Upon the enlisting of the most influential phenomena of the 21st century, the internet will be named. Just think about how much of a role it plays in our daily routine. We wake up to checking our social media apps for messages from family and friends from the night. We tell Alexa to use the internet to inform of the news and weather while getting ready. On our way to the office, the internet helps us know which route has traffic and which route does not. We talk to our loved ones at home and communicate with our colleagues while in the office through the internet as well. After coming back from work, we hang out with our friends, and even then, we use the global network to show the world what we are up to through social media.
In short, the internet is playing a huge role in our lives. As it influences the human race so much, it is no surprise that it comes up in conversations a lot. At the time when many explore what telecommunications companies are doing to improve the internet now, others discuss which scientist played the greatest role in the formation of the global network. Alongside, some also contemplate the reasons behind poor internet in the age of amazing technology like fiber. In the case that you are more like the latter set of people, there is no better place for you to be than here! You may ask how we can say this with so much assertion. Well, today, we are going to be discussing the causes of poor fiber internet speeds.
Fiber Optic Cable Bending
To make things tidier, a lot of people wrap their cables around their WiFi modem. What this does is that it bends the fiber-optic cable. This bending then decreases the speed of the internet. So if you also have wrapped your cable at sharp angles, try wrapping them in a disc with a large enough diameter so it does not harm the cable. Another time when people end up bending their cable is when they secure the cable on the wall. After all, there are corners and if the cable runs along the walls, it will bend at sharp angles.
Second-Rate Fiber Products
There are more than seven thousand internet service providers in the United States currently. Not all seven thousands of them provide quality services. While some like Xfinity do provide you with good infrastructure, many others simply don’t as they want to minimize their costs and increase their profit in the short run, even if it means their customers not being satisfied with the services. If you choose one of these service providers, likely, either your fiber patch cord, fiber optic connector, or fiber optic transceiver is not working optimally.
Device Interference
If a device nearby your router sends out signals at the same frequency as those of your router, interference may occur. This interference may then cause your internet speeds to slow down. To stop this from happening, you need to switch those devices with ones of the same kind but different frequencies. Interfering devices may include wireless baby monitors, cordless telephones, microwave ovens, and various Bluetooth devices.
Obstructions
Having something too close to the antenna of your router creates problems as it blocks the internet signals coming out of the antenna. These kinds of obstructions negatively impact the internet speeds you get on your devices as well. Obstructions may include cabinets, metals, mirrors, thick walls, glasses, and ceilings.
Poorly Angled Antenna
Just as obstructions block signals from the antenna, another object that can block the signals is the router itself. Ideally, the antenna should be angled vertically so none of it touches the surface of your router. However, if the antenna is placed horizontally where it’s practically laying on top of the router, signals are going to be disrupted and internet speeds are going to be impacted.
Wrongfully Placed Router
If we were to rank the causes of poor internet speeds, this one would come right at the top. If your house is large and you have placed your router in one corner of it, you cannot complain of having bad internet speeds in the other corner. This is why it is important to place your router in the center of your place and not at the periphery. Sometimes when your space is simply too large, having simply one router is not enough even if it is placed in the middle. For these kinds of situations, investing in a wireless repeater is the way to go. This device rebroadcasts internet signals in places that are relatively far away from your router but in the same building. Basically, you are getting two WiFi’s at the price of one as you will be getting coverage on double the area you normally get coverage in.
Viruses
If you want to slow down the functioning of the internet in a device, one of the most efficient ways is to install a virus in it. This is because viruses slow down the functioning of the device as a whole. There are different kinds of viruses. Some of them are described as follows:
- Web Scripting Virus: This type of virus inserts links inside the code of a website. These links create commands for the computer to install malicious software.
- Polymorphic virus: can evade the effects of anti-virus programs by excluding all types of immunity that your computer may have built against viruses. And yes, by immunity, we mean the antivirus software that you have installed on your computer.
- Resident virus: manages to store itself in the memory of your computer. It then initiates processes that lead to the corruption of different programs.
- Macro virus: These types of viruses spread through files of the like of Microsoft Word documents.
- Multipartite virus: As the name suggests, multipartite viruses can affect multiple parts of a computing device.
Conclusion
We hope all of this helps you understand what impacts your internet speed.
