Why is internet so ssslllllooooowww?

[Mike]

Greetings, NC

Sounds like the classic limited bandwidth dilemma.

You can think of your household's "bandwidth" as the amount of information that can be going in/out of your house via the internet at any one time; activities such as streaming movies/tv online, browsing the web, and online gaming all involve sending/receiving information via the internet, and thus take up the limited amount of bandwidth available in your household.

THIS is why streaming a movie via Netflix would cause other activities to become slower, as they are now competing for the limited bandwidth to send/receive information from the internet.

As for upgrading to a faster connection... your Internet Service Provider (ISP) does not have a magic throttle that speeds up or slows down your ability to connect to the internet quickly. Upgrading your "Internet Plan" will only increase your allotted bandwidth (which allows you to do more things at once) and this can be expensive.

I don't have much information about your current router, but I'll take your word that it is crappy. Upgrading your router every 4-8 years is a good idea, so if your router is really old, it wouldn't hurt to consider getting a new one. Please note, however, that the difference this will make in your internet connection "speed" will probably be unnoticeable and that a new router will not increase your household's bandwidth.

Hope this information can be of use to you,


Cheers!