How to Speed Up Your Internet
Most speed problems come down to Wi-Fi, congestion, or old hardware rather than your actual plan. Work through these in order and test after each change so you know what helped.
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Free fixes, in order
- Run a speed test on a wired device so you have a baseline to compare against.
- Restart your router. It clears congestion and often picks a cleaner channel.
- Move closer to the router or relocate it somewhere central and open.
- Switch demanding devices to the 5 GHz band, or wire them in with Ethernet.
- Pause background downloads, cloud backups, and updates while you need the speed.
- Switch to a fast DNS like Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) for snappier page loads.
When the problem is your plan
If a wired device hits your plan's speed but it still isn't enough for your household, the fix is a faster tier, not more tweaking. Count how many people stream, game, and call at once and size your plan to that.
Upgrades worth the money
- A modern Wi-Fi 6 router if yours is more than four or five years old.
- A mesh system for larger homes with dead spots.
- Wired Ethernet to the rooms that need rock-solid speed.