CyberGhost Privacy Center How to increase internet speed in 10 easy steps Adina Ailoaiei Adina Ailoaiei 1 year ago Increase your internet speed Content 10 Easy Ways to Increase Your Internet Speed First, measure your internet speed 1. Place the router under the microscope 2. Check your internet cable 3. Get an Ethernet cable 4. Use optimal DNS settings 5. Buy a Wi-Fi Extender 6. Block ISP restrictions 7. Make sure your systems are up to date 8. Use all the bands that your router offers 9. Select a different Wi-Fi channel for your router 10. Get a better router FAQ Slow internet is the worst! Even studies show that clunky Wi-Fi connections are the number one annoyance of the modern age. If your downloads take forever, your Zoom calls are a nightmare, and your games lag every now and then, I feel your pain. Luckily, you can get your internet connection into the fast lane with a few quick tweaks, and I'm here to tell you all about them. Keep in mind that faster connection speeds do not mean a safer and more secure connection. Encrypt your connection and keep cyber threats at bay with CyberGhost VPN. Now without further ado, let's tune in! 10 Easy Ways to Increase Your Internet Speed In this article, I will list 10 easy ways to increase your speed, starting with simple tips and moving to more technical ones. Here's a quick overview: Place the router under the microscope. Check your internet cable. Get an ethernet cable. Use optimal DNS settings. Buy a Wi-Fi extender. Block ISP restrictions. Make sure your systems are up to date. Use all bands of your router. Select a different Wi-Fi channel for the router. Get a better router. I'll go into more detail about each of these later in the article, but before you start debugging, you should first find out if your internet speed is... really slow. Cyber attacks and online threats will also bring your online speed to a halt. Protect your connection from snoopers and prevent slow speeds caused by malware with CyberGhost VPN. Our fast VPN servers make online surfing a breeze, and our military-grade encryption keeps your connection safe from intruders. Get better speed First, measure your internet speed Before we get into how to increase your internet speed, we need to establish your baseline. There are many speed test providers, but they all give you three basic details about your internet connection: Your ping or latency. Your download speed. Your upload speed. If these words do not mean much to you, do not worry, I will explain everything. Your ping/latency Ping (sometimes called latency) is the time it takes for data to leave your device, reach the server, and then return to you. It is measured in milliseconds (ms), so the lower the ping, the faster your internet speed. Ping is important in almost everything you do online, but we've started to associate it with online gaming. It's very clear how high ping affects responsiveness when playing games, so it's a good indicator of your overall internet performance. A table detailing the required latency for various online activities. Your download speed Don't be fooled by the words here. Your download speed indicates how fast you can get any data from the internet; it is not exclusive when you click the download button. We measure download speed in megabits per second (Mbps), and the higher the download speed, the faster your internet connection. When you're online, you're constantly downloading something, even if you don't realize it. Visiting a website? You are actually downloading data to display it. Do you read your emails? You download them first. Are you streaming a movie? You guessed it; you download data all the way. It's hard to say definitively what a "good" download speed is because it depends on what you're doing online. Here is a rough sketch of what a good performance should look like. Table with detailed data on average download speed and performance evaluation Your upload speed The upload speed depends on how fast your internet connection allows data to be sent from your device. Just like download speed, we also measure in megabits per second (Mbps). The higher it is, the faster you can upload data. Upload speed plays a key role when broadcasting live from home, but it also determines your quality during video calls, video conferences and online video games. An upload speed of 5 Mbps is generally a good speed for most online activities, but it depends on factors such as your ISP's cable provider and network configuration. Check out this rough estimate of recommended upload speeds when streaming: Table detailing average upload speed and performance evaluation. Before running the speed test, make sure your browser is the only software running on your device. It is best to disable: ➡ Torrent applications. ➡ VPN application. ➡ Streaming application. ➡ Network monitoring application. ➡ Online games and launchers. Turn off all downloads or uploads to get more accurate data in the test. Okay, now that you're all up to speed (pun intended), you're ready for the test. Compare your numbers to your plan Now the moment of truth: do you have slow internet? Check how these numbers compare to what you should be getting from your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Whether your numbers can be upgraded is entirely up to them and your subscription. For example, if you're on a 15Mbps plan, you won't be able to get a faster connection, no matter how many tricks you try. Unless you upgrade your plan. The industry rule of thumb is that getting 70-80% contract speed is acceptable. Pro-Tip: Read the contract from your ISP. It should state what you can get from the service. No matter what you do, you won't be able to bypass data caps or reroute your ISP's infrastructure to change your base speed. For below-average speeds, check with your ISP for technical issues in your area. Outages or maintenance outages usually don't last more than a day or two, after which your speed should return to normal. If everything is fine with your ISP, but your internet is still slow, it's time to put on your detective hat and see what's going on. 1. Place the router under the microscope Sometimes with slow speed, your router is the main culprit. Your router provides all the connectivity. It's natural to become confused or overworked from time to time. Restart the router TEXT Let's start with the oldest trick in the IT support handbook: have you turned it off and on again? Sometimes the answer is that easy. Restart your router by following these 5 simple steps: Turn it off by pressing the power button on the back. Unplug it from the outlet. Wait at least 30 seconds. Plug it back in. Turn it back on. This will clear the cache where your router stores data. If it stores any errors, it will affect the online performance.
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