Internet service providers really do throttle your connection, making Wi-Fi speeds significantly slower. Here’s how to tell if this is happening to you.
To make matters worse, it can be difficult to know why exactly your speeds are dragging. There are a number of different factors that affect Wi-Fi and home internet connections: Your
router could be outdated or it could even be in the wrong location.
But you may also be able to blame your slow Wi-Fi on something your ISP is intentionally doing –bandwidth throttling. Yes, you read that right. Your ISP could be making your Wi-Fi slower on purpose. ,ISPs can still legally stifle your internet, limiting your broadband if you’re streaming more TV than they want and serving slower connections to websites owned by their competitors.
One solution to slow Wi-Fi — if it is, in fact, caused byinternet throttling — is a virtual private network. Basically, ISPs need to see your IP address to slow down your internet, and a good VPN will shield that identity — though it comes with some limitations and downsides, which I’ll discuss below. We’ll walk you through how to tell if throttling is to blame and, if not, what to do about fixing your crummy Wi-Fi.
How to speed up your home Wi-Fi
Step 1
First, troubleshoot your slow internet connection
So your Wi-Fi is slow and you think your service provider is throttling your connection. Before you jump to those conclusions, it’s important to run through the usual troubleshooting list: Check that your router is centrally located in your home, reposition its antennas, double-check your network security and so on.
If you’ve run through the laundry list and your Wi-Fi is still chugging slowly, move on to the next step.
Step 2
Test your internet speed
Once you’ve made sure there are no simple explanations to your Wi-Fi woes, you can get a more in-depth measurement of the health of your internetin a number of ways. I would suggest starting out with a simple test – Ookla Speedtest.
Step 3
Find a reliable VPN
If you’ve done a basic first test on your internet health, and you still think something may be awrywith your ISP,start researching VPNs. There are dozens of reasons to get a VPN, and just as many factors to take into account while searching for the best virtual private network, such as security, price
Step 4
Compare your speed with the VPN
Next, test your internet speed somewhere like Fast.com or Speedtest.net. Compare the results with the same test when your VPN is active. The use of any VPN should cut your speed considerably, so the speed tests should show a discrepancy, with the VPN-active speed being notably slower than the VPN-inactive speed. But a VPN also hides the IP address that providers use to identify you, so if your speed test with the VPN is faster than without the VPN, that may mean your ISP is targeting your IP address for throttling.
Step 5
Fix your internet
OK, this is the hard part. Even if you find out your provider is throttling your internet, there may not be much you can actually do. Here are some suggestions;
- Use your VPN to maintain more consistent speeds. A VPN can’t solve a bad connection or other reasons behind your slow service, but it can mitigate throttling from unscrupulous ISPs.
- Call your provider and threaten to switch providers if they don’t stop throttling your internet. This might seem old-fashioned, and I can’t guarantee lasting results, but providers have responded positively to such tactics when I’ve used them.
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