The use of the internet is already a necessity for most of us. We use it for research, communicating with friends, business deals, paying bills, and even shopping, among many others. Indeed, the internet has made our lives more comfortable, and we tend to complete many tasks faster. But some days are not usual, and make you ask Why Is My Internet Slow Today with scratching your head.
Before, the internet can only be accessed through a computer, but due to the advancements in technology and the demands of the ever-changing lives of people, we can now access the internet through our phones, tablets, and other devices that can connect to the internet.
Since our lives nowadays are fast-paced, we also expect our internet to be fast so that we can save more time on what we do. However, this expectation is not met sometimes because of some factors that are beyond our control.
When a slow internet connection happens, you would mostly find yourself displacing your anger towards the innocent mouse and keyboard, or you may contact your internet provider and lash out on their agents as to what the reason behind your slow internet connection is.
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Why is My Internet Slow?
Most often, the connection of the internet is excellent, but there will really come a time when you find yourself asking this one question: “Why is the internet so slow today?”
There are a lot of factors and reasons Why is Internet Slow or not acting up to your expectations. I have here a list as to why your internet is acting slow, and this includes but not limited to:
25 Reasons Why Is My Internet Slow Today
- The hardware connecting your machine to the wall might need to be replaced.
- There might be some security features that are enabled on your web browser, which stops the pages from loading while they do safety scans to ensure that the page is really safe.
- Incorrect configuration of your modem-router.
- Add-ons and plug-ins on your web browser might consume bandwidth.
- Sometimes, there are some people who tap on your wireless connection, and this slows it down.
- Torrent uploads might obstruct your bandwidth because it is running unknowingly.
- The network interface card (NIC) may need to be replaced.
- The modem-router that you are using may have 10/100 megabit speed instead of the new gigabit speed.
- You might be unaware of some dialog boxes or windows that are open and waiting commands.
- Malware and spyware affect your network by using your internet bandwidth.
- Full browser memory cache. In this case, the system will definitely slow down because you only have limited space on your hard drive.
- You might be unaware of some ongoing download, which also affects your bandwidth.
- Domain name system (DNS) tables are already old; thus, it affects signals as they are being sent to incorrect addresses on your internet service provider network (IPS).
- The ISP may have problems routing the signals to your network.
- Radiowaves and microwaves near you can slow down your internet wireless connection.
- You have opened several windows, and they are jamming the CPU of your computer.
- A dialog box for Windows or Mac may be open and waiting for commands; this slows down your CPU until you provided it with the commands it needs.
- Computers that are 3 years of age and older cannot move electrons fast to open recent web pages.
- The mode of internet connection that you are using will affect the speed. Dial-up connections pave the way to slow internet connection compared to broadband connections and Wi-Fi.
- The website that you are currently visiting may contain images, videos and other stuff that can slow down your internet speed.
- If two or more devices share a connection and one device is downloading something, it might affect your browsing speed.
- The time you are using the internet affects its speed as well because when more people are in their homes and they are online, network congestion or overload may occur and slows down the pace.
- The location of the website that you are visiting affects internet speed. It will generally be slower if you are accessing a website that is on the other side of the world.
- Your internet service provider is under maintenance or has some issues.
- The number of visitors a particular site is having at the time of your visit will also affect the speed because a specific site can only handle a number of users at a time.
Sometimes, thinking that your internet speed is slow is only “in the mind”. This means that you are only thinking about it, thus, the feeling of a slow internet connection.
To ensure that the speed is actually slow, it is best to check your internet speed to know if you are getting the right speed or not. You may do a speed test on your computer through several speed test sites on the internet, such as Speedtest.net and Fast.com, Google Speed Test.
How To Speed Up Your Internet Connection?
Once you have the answer to your question, “Why is my internet so slow?”, or how to increase download speed, let us now go to some ways that you can do to speed up your internet.
8 Easy Ways To How To Boost Wifi Speed
- Perform troubleshoot on your computer to know what the exact problem is all about.
- Conduct a speed test and compare it with your internet plan. If you find the speed too slow, you may upgrade your plan to a faster version.
- Have your Wi-Fi signal fixed.
- Bandwidth-hogging plug-ins and apps should be turned off.
- Have a new DNS server.
- Use HTML or mobile versions when browsing as this helps optimize your web.
- Contact your internet service provider. In doing so, remember that you should not lose your patience when talking to your customer service agent as they are there not to be shouted at but rather to help you deal with your issues about your internet connection.
- You may use an internet booster such as System Mechanic or PCKeeper among others so that your internet speed will improve.