If your internet connection speed suddenly slows down there are several variables that may be the problem. You'll need to investigate several things before concluding that you have a problem with hardware or that your service provider is short-ending you. A bit of troubleshooting is needed to put your finger on your speed problem.
There are several things you should look into. You’ll want to look at what applications are using your bandwidth in your home and who outside your network may be using the bandwidth you purchased from your service provider. Figuring out these variables and thus curtailing the drainage of your bandwidth will help you improve your internet connection speed.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Securing Your Router
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.
Everyone should have anti-virus and anti-spyware software on their computers. If you don't run them and update them regularly, you may have malware on your system that is slowing down both your PC and your internet speed. Update your software every week and scan your system for any offending parasites that could be draining your internet speed.
Sometimes malware does damage to your registry which can also slow you down. Use registry cleaners to remove and fix all registry errors and speed up your connection speed and computer speed.
Everyone should have anti-virus and anti-spyware software on their computers. If you don't run them and update them regularly, you may have malware on your system that is slowing down both your PC and your internet speed. Update your software every week and scan your system for any offending parasites that could be draining your internet speed.
Sometimes malware does damage to your registry which can also slow you down. Use registry cleaners to remove and fix all registry errors and speed up your connection speed and computer speed.
Who is Draining your Bandwidth?
If no one in your home is doing anything to drain your bandwidth then you'll need to look outside of your 4 walls. Could it be that your neighbor is connected through your router to the internet? They may be downloading files or otherwise using applications that are draining your bandwidth. They may not even know they are causing a problem if their router connects automatically to whatever available router is in range.
Your neighbors don't always connect to your router intentionally. Some wireless cards are set to automatically connect to the closest available network. Your neighbor may not even be paying attention that they are connecting through your router and therefore draining your bandwidth.
Your neighbors don't always connect to your router intentionally. Some wireless cards are set to automatically connect to the closest available network. Your neighbor may not even be paying attention that they are connecting through your router and therefore draining your bandwidth.
What is Draining your Bandwidth?
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.
The first place to check is in your own home. Children are notorious for downloading every game, movie or music file they can find. Check who is downloading or using bandwidth intensive applications on the internet.
Online games with other users across the world or street are big bandwidth suckers. Your kids are probably playing games like this all the time and you might be thinking that they are playing a game that was installed on the hard drive. Watching online video clips or movies or listening to streaming music are other bandwidth intensive activities. Kill all these applications and see if your speed improves.
The first place to check is in your own home. Children are notorious for downloading every game, movie or music file they can find. Check who is downloading or using bandwidth intensive applications on the internet.
Online games with other users across the world or street are big bandwidth suckers. Your kids are probably playing games like this all the time and you might be thinking that they are playing a game that was installed on the hard drive. Watching online video clips or movies or listening to streaming music are other bandwidth intensive activities. Kill all these applications and see if your speed improves.
Router Securing Tip
If you think other people are connecting to the internet using your router, there are a couple of ways to check this. First of all, look for the section in your router settings that lists the IP addresses of all the users or applications connected to the internet through your router. These IP addresses may be others on your network inside your home or they could be users outside your house. Another way to check if the slow internet speed is connected to your router use in some way is to disconnect your router and connect to the internet using your modem only. To do this you need to unplug the cable from your modem to your router. Next you need to unplug the cable that runs from your computer to your router and plug it into your modem instead. Connect to the internet using your username and password and check your internet connection speed. If there is a significant improvement, you know that your speed problem has something to do with router usage.
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