Let’s say you have
subscribed to a fast broadband Internet connection at home and you are getting
the expected download speeds that were initially promised by the ISP.
However, sometimes it
may happen that the speed of the same Internet connection slows down and then
even simple websites may take forever to load on your machine.
Troubleshooting your Slow Internet Connection
There can be several
reasons why you may be getting slower-than-usual Internet connection speeds.
For instance, you could be accessing the web during peak hours. Or your
download manager could be downloading files in the background thus consuming
all the bandwidth. Or, if you are accessing the Internet over Wi-Fi, maybe
you’re too far off from the wireless router.
Then there are
external factors that may slow down the Internet. You are probably getting
Internet through your existing phone line so if there’s a fault in the wiring,
that may negatively affect your connection speed. In fact, if your
Internet connection is not stable and keeps dropping off frequently, blame the
phone company.
Does Your Telephone Line Need Repair?
You don’t need any
special equipment to determine if your phone line is the real culprit but
before we get there, let’s run a few simple tests to discount all the other
possibilities.
Test 1.
Power-cycle the router and modem – unplug the cables, wait for couple of minute
and then power on the modem followed by the router.
If you have been
experiencing connectivity issues after a power-outage, power cycling will most
probably fix the issue.
Test 2.
Close all applications including any firewalls and anti-virus software. Then
open speedtest.net to determine the actual download and upload speed of your
Internet connection.
If you have Wi-Fi at
your place, remove the router for a moment and connect the ADSL modem directly
to your computer’s Ethernet port via a physical LAN cable. Repeat the speed
test. Did you see any improvement in the connection speed?
Test 3.
To ensure that none of the viruses or spyware programs are responsible for your
slow Internet, open command prompt and run the following command:
netstat –b –f 5
This will easily help
you figure out if any of the programs on your computer are silently connecting
to the Internet without your knowledge. Should you find a strange process in
the netstat result listing, kill it through the Task Manager.
Test 4.
If your Internet speed woes aren’t over yet, it’s time to inspect the phone
line. No, you don’t have to climb that telephone pole as the stats from your
DSL modem /router will alone give the required data.
Open the web dashboard
of your modem /router and note the following values for the downstream
connection (not upstream). The fields are generally available under Statistics
–> ADSL.
ADSL Line Stats
1. Line Attenuation (or Loop Loss) – It measures how much signal is
lost between the phone exchange and your modem. Great the distance between the
exchange and your home, the higher the attenuation. Anything below 50dB is
considered acceptable.
2. Sync Speed (or Rate) – The speed at which the router connects to
the exchange equipment.
3. SNR Margin (or Noise Margin) – This represents the difference
between your current SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and the SNR that’s required to
serve a particular speed. If the SNR Margin is low, you may experience frequent
disconnections. Ideally, this should be 12dB or higher.
Once you have all
these values, paste them into the ADSL Calculator and it will give you an
estimate of the maximum speed that you get from the ISP.
If the SNR Margin is
low or the Line Attenuation is high or if the calculated maximum speed is lesser
than what you are paying for, the fault lies somewhere between your modem and
the phone exchange. Keep a record of all these values at different times of the
day and give your phone company a calls at its something that only they can
fix.
