How to Improve Your Internet Speed

by Sara M. Schweiger

The speed at which your computer connects to the internet can be affected by several different variables. The problem is not necessarily with your hardware or your internet service provider. There are several things you can look for to determine why your internet connection might be slow.

The first thing to check is who is using your bandwidth? Think of bandwidth like a freeway with 2 lanes. If lots of people are driving on the same freeway, traffic will flow more slowly as cars get backed up. If many people are driving on your freeway (your bandwidth) your internet will similarly be slow.

Take a look at any computer running on the same network in your home. Is anyone downloading heavy music files or watching movies online? Is anyhone downloading large files?

When you see your kids playing a computer game, don’t assume it’s an application on your hard drive. Many games today are played with other users across the internet and they use a lot of bandwidth. Beware of other applications such as VOIP phones, watching movies online or listening to music. All these types of items will use a chunk of your bandwidth.

Next, determine which of your neighbors is connecting to the internet through your router. If your router has not been secured, anyone can connect to it. Not only will this drain your bandwidth, it is also a security risk. Anyone with the willpower can cause damage to your computer through an unsecured network.

To be sure, outsiders connecting through your router may be oblivious. If their wireless is set up to automatically detect the closest connection in range, they may not even be paying attention to their connection at all.

To set up your router so that it is secured and others can’t use it to connect to the internet, open your router manual and find out the IP address you’ll need to use to access the router settings through a web browser.

There is one other thing that may be causing your internet speed to slow down. Any type of spyware on your computer and certainly viruses will cause speed issues both on your computer and with relation to the internet. Don’t just have anti-virus and anti-spyware running on your computer. Update it regularly and scan your computer once a week to make sure that none of these malicious, resource sucking parasites has made their way onto your computer and caused your speed issues.

About the Author:

Sara M. Schweiger writes articles that teach people how to monitor internet speed with an internet connection speed monitor and other Internet Speed Monitor pro tips.

Share and Enjoy: