7 Reasons Why Your Mobile Internet Speeds Are Slow
Table of contents:
Overview
Everyone despises a slow internet connection, especially when utilizing cellular data and the connection is slow. A slow internet connection takes forever to open webpages, and streaming music or video without buffering becomes nearly impossible.
There are various variables that can slow down mobile internet speed. If your mobile internet speeds are poor, it could be due to one of the following factors:
1. Using Multiple Apps Simultaneously
When you are using multiple data-hogging apps at the same time then it can clog your network’s bandwidth and slow down the internet. Along with applications, if you are running an activity that is also bandwidth extensive such as streaming a video on YouTube, streaming on Netflix, or downloading multiple files then these can also slow down your mobile data. If you want to have fast mobile internet then you will need to pause these activities and apps & use only one of them at a time.
2. Poor Signal Strength
Mobile data speed is also affected by the strength of your connection and the signal quality in your area. You may check the signal strength by checking at the status bar on your phone and counting how many signal bars there are. The connection speed will be greater if the status bar has a bigger number of bars.
Another technique to see if the network quality is the issue is to talk to other people in your region who are on the same network as you. If they are having connectivity problems, you will need to file a complaint with your network provider about poor internet.
3. Incorrect Network Settings
A very common reason why people get slow internet speeds or are even unable to access the internet is because of the phone’s network settings. Network settings are very important for your phone so that it can make a connection with the ISP and transmit data to and from your phone. If the phone’s network settings aren’t configured properly or you edited the network conjuration then you will need to reset all the network-related settings in order to fix this problem.
Most of the time, the problem occurs when you change the WAP address or other IP addresses such as 192.168.254.254 from the network settings due to which your phone is not able to access the internet. Resetting all the network-related settings to factory defaults fixes this problem.
4. Data Limit Exceeded
Another common reason why you are getting slow mobile data speeds is that you have hit the data cap or data usage limit. Since mobile data is limited and when you hit the data cap then your network provider slows down your internet speeds on purpose to ensure that you don’t exceed the limit of your data plan too fast and end up paying for high network rates.
If you feel like you have been using a lot of internet and all of sudden the mobile data speeds start to get slow then you should check with your ISP to make sure that you haven’t exceeded the threshold, otherwise, you will have to work with slow speeds.
If you use a mobile data SIM on a portable router then after you exceed the data limit, you might see a popup on the default gateway i.e 10.0.0.1 that tells you that you have exceeded the data cap.
5. Network Congestion
The speed of your mobile data could also be due to network congestion. Mobile data is speedier during off-peak hours, such as when people are sleeping or not at home, but during peak hours, when too many people are using the internet at the same time, network congestion occurs, reducing the amount of bandwidth available to each user.
During peak hours of the day, when people return home from work and holidays, most people suffer network congestion. You have no choice but to notify your network provider if there is network congestion.
6. Old SIM Card
If you’re using an old SIM card, you might be experiencing poor internet connections. New SIM cards are available from network providers that support the latest cellular technologies and give higher internet speeds and connectivity. Because older SIM cards lack the latest technology, they are unable to handle the latest cellular technology and can only provide limited internet speeds.
To experience high-speed internet, make sure you visit your network provider’s location and purchase the most recent 4G SIM card.
7. Not Using The Best Network Available
If you are not using the best network available then you will be facing slow mobile internet speeds. Currently, the latest cellular data technology is 5G, which is better than 4G and 4G is better than 3G in terms of internet connectivity and speeds. Although smartphones use the best connection by default, sometimes smartphones revert back to older network types if the new one is not available temporarily.
For instance, if 4G is not available temporarily then smartphones themselves switch to 3G in order to access the internet and lose the 4G connectivity due to which you may be experiencing slow mobile data speeds. You go to the network settings and make sure that the latest option i.e 5G or 4G (whichever is available) is selected.
