The internet is an incredible tool in everyday life; it’s a veritable marvel of contemporary technology. Though none of this serves to make it any less annoying when your connection speeds are slow. In fact, the usefulness of the internet makes it way more annoying when something gets in the way of your ability to use it easily.
So, if you’re looking to improve the speed of your internet connection, then this article aims to highlight the most important points that you need to know.
Get a Baseline
Alright, so if you want to make any kind of effort toward boosting the speed of your connection at home, you’ll want a baseline to give you an insight into the effect your efforts are having on your connection strength.
So, you’ll need to start by using an internet speed test tool to find out what your baseline speeds are. It’s important that you don’t do anything during this test that might throw your results off, so don’t download or stream anything while running your speed test.
Check for “Drains” on Your Connections
Your first port of call when you have issues with your connection speed is to look for “drains” on your bandwidth. These are things that might be dropping your internet speeds without actually providing any specific benefit to you.
For example, streaming video can be quite the draw on your bandwidth, so you never want to just leave Netflix running in a room that no one is in. That would be a great example of something draining your internet for no real purpose.
Of course, there are plenty of less overt examples of drains as well, such as:
- Software updates for gaming consoles
- Games left running
- Multiple tabs on browsers
- Smart devices
- Automated cloud storage for devices
- Virtual assistants (like Alexa)
Any and all of these can subtly drain your bandwidth, and their influence can often stack up until they become quite significant.
Set Up Digital Routines
Of course, some of these drains are actually important processes that you can’t simply stop forever. For example, your devices and applications really do need to update pretty regularly, which means that they’re going to need to use your bandwidth at some point.
The best way to get around this without causing too much strain on your bandwidth while you’re using it is to set up routines for your devices.
For example, with the right settings, you can instruct your computer to handle any updates to its software during specific times. This is a great way to ensure that your devices are still updating but aren’t eating your bandwidth up when you want to be using it.
Invest in Better Internet
Ultimately, if you’ve tried everything and you’re still suffering from low internet speeds, then you might have to face facts and accept that the issue might not be on your end. It could just be that you’re not paying for a particularly high-speed internet connection.
If this is the case, then your only real option to improve the speed of your internet connection is to bite the bullet and contact your provider. There’s a pretty decent chance that they’ll allow you to improve your internet speed by paying for a higher-quality connection.
Of course, it’s important to remember that good internet isn’t worth reducing your quality of life. So, only pay for a deal that you can comfortably afford.
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