The last few days my internet has dramatically slowed down across several devices (iPhone, AppleTV, Fire Stick, and my computer) to where my devices are suddenly having trouble showing videos at anything but low resolution (takes longer to start, and has lots of stoppages where I have to wait for things to catch up again), whereas before, and for years, it's had no problem showing the highest resolution videos smoothly.

Today I get an email from my internet service provider that my old equipment can't handle the higher speeds they have now switched to, and it's time for an upgrade.

I think I smell a rat.

You don't necessarily have to change, if you're satisfied with your current band width and speed...

Do you mind sharing who your provider is?

I think you may have missed the point.

I agree with the OP. He's being played for an equipment upgrade or a higher internet subscription.

Maybe not. Internet technology's more complex than people realize.

Who's your provider, and what tech did they upgrade from, and what did they upgrade to?

One's provider should have a speed test feature on their website. Doing about 350mb/sec both up and down here.

Damn. Just dam

What speed are you buying/paying for?

What speed does ookla say?

How old is your modem/router?

Dont muddy the water with details…

🤔😏

Welp, you could just stick to your old router and bitch about the service. Or get a new one designed for the newer speeds. Progress is a bitch.

Was the email from dumfck911?

Did the upgrade throw in a rounda golf with a double ace?

Might wanta rethink this.

Your 1996 router just can’t pipe out 4K streaming from Pornhub. It’s gonna choke out.

Get Rocky Roland to send another one of his rebuilt hunter biden dumpster dives with unix or whatevs

🤪😂

Everything is a conspiracy these days...


Sad, really.

It's called "Planned Obsolescence".

Even if it was working perfectly fine, they will make it slow down and start screwing up just enough so you "have" to buy their new and supposedly improved technology.

Doesn't or didn't Apple do the same with cell phones?

Exactly. Verizon does this and fully admits it. I have a fixed price plan, internet speed dropped singificantly, then I was told the only way to get higher speeds was to turn in my old equipment and buy a higher priced plan at which time I would get new equipment. I took my equipment in and told them my suspicision and was told that's how they get customers on "modern plans."

They all do it.

Similar thing happened to me.

Paying for 300/300. Suddenly was getting slow/slow

Called AT&T they came and swapped out my gateway.

Guy was here 20 min. No charge. Runs great.

What an awful experience

Couple years ago Windstream/Kinetic installed fiber optics said you will get 100mbs free upgrade. Before the FREE UPGRADE, we had 20mbs. Then the problems started. It got so bad we finally called and complained about the stoppage/dropped connections.
A nice foreign lady on the other end gave us a free up grade to 200mbs and reduce our bill $20@month.
Then it got worse. Had technician out Wednesday for 4 hours. The short of it according to what I understand from the technician is if they try to send 100+ mbs more than 800' from their junction box along the county road it will fugk up everything downstream. We are over 1500' from the junction box. Short of it he dropped us down to 50 mbs and so far everything is working aok.

My point is, these providers are selling you something you can't use and or the equipment can't handle.

Just ran speed test, we are getting 32 down and 7up.

That 55mph speed limit was a plan to get us all to buy new cars and turn in our Model A's!

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.