Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Enjoy Faster Internet Speed

If you are renting equipment from them, stop. A decent modem and wifi transmitter are only about a hundred bucks each. You'll need a modem that's compatible with your service provider, but that info will be on their website.

The modem gets the signal from the cable and passes it to the transmitter. You will need to upgrade the transmitter every five or six years, probably, just to keep up with security advancements. But the modem will be good to go unless it fails.

I use Xfinity. When I replaced their rented modem, I had to call them with the model number of the new unit so they could unlock it remotely. That's all it took.

I agree with not renting the equipment but I will say modems don't last as long as they used to. If you get 3 to 4 years you've done well. Almost like a car battery, you can bet on them dying at a certain time.

A lot of upgrades going around, a lot of covid money went to providers to speed things up for home workers. We just got 1gig fiber at our house.

I was "forced" to buy a new phone cause my old one didn't support 5G. I still don't have 5G service, only 4G.

I'd check your computer. What processer is it running? These days new equipment is capable of faster speeds. How much memory do you have? new computers are pretty reasonable unless you are an engineer and require huge terabytes of storage. What kind of IT connection do you have and how far is it from the source? With conventional DSL the farther from the Central Office you get the slower the rates are. With Starlink you pay for what you get. If you are on a fiber feed and have a good provider you can get pretty fast if your equipment can handle it. Expect your download speed to be faster than your upload. Also your provider may be using a copper feed instead of fiber which is becoming the norm these days. Copper won't transmit near what fiber will and there are different grades of fiber that transmit different colors of light instead of just one giving huge capabilities. Also it requires better Multiplexers to handle all that gee whiz.
If your computer is over five years old just get another one. i can't help you with your provider.

The sudden slowdown occurred simultaneously across all my devices, MacBook, AppleTV, Fire Stick, and iPhone. I had assumed it was temporary, and would go back to normal at some point. Then I got the email.

I have a rather complex home network. There's the fiber-optic converter (it's a modem of sorts even if they don't call it a "modem"), two routers, and four or five switches all driving numerous streaming devices, smart TVs, PCs, Macs, and camera systems. Occasionally, internet access seems to slow down. Sometimes it's my ISP's problem but there have been several occasions that rebooting my entire network took care of the speed issues. My network has evolved over time from dirt simple to somewhat complex and I have used numerous ISPs offering various methods of delivery including many different modems suitable for the purpose, and the modems seem to have always been the weak spot---even though I HAVE had switches and routers fail occasionally.

The first thing to try is a hard reboot of your router or router/modem.
Some times ghosts connect to your signal.

Of course, we assume that you did the classic 'pooter thing of unplugging the router for a minute, right? That's often all it takes to get the thing "unclogged" as it were.

Just did mine as my usual "oneth of the month" maintenance. Speed check improved quite a chunk.

I will try this. I'm assuming you mean pull the plug, wait a minute, and plug it back in.

My service went out just before the NFL playoffs started, and I called repair. The problem turned out to be a break in the line well upstream, and it took a day or so to find it and get me going again. When I called, the support lady told me I was earmarked for a change of equipment. No cost, no problem, a few days after they got my service running again, a fellow came out and gave me all new equipment. Furthermore, about a month later, I got a notice saying that they were increasing my internet speed considerably because I was now on new equipment.

No charge. No big hassle. No complaints. I'm happy. It's not always a conspiracy.