Over the last several weeks, you have likely found reasons to do many odd jobs that you never had time for before being quarantined. While COVID-19 is harsh on a lot of us, many of us still must work. I, Mark Roemer, am no different than all of you. I found many excuses to forego daily chores when there was no quarantine. Now that we are stuck inside working from home, I am finding reasons to postpone doing work. So, now that we have done all the jobs around the house, it is time to do something a little bit more productive. I am going to share ways that you can increase your internet speed. As we all know, nothing can slow production down faster than the internet that won’t keep up with us.
Before we get to the ways to increase the traffic, let’s talk about what is likely happening in your house. If you have stumbled upon my blog, you are indeed looking for a way to increase your internet speed. At your home, you might have several people needing access to the bandwidth at the same time. You and your wife are on video conference calls; your kids are taking classes online, maybe you have a friend staying over that is watching television, the list is nearly endless. The problem is that with each connection, a little bit more of your speed is sacrificed. Now that we know what is happening let’s get to the ways you can prevent, or at least minimize, the problem.
How Fast You Are Going
No, I am not the cop that is pulling you over for speeding. I am just suggesting that you need to know how fast you were going to tell if you are getting better results with the list below.
The first thing you need to do is check what internet speed you are promised with your provider. It doesn’t much matter what it is; you need to know. Now, you are going to want to run an internet speed test. This can be done on several different sites. I recommend Ookla. You will want to make sure you do this at a time when no one is on their computer or using the internet in any way. Navigate to the site and click on “GO!” Once you get your result, compare that to your promised speed. Next, you are going to want to get everyone on the computer doing as much as they usually do. Then, you will want to rerun the test. This will tell you how well your computer is connected to the internet. Now, we can start to make that better!
Smart Devices
They may make our everyday lives a little simpler and even a little better, but they can be bandwidth hogs. Everything from your smartphone to your thermostat can be sucking your bandwidth dry. If you are one of the unfortunate ones that have a limited download allotment each month, you could wind up paying hundreds more in overages.
The rule is you need only to keep things connected that absolutely must stay connected. Some things you can unplug, others you will have to turn off. I suggest that when smart devices are not being actively used, they should be disconnected in some way.
Budget Your Screen Time
Should you find yourself running up against your monthly data cap, it might be time to re-evaluate the way you are using your internet. Since most companies are no longer charging for overage, you may still be able to have access to your internet but at a slower speed. This will make things very tough, with everyone trying to connect at the same time.
My recommendation is that you divide and conquer. In the morning, you or your spouse can do work, and the other can help the kids with school. Don’t forget to trade off this job. Neither one of you is going to want to get stuck with teaching the kids every day. The same goes for the evening. When one of you is having fun with the kids and cooking dinner, the other can work. Again, trading off is very important.
Should you find yourself needing help keeping everyone honest about their internet time, know that most internet companies have a dashboard that can tell you what device is connected and for how long.
Uncut the Cord
I never thought I would suggest this, but it may be time for you to consider uncutting the cord. That’s right, in this day and age, I am suggesting that you plug your computer back into the modem. It may not be the cool or hip thing to do, but it will garner you faster internet speeds.
The reason this happens is your modem gets the signal first. It then has to transmit the signal to your house. Your wireless devices need to receive that signal and tell the modem they are ready to talk. While it all happens in the blink of an eye, this can be felt by the end-user. Besides, modems are not capable of transmitting at the same speed as what is coming into the router. Yes, this can depend on the kind of internet connection you have, but generally speaking, this is the case. What I mean is that you may have 300 Mbps coming from your internet provider, but your modem is only capable of dispensing a third of that speed. While it does leave 200 Mbps for others to use, it does not help you get your work done any faster.
Conclusion
Working from home can be a fun and exciting change. I, Mark Roemer, have found that using the steps above has helped me to get my work done much faster. Remember, once the work is done, you can spend more time with your family. There is no traffic to contend with that will keep you from those precious hours with the kids. I wish you the best of luck in these uncertain times and hope this article has helped you in some way. Stay safe!