Network Speed & Connection Guide

Short answer: test with a cable first. If the cable is fast and Wi-Fi is slow, the issue is in your home. If both are slow at every hour, the issue is the line or the provider.

Step 1: Separate Wi-Fi from the line

Plug a laptop straight into the router and run a speed test. Then run the same test over Wi-Fi in the room where you have the problem. The gap between them tells you how much Wi-Fi is costing you.

Step 2: Look beyond download speed

Use the Ping and Latency Tool to judge ping, jitter and packet loss. Choppy calls on a fast plan almost always come from one of those three.

Step 3: Test at different times

Slow only on weekday evenings suggests congestion in your area. Slow all day suggests a problem with the modem, the cable or the plan.

Step 4: Restart with a purpose

Switch off the modem and router for 30 seconds, turn them back on and test again from the same place. Without the same test point, the comparison means nothing.

Step 5: Check what else is using the line

Cloud backups, game updates and phones syncing photos can quietly use most of your upload or download. Pause them and test again.

When to call your provider

If a cable test at a quiet hour gives less than half of your plan speed, write down three results with the date and time, then call. Those notes get you taken seriously. For help turning your numbers into a plan size, try the Bandwidth Calculator.