Imagine the situation, you have a contracted Internet connection with a speed of 900 Mbps down and 600 Mbps up. You’ll notice though your Wi-Fi is slow and that not only does it not reach these speeds, but it is well below what might at first seem acceptable. If this has happened to you and you don’t know what’s going on, don’t despair. Keep reading because we’ll explain.

The first thing you need to know to understand what can happen is how a Wi-Fi connection works. These connection types are used radio waves that establish communication bi-directional between the connected device and the router. These waves have a specific range that can vary depending on various aspects such as the standard and band used, obstacles encountered along the way, and sources of interference.

If the distance is too great or if there are many obstacles and obstacles on the way, the connection speed will be significantly reduced. Its stability and signal quality can also be reduced to an unacceptable level due to the confluence of everything I told you above, and in extreme cases we could even be left without an Internet connection.

My Wi-Fi is slow: this is the most common reason

The most common reason why the Wi-Fi connection is slower than we expect is the distance and obstacles that separate us from the router. To give you an idea, I will tell you my own experience. I have my router in my office, and that room was the fastest download speed I’ve seen on a high-end laptop just over 400Mbps. It’s not bad, but I’m paying for the connection it gives me theoretical maximum of 900 Mbps.

The laptop was just over a meter and a half from the routerin the same room and without obstacles or large sources of interference. When I take the laptop into the living room, the distance becomes several meters and we already have obstacles (brick walls) and small sources of interference. In this case, the download speed dropped to values ​​between 150 and 275 Mbps. When moving the laptop to the main room, the walls multiply and in that case the speed dropped to less than 100Mbps.

The conclusion you should draw from this is simple, your Wi-Fi is slow and not reaching the maximum value of your connection because you may be very far from the router, and in addition it is affected by various obstacles and sources of interference. This is usually the most common reason and also the easiest to solve because you just need to get closer to the router. We can also use Wi-Fi repeaters to increase range and improve speed.

It’s almost impossible to reach the maximum speed of your Wi-Fi internet plan under normal circumstances, so don’t worry, it happens to almost all of us. However, if you are near the router and see that your Wi-Fi is slow, it is obvious the problem will be in another. In this case, you should consider three possible causes, which are also very common:

• It is possible for an intruder to steal your Wi-Fi. To fix this, change the network password.
• Many devices can be connected simultaneouslyor many active downloads draining bandwidth. Limit or limit both.
• The problem may come directly from the service, apps or websites you are accessing, or even that it is your provider’s fault. You won’t be able to do anything because the ball is not in your court.

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