6 Tips to Improve your Internet Speed on Quarantine
Last week, we shared some recommendations on how to work from home effectively because of the quarantine, but today we want to focus specifically on your Internet routine and improving its speed.
We’re all aware that the global pandemic of COVID-19 has been keeping many of us home, and as a result, we’re spending more time online than we used to. This has caused a general decrease in Internet speed across the world, which has been confirmed by Internet providers and the data from Speedtest.
The expansion of lockdown measures through Europe has a direct correlation with these results, as there’s more traffic of people who tend to increase their online routine at the same time. This begs the question, is there something we can do to speed up our connection during these times? If you’ve read the title of the article, you probably know the answer.
Let’s get into six different practices that will help you solve that problem.
1. Use a cable instead of Wi-Fi
Most of us are used to connecting to the Internet via Wi-Fi. It’s easier and you can do it from any place in your house. However, it turns out that using an ethernet cable can considerably improve your velocity. These cables are connected directly to the router and according to Ofcom, the regulator of communications of England, this method is guaranteed to provide a faster and more secure connection.
Ethernet cables are also pretty affordable with prices around $10, so there’s no excuse to at least give it a try.
2. Change the position of your router
In case your household has many devices that require an Internet connection, the next best thing to consider is the position of your router. Where you decide to locate it will impact the quality of the connection you end up receiving. A lot of people don’t give it much thought and just leave their router in a place that looks nice, but in order to speed up your Internet, you need to take into consideration where are most of your devices in relation to it.
Any wall, door, window or piece of furniture that’s standing between your router and your devices will diminish the strength of the connection.
Remember that Wi-Fi travels in expansive waves which get transmitted in 360 degrees. We advise you to take the time to think of a strategic spot to place your router so that it’s at the center of your devices or as close as possible to them for higher speed performance.
3. Reduce your Video-Calls to the minimum
Do you really need to see the face of every co-worker during online meetings? Using video-calls frequently will overload your connection not only for you but for other users at the same time. Most apps like Zoom, Skype and others have the option to turn off your camera and keep the group call, which will reduce those endless conversations of “can you see me?” “can you hear me?” and speed up your meetings in the process.
Sure, when it comes to family, friends and your significant other, things can change. We all want to see our loved ones, especially if we’re stuck home. Let’s just try to make those video-calls at specific times where internet usage is not at its peak.
4. Distribute your working hours
Unless you have a deadline to deliver your work for the day, working from home gives us the benefit of organizing our own working hours outside peak hours. You don’t need really to keep a 9 to 5 routine.
Try to distribute your hours throughout the day in blocks and consider when you really need to be connected to the Internet. Sure, you might need to do some research online, but when that’s done, maybe you can carry on offline through Word or Excel to lighten up the connection.
On that note, also try to disconnect any device you’re not using at the moment. If you’re constantly going from your computer to your phone to your gaming console, then you’ll end up saturating the network. You’ll improve your Internet performance to the maximum if you keep those devices offline or in airplane mode while you’re focusing on something else.
5. Reduce the quality of video streaming
Reproducing online videos on YouTube and movies on your favorite streaming platform tends to consume a lot of Internet data. Especially when you can rise up that quality up to Full HD, 4K or more. We all like to look at our entertainment with a crispy clean image, but depending on your screen size you might not really need to go that high.
If you’re watching from your phone, for example, try reducing your quality to 720p and you might not notice that much of a difference. YouTube allows you to control the quality of any video, so give it a try and you’ll see that the lower the quality the higher the speed of the connection.
6. Block ads and malware
Online advertisements fill your bandwidth with animations and videos that slow down your connection. Besides, they’re also quite annoying to encounter when you’re trying to work or watch your favorite YouTube channel.
Another thing that will influence your Internet performance not only on speed but also on its security, is malicious software or malware for short. You might not realize it, but malware may be already hidden on your computer or some website that you tend to visit.
We advise you to use blocking software against ads and malware to protect yourself and speed up your browsing experience. That’s why we created an extension that can do just that and more for free. We call it Online.io and if you like what you’ve read so far, you could try it out as well.
We block every threat to your computer so you can enjoy a faster and safer internet. Just like it‘s meant to be!
Now that you know how to improve your speed and reduce Internet traffic, hopefully, you can enjoy a better experience from home. Let’s try to make the best of this situation and respect the lockdown to end this together.
Stay healthy and help to flatten the curve!
