neighborhood (and city) is also working from home.
If you are working on something really important or are on a tight deadline, consider asking family or roommates if that can take a break for a bit while you finish up your task. If not, it will just be slowed down out of the sheer amount of use. For other possible issue, continue reading.
Before going too far down the slow internet rabbit hole, it's important to understand what you're paying for.
Did you choose the basic package or the one designed for streaming?
Learn what your upload speeds are. If you're paying for bare-bones and trying to stream multiple things at once, that could be your problem.
Another factor when the internet is slow could be infiltration by external sources, such as malware, viruses, and worms.
If these have attached themselves to any of your devices, then it could be the cause of the frustration.
Another type of external source responsible for slowing down your internet speed could be other businesses. That goes for both their customers and employees.
Connections that aren't secure or that use uninspired passwords are incredibly easy to hack.
From there, your single network could be streaming movies and music from passers-by or computing complex business software from the tenant next door!
Yet another factor is completely outside your control—we're talking about having an outage in your area.
Check with your provider immediately when you're having issues to see if they've received other complaints.
If yours is the only one, then you probably have another issue. However, smoke brings fire, so if there are others, then you may just have to wait out the issue until the outage is fixed.
That is, the connection could be good, but if the electronics are faulty or a website is experiencing a major outage—particularly a major one like Google that operates many of the key components businesses use—then it could limit the availability and speed of the Internet as a whole.
Some sites are even naturally slow, so be aware.
Most of the time, your customer service reps will tell you to start solving your internet woes by resetting or rebooting the modem or router.
That fixes a lot of problems, so hold down your reset button until the reboot kicks in or just unplug and re-plug, give it a few minutes, and re-test the connection.
One common way of doing this is having too many things going at once or splitting your signal via coaxial.
Your business also may be built in such a way that signals don't travel as strongly to certain parts of the structure.
Hopefully, you now know how to answer the why is my internet so slow question.
Good luck as you surf. For professional help with your network IT, contact Envision IT Solutions today.
