how to increase bandwidth

Increase Bandwidth to Boost Your Internet Speed & Seamless Experience

How powerful your internet connection speed is highly dependent upon bandwidth. You might have witnessed many times that if your internet connection is good, all the things are done without getting delayed and smoothly. Instead, if the speed is low, it’ll take ages to load one simple website, forget playing online games, or watching your favorite YouTube video. So, it’s not a surprising thing if you question how to increase internet bandwidth.

Luckily, there are many ways to speed up your internet connection. Some are related to router and Wi-Fi, and some others are quite generic tips and tricks. In this article, we’ve tried covering some of the effective steps that can prove useful to increase internet bandwidth.

But before we dive into, let’s understand what’s bandwidth.

What’s Bandwidth ā€“ Definition & Details

Put simply, bandwidth means full information transferring rate of your Internet connection. It’s measured by how much data can be transferred through an internet connection in a given session. In other words, it’s the amount of data that are downloaded or uploaded on your computer in a certain period. Also, bandwidth is calculated in bps (bit per second).

Furthermore, bandwidth is predefined by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), your device, and the router. For example, when your ISP promises you to provide 100 Mbps speed, that doesn’t equate, you’ll always get that. Sometimes speed deters, and it can be due to multiple devices connected or else due to bandwidth issues.

Bandwidth is something like a two-land highway road where all the vehicles (data) travels at a similar speed. And, when the traffic is low, it can stay at optimal speed, but once it starts getting crowded, speed may differ from time to time. And, to solve this issue, more bandwidth is needed.

Is Your Bandwidth Sufficient or Not ā€“ How to Check

To verify whether you’re getting optimal bandwidth or not, you can verify using speed test and compare the result with the bandwidth promised by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). For instance, if you’re the only device connected and not downloading or uploading anything, you should get what your ISP has promised you. And, if you’ve more than one device connected and streaming content on it, then speed may deter.

Here’s How to Increase Bandwidth on Router

You might not know, but how much bandwidth you get also depends upon your router. The device is used for sending wireless signals for the devices connected to the internet connection. Most of the time, people overlook the router. So, it’s best to keep an eye on your router, and you might even end up getting an answer to your how to increase bandwidth question. Some of the common things you can do to increase bandwidth speed through the router are like:

Rebooting Router

Chances are there that once you reboot your router, the bandwidth issue may get solved. There’s a possibility that your router might be overused. Though it may sound unrealistic, but it’s possible. To solve it, reboot your router regularly or else enable automatic rebooting, so you don’t have to do it manually.

Change Location of Your Router

Suppose your router is kept near another electronic device like a cordless phone. Also, walls and doors can interrupt signals of the router. For solving this issue, you can try keeping it somewhere else in open space within your home, where the signals do not get blocked by other devices.

Dual ā€“ Bandwidth Router

If you’re using a Wi-Fi connection, it can get overcrowded if many routers are located at the same place. For example, a neighbor’s router comes across your device when you try connecting your Wi-Fi connection. And this can lead to lagging bandwidth. To overcome such things, you should get a dual-bandwidth router that uses two frequencies, namely 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz.
Moreover, the dual-bandwidth router allows you to choose one frequency in a given time, and some even allow you to access both frequencies concurrently. Also, you can switch between frequencies whenever the wireless connection gets overcrowded.

Updating the Router’s Firmware

Routers have their software, also called firmware. Similar to other software, it should be updated as and when updates are provided. And that’s one of the major reasons why you must access your router’s admin panel once in a while, as you can get to know about it from there if any update is available. Also, you can tweak around your router settings and see if it works.

How to Increase Bandwidth on Wi-Fi

Also, if you’re not getting proper Wi-Fi signals and it’s weak, then issues can arise when receiving bandwidth. For that below are some of the tweaks you can try for enhancing your Wi-Fi signals:

BT iPlate to Boost Broadband Speed Up to 60%

The BT iPlate, another name of Broadband Accelerator, can significantly prove helpful in increasing bandwidth speed as much as up to 60%. It isolates the wires on your extension wiring, which can avoid intervening. It’s one of the cheap options. However, it might not work all the time as there’s no such guarantee that it’ll work for everyone.

Enhancing Wi-Fi Range Through Wi-Fi Repeaters

A wireless repeater device can come handy for bouncing off signals in large areas. It’s one of the ideal ways to increase your wireless range.

Also, if you can, then it’s a good option to invest in a powerline adapter. It can prove helpful by using the wiring in any space for distributing Wi-Fi signals. Other than that, you can also go for a powerline adapter. It helps in disseminating Wi-Fi signals by utilizing the wiring in any given space. In other words, powerline adapters are used for converting empty sockets into a wireless hotspot.

Some Common Tips & Tricks to Increase Bandwidth

If you’re still not getting any result after making the change on Wi-Fi connection or router, below are some other common tricks you can apply, and most probably it will work:

VPN Solution

VPN solution by popular providers comes with many benefits. And the important one also helps in avoiding one of the common issues of bandwidth throttling. Yes, it’ll prevent your ISP (Internet Service Provider), so you’ll be able to maintain your privacy, and your ISP won’t be able to know what you’re doing on the internet.

Prefer Wired Connection Instead of Wireless

Many might not be aware, but the wired internet connection provides better speed instead of wireless connections. So, it’s best to minimize wireless connection wherever you can and use wired ones to enjoy better internet speed. Also, it’s best if you can go for an Ethernet cable.

Change or Update Web Browsers

Sometimes it happens that browsers can affect the quality of your internet access. Thus, it’s best to keep your browsers updated with the latest updates. And, if the issues keep on arising even after the updates, then it’s best to try changing your browser.

Turn Off Unwanted Apps That Runs in Background

Many apps start running automatically in the background, and it can include some unnecessary ones, and you might not even know about it. Such apps can slow down your system and may even affect your internet experience by consuming bandwidth.

Also, to improve the overall performance and throughput capacity of the network, it’s best to disable those unnecessary apps that run in the background each time your OS loads or else go to the settings and uncheck the box that allows loading those apps automatically.

Scan Your Computer Using Antivirus

Many times, your devices get infected by viruses, and it can result in slow internet. Therefore, it’s preferable to keep your antivirus program on and updated and also run regular scans. By doing so, you’ll keep your device free from viruses that can affect your internet speed.

Tweak Around Your Router’s QoS (Quality of Service) Settings

Routers offer QoS rules customized settings that tell routers what type of traffic should be taken into priority. And it helps in deciding the priority for the consumption of bandwidth. So, it would help if you tried to tweak around according to your needs. For example, giving more preference for downloading instead of YouTube videos.

Keep Your Device Updated

Suppose your computer system, laptop, or smartphone is quite old. Then you may experience slow internet mainly because the wireless connection of such devices supports older wireless standards that should be updated for smooth and lag-free internet experience. If the new updates aren’t compatible with the older one, then the only option is to get the new device.

Increasing Bandwidth Through Your Internet Service Provider

Many times, ISP proves helpful in solving such internet-related issues. As you’ve got your internet connection from them, they know well what’s going on with your internet. Sometimes, it happens that they might throttle your internet. For such issues, you can:

Contact Your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Many times, it happens that you get the solution once you contact your ISP. Yes, your ISP knows best about your internet as they’re the ones from whom you’ve got the connection. Also, they come with better bandwidth offers.

Throttling of Bandwidth

Many ISP (Internet Service Provider) involves in bandwidth throttling, which results in low bandwidth means slow internet. So, if you find that your internet speed is slower than usual at any given time, then there’s some chance that your ISP might be throttling your internet. No doubt, it let you manage internet network congestion, but bandwidth throttling can become an issue if you’re interested in streaming any service such as your favorite show on Netflix.

Summary

If you’ve gone through the above-mentioned Smart DNS vs. VPN table, then it’s clear that you understood the difference between the two. Now, which one to use, if that’s the question, then without giving much time into it, I’ll say a VPN service is a good option for users.

A Smart DNS only bypass the regional restrictions and unblocks your favorite content, but it does not encrypt your traffic, so your online activity is completely exposed to trackers like cybercriminals and ISP’s. On the other hand, VPN encrypts your internet traffic, while changing your IP address, which helps in maintaining the data confidentiality.