(05-10-2018 10:39 PM)geosnooker2000 Wrote: Can someone who is tech-savvy explain to me what my problem might be?
We just switched from ATT U-Verse where we were getting about 12-14Mbps on download and about 1.2 Mbps upload, to Xfinity (Comcast). I just ran a couple of internet speed tests and came up with 26.45/2.45, but everybody in the house says it seems slower. We get spinning dials while pictures try to load, our phones are constantly showing a notification that we are hooked up to wi-fi (didn't use to do that), and most times my facebook interface on my phone is sloooooowwww.
Any ideas?
It could be so many things.
1. What speed are you paying for? Check it out in your contract to make sure you are paying for that speed and not paying for higher speeds you aren't getting. I am amazed at how many people I know are paying for certain speeds and are only actually getting a fraction of that speed.
2. How many are you? That will definitely slow down your speed if you are 4-5 sharing your connection.
3. Hooked up to wifi is a good thing. It means that you aren't eating into your data plans with your phones and your wifi is bearing the brunt of your usage for all of your devices. It means that your phones are automatically connecting to your wifi, again a good thing. IF your phone and internet plans are separate, check how much data your phones are using. If the phones are using a small percentage, stay on your phones' networks to get the best performance without going over your data usage. This will free up your wifi for your most important devices.
4. If your ISP deems that you are hogging bandwidth they may be throttling you or slowing down your connection; check your contract and ask your ISP if they are doing this.
5. If your ISP isn't supplying your router, spend the money on a good one. $40 routers do a decent basic job, but they are useless when there are a few people connected to them with a lot of square footage to cover. The most important money you will spend is on a very good router, it will make a huge difference.
6. Ask your ISP about range extenders. You can either rent them or buy them and they cost as little as $25 each. They are very good when you need to connect in your basement or multiple floors.
7. Your router will give you the ability to connect on a 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz network. For the devices using the most bandwidth, connect to the 5Ghz network. For phones or other devices that use less bandwidth, connect to the 2.4Ghz network. It will be slower but it should be more than adequate for your phone.
8. Make sure your network is secure and password protected. If it isn't, maybe you are being slowed down by neighbors piggybacking on your connection.
The simple solution is to talk to your ISP, but if you have the above questions handy, they will help you get to the root of the problem(s).