If you’re experiencing sluggish speeds, it may be tempting to call your provider and vent about the issue or wonder if there’s an internet outage. At YK Communications, we’re always happy to chat with our customers. However, there are many reasons why your streaming experience may seem lackluster - including COVID-19 Tech Overwhelm. If the buffering wheel or loading bar has got you in a tizzy, let us help by introducing one of several likely culprits.
As individuals across the U.S. are ordered to shelter in place and stay at home, more and more demand is placed on technology infrastructure. That includes your home network, but it also includes the larger exchanges and even software companies.
With an increase in employees working from home, students learning in a virtual classroom or if you’re just keeping your mind occupied, those low speeds may not be a local network issue.
If you share your network with other people, every time they make video calls, stream videos or download large files, it could be taking up your precious bandwidth.
Simply pausing or stopping these activities can increase your speed dramatically.
Some bandwidth-heavy activities are less obvious, like when your computer automatically syncs files or updates software. You can monitor the bandwidth of your router with third-party router firmware programs like DD-WRT or Gargoyle or a network monitoring tool like Glasswire.
These apps will help you figure out what is taking up all your bandwidth, and allow you to block or kill bandwidth-heavy apps and programs. Some of these apps can also detect malware that could be slowing down your connection.
With multiple users accessing Wi-Fi at once, this can slow your connection down for everyone on every device. Increasing speed can help. Call YK Communications at 361-771-3334 to learn more about upgrade options.
Some wireless electronic devices can also interfere with Wi-Fi signals. If you need help optimizing your home network configuration, learn more about Whole Home Wi-Fi from YK Communications.
The fact is, there is more demand on your home internet connection and bandwidth when multiple devices are connected.
Plus, many popular sites such as Facebook, Netflix, Zoom and Disney+ are experiencing slow speeds with significant traffic.
If you’re still concerned that there is an issue with your service itself or an internet outage, visit www.downdetector.com to check your favorite sites first.
During this time of hardship, you can stay at home together and get the fast speeds you’ve come to rely on with never-limited data by calling the professionals at YK Communications, who strive to help you do more at home.
