Is your Internet speed slow?  Are you getting the speed promised by your provider? Well, there are ways to find out, but they are not foolproof.  Before I started my company, I worked for an Internet Service Provider.  We got calls all the time from people claiming their “Internet was slow.”
So many factors can contribute to a slow Internet connection, so do not immediately blame your ISP.  First, how old is your computer?  Believe it or not, your computer may not be able to handle a high speed connection well. If your computer is over four years old, the weak link in the speed equation may be on your desk.
Second, if you have more than one computer hooked to your Internet connection (also called a network), the other computers may be hogging all of the bandwidth (amount of information that may flow between you and the Internet).
Finally, run a few tests.  I recommend testing your speed at SpeedTest.net and DSL Reports.  You will be measuring two things: upload speed and download speed.  Typically, your download speed will be much higher.  Write those numbers down and call your ISP.  Find out if that is close to what they promised you.  If not, there may be a problem and they can help you figure it out.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 11:59 am and is filed under Newspaper Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.