In today’s age of technology and electronic communication, having a slow internet speed can be very frustrating. Slow-paced internet can greatly decrease productivity, which can be especially harmful for businesses and business owners. If websites load slowly, messages don’t send, attachments take forever to download, or video calls lose connection, it causes everyone’s workday to be severely disrupted and inefficient. There can be several causes of slow internet and finding your reason could help you greatly improve your internet speeds and your workday.
How Bandwidth and Data caps Affect Internet Speeds
When you purchase an internet plan, your internet service provider will give you a specific amount of bandwidth. Your internet bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be transferred across a given path within a certain amount of time. In other words, bandwidth is the amount of information a system can handle at once. If your plan is set to 25 Mbps (megabits per second), your internet can only transfer 25 megabits of data in a given second. If you do not have a sufficient amount of bandwidth with your plan for your daily online activities, especially if you are trying to run large applications, stream high-definition videos, or download large files, you may experience slow and delayed internet service. One solution to this problem is to upgrade your internet plan to one with a higher bandwidth allocation. If upgrading is not an option, you can also use your router’s quality of service component to control how your network prioritizes different types of data. Not all routers have an option to do this, but if yours does, make sure to take advantage of it.
Some internet service providers may also have data caps on their internet plans, meaning they will limit the amount of data you can use in a month. If you reach the limit, your internet speeds will slow tremendously until the plan resets for the next month. If you struggle with this problem, you may want to consider switching internet service providers to one that does not utilize data caps on their plans. If the cap must remain in place, try finding a plan where the limit is at an amount that you wouldn’t reach in a month. That way, you can do business as usual without having to worry about slower speeds as the month goes on.
Too Many Devices or Weak Wi-Fi Signals Causing Slow Internet Speeds
If too many devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network at once, your internet speeds could slow down immensely. If your internet does not have the appropriate bandwidth to handle every device, then all devices could be affected by a slower internet connection. It is always a good idea to make sure that all the devices currently connected to your internet are necessary. To kick off unnecessary, unwanted, or unused devices, you can simply change your Wi-Fi password. This will disconnect every device from the Wi-Fi in question. Then, you can re-connect all the devices that need connection to your internet. You can also block devices through your internet router’s web interface. Additionally, you may want to consider putting visitors on a guest Wi-Fi network in order to protect the security of your network and prevent slower speeds for your employees. With certain guest networks, you can limit the amount of bandwidth they are able to use and/or what websites or apps they can access.
Weak Wi-Fi signals are also a very common cause of slow internet speeds. Many different things can cause a weak signal, like thick or dense walls in between the device and the access point, interference from other devices, or being a longer distance away from the access point. By positioning your access point in a way that attempts to avoid these barriers, you can greatly increase your internet speeds. Place your access point in the most centered part of your building, if you can, and try elevating it. If moving yourself or your access point is not possible, additional access points can be added to enhance coverage.
Slow Internet Speeds and Your Devices
In some cases, the actual internet connection isn’t the problem. If you use older devices or software, your device itself may be unable to process your LAN or Wi-Fi’s speeds. Older or damaged devices sometimes aren’t equipped with the correct software or connection capabilities that could support the speeds of modern internet services, so updating your hardware and software may sometimes be the only option available to achieve faster internet connections. Though, it is important to note that slow internet speeds may not always be your fault. Sometimes it is a problem on your internet service provider’s end that you simply cannot fix. Plus, remember that rebooting your devices or your router is always a possible fix.
High latency speeds can be caused by a variety of factors. Latency is the amount of time your data takes to travel to its destination and back. This is particularly relevant with streaming, online gaming, or video calls. If you are a large distance away from the device you are communicating with, your latency speeds may be high. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to solve this exact problem other than physically moving closer to the destination device. The type of internet plays a role in latency speeds too. For example, satellite internet may have high latency speeds because the data being transmitted has to travel all the way to a satellite in space, then back down to Earth. Newer types of internet being developed have lower latency, so it is important to stay informed about the newest developments in technology.
Satellite
internet, DSL internet, Cable internet, and Fiber-optic internet are all
different types of internet services used today. These can play a huge factor
in your overall internet speeds. DSL internet uses phone lines to carry data
and can have slower speeds because of its lower bandwidth capabilities. Plus,
electrical signals can degrade over longer distances. Cable internet has higher
bandwidth capabilities than DSL because of the different type of cables it
uses. DSL and cable internet used to be the two most common internet types. But today,
more providers have rolled out fiber-optic internet. Fiber internet is the
fastest and strongest type of internet and preferrable where available.
Internet speeds play a large role in relation to any cloud solutions or data backups you may utilize. At Blue Oak, we can help you navigate your way to a faster internet connection.
Read our previous article here: Technology Policies in the Workplace
