Internet Speed is so slow

Question

So I am starting to get very annoyed at my slow internet. I live a hour and a half or so from London and 45 mins from Camebridge and I don't understand how my internet speed can possibly be as slow as it is. Sometimes I can't watch youtube videos in 144p that I think is just not acceptable.

I did a speed check on http://www.speedtest.net and I was horrified with my results. My results were:

ping: 66ms download speed: 0.47mbps (that is quick for me its normally 0.12) upload speed: 0.36mbps

I am on the BT with up 16mbps and unlimited. In addition I have the most up to date hub. Just to add I cannot get infinity as there isnt fiber optic in my area.

Ok so about my router. It is the Bt Home Hub 4 that I recently upgraded.

About my household. So I have six people in my family who are all avid users of the internet. I did these tests while everyone was out though. All the devices in the house connect wirelessly.

In addition to this I don't know if this would be a factor, but i have a plug in wifi to extend my connection to the other side of the house. It is by devolo.

I just did a check and the town (that is less than five minutes) from me and the same provider I am with does 36mbs. Now either this is lying or I have a problem. I have the latest security for my mac aswell as checked for viruses. What is the problem. Please help!

Thanks all.

Any ideas will be much appreciated

Answer 1

Wifi can be your cause for slowness. A misconfigured wifi network, as well as how far you are away can all degrade your performance. To fully thest this, you should connect using a cable to your router and do a speedtest. If possible connect directly to your modem and do a speedtest. If the speedtest is still slow, the problem is not at your side, but on the internet service provider (ISP) side. In this case, you'll have to contact support.

Lets assume that it does work okay with just your pc using the cable in the modem (without the router connected). Now test the cable through the router and see if you still get the good speeds. If not, your router is doing something or one of the clients is.

Lets assume that with the cable in the router, and the router connected via cable to the modem, everything is working perfectly, you have a wifi problem.

Test if you have good speeds if you place a device very close to the antennas of the wifi. If its not good, its a configuration setting for wifi that is slowing things down, either on your client or the router. If it works okay, then it is either the distance to the router that just is too far or there are surrounding interference signals.