Internet is slow on mobile: why and how to fix it

slow Internet

The Internet has become a fundamental part of the lives of many users, users who have become accustomed to solving their doubts at Google, enjoying their favorite content via streaming, playing online games with other people ... What if the internet is slow? The first thing we must do is find the problem to apply one solution or another.

In this article we are going to show you what are the causes that our internet connection is slow and how we can solve it. The problems that can affect the speed of our internet connection affect both a computer andor to a mobile device, so the solution to the problem is the same in both cases.

What is our connection speed?

Measure internet speed on mobile

The first thing we must do before find a solution to a problem that may not exist, is to check if the speed of our connection is adequate and it is not our ISP (internet provider) that is causing the problem.

The best website for check the speed of our internet connection is what Netflix offers us through fast.com (It is not necessary to be a client of this platform).

Before performing the test, whether we are connected to a mobile network or a Wi-Fi network is to close each and every one of the applications we have in the background that may be consuming bandwidth.

You are using a VPN

Best Free VPNs

VPN connections allow us surf anonymously on the internet. However, since it is a connection that is made through external servers that are located in other countries, the connection speed is much lower than what our mobile operator can offer us, either through mobile data or through a Wi-Fi connection.

If you regularly use a VPN to surf, if you want to gain speed, the first thing you should do is deactivate it. If even so, the connection speed is still slow, I invite you to continue reading the article until you find the problem that affects the connection speed of your smartphone.

Our provider has connection problems

If after measuring the speed of our internet connection, the number shown differs greatly from the operator claims to offer us, we must contact them and check what is the problem that is affecting our connection.

As I have commented in the previous paragraph, before making this measurement, we must close all applications that can consume data in the background so that the measurement is as faithful as possible to reality.

We don't have enough coverage

mobile coverage

If the coverage of our smartphone is poor, we will not only notice it in the quality of the calls, but it also affects the internet connectivity. If our internet connection works at a much slower speed than usual, we must look at the coverage bar located at the top of the screen.

In addition, we must also check if next to the coverage bar, the type of connectivity we have is shown, be it 3G, 4G or 5G. Each of these numbers indicates what type of mobile internet connection we have on our smartphone if we talk about mobile data coverage. In this case, the solution is to change your position to seek better coverage.

Share WiFi with other mobiles
Related article:
How to share your WiFi with another mobile, tablet or computer?

If the Wi-Fi connection, represented by an inverted triangle, does not show all coverage bars, is a symptom that we are very far from the router or the corresponding repeater, so we must change position to recover the maximum possible number of coverage bars and we want to increase the connection speed.

Have you run out of mobile data?

Although data rates in some countries have risen to several tens of GB, not all users have that opportunity. If you have a prepaid rate or a limited data plan, it is possible that if your mobile internet connection is slower than normal, it is because you have exhausted the monthly data quota.

change ip
Related article:
What is and how to change the IP of our mobile

In these cases, the best we can do is use our provider's app to check if we still have mobile data to consume or if we have reached the limit and the provider has considerably lowered the speed, a speed that only allows us to send WhatsApp messages.

We are connected to a 2,4 GHz Wi-Fi network

5GHz Wi-Fi vs. 2.4GHz Wi-Fi

When we are connected to a Wi-Fi network, the connection speed it does not depend solely on how close or far we are from the router, but also, we must take into account the type of Wi-Fi network to which we are connected. The most modern routers offer us two types of connection:

  • 2.4 GHz. This type of network offers greater coverage but with a lower connection speed than those offered by 5GHz networks.
  • 5 GHz. This type of network rewards connection speed over coverage, so it is necessary in most cases, to have the odd signal repeater to expand its coverage.
WiFi Direct
Related article:
How to find the WiFi password on Android (from saved connections)

To differentiate between both networks generated by the same router, we just have to look at the name completion SSID. 5GHz networks use 5G termination natively.

If later the user has changed the name to another that allows easy identification, the only way to differentiate them is through a speed test or by asking the owner of the network.

Wi-Fi signal interference

WiFi password

The walls and, above all, some electrical appliances, are the main elements that can interfere with the signal of mobile and Wi-Fi coverage. If in our home we have an appliance that is older than Methuselah, it is likely that these are not sufficiently isolated and may generate interference in the coverage.

WiFi authentication error
Related article:
What does WiFi "Authentication Error" mean and how to fix it?

The solution is to replace the appliance and / or move away from the walls (especially if they are made of stone) to reduce the number of interferences that affect the signal of mobile coverage and Wi-Fi.

The router is down because of another connection

Netflix

Streaming video platforms (YouTube, Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, Twitch….) consume a lot of bandwidth routers when they are running.

If we see how the connection speed of our device is not normal, the first thing we should check is if a family member or work colleague (it depends on where we are) you are using such a platform.

Install Netflix on an unsupported device
Related article:
Install Netflix on unsupported devices

If you are not consuming video content, the reason that can also affect the bandwidth is found in the use of apps to download movies and other content.

In these cases, the only solution is to wait for user to finish to consume the content through the internet or that temporarily stops downloads if we urgently need a stable connection speed.

The website we visit is slow

slow mobile

If the web page to which we have connected takes a long time to load, it is likely that the problem is not in our connection, but in the server where the page is located.

A page that can be hosted on a computer like the one we have in our home, so the loading speed is much lower than what we can find on most websites.

It is also likely that the problem is not from the server, but rather from apPunctual ico in the visits that the web page is receiving. DDoS attacks are denial of services attacks that bring down servers by making many requests together to the same web page, a web page that takes a long time to load and that in the long run, if the server is not well protected, it ends up falling and is temporarily unavailable.

Lack of free space on the computer

Why can't I download apps

Although the lack of storage space does not directly affect the connection speed, if it does at the same time device performance, a performance that is much slower than usual that also affects the loading speed of web pages or applications that use the Internet.

To free up storage space on our mobile device, we can use the application Google files, one of the best applications available in the Play Store to quickly free up space through applications that we do not use, files that we have downloaded, empty the application cache ...

Files by Google
Files by Google
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free

They are stealing our Wi-Fi signal

WiFi Analyzer

If other than us, no one else is actively using our internet connection, it is possible that one of our neighbors is taking advantage of it and you are using it to download content, access streaming video platforms ...

For check if they are not stealing Wi-Fi, we can make use of the Wi-Fi Analyzer application, an application that scans all the devices connected to the Wi-Fi network and shows us their corresponding identification.

If we do not recognize any of these devices (they are usually identified by the device model), we have detected the problem. The simplest solution, although it is a bit cumbersome, goes through change password for Wi-Fi network. But, this time, you must use a secure password that includes uppercase, lowercase, numbers and if possible any special characters.

Once you change the password on the router, you must also change it on each and every device that connect to the internet using the SSID. This is a process that can take us more or less time, but in the long run, it will allow us to prevent the same or other neighbors from reconnecting to the internet.


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