What to do if your home network is jammed

If you have noticed that your internet has slowed down, you are hardly alone. Our new work-from-home lifestyle is heavily taxing the web

With so much of the workforce and their families now cooped up at home to combat the spread of the coronavirus, it is not a surprise that home internet is showing the strain.

If you’ve had a business videoconference stutter while your teenagers play PC games online or found yourself unable to stream the news while your spouse uploads huge data files for work, you’ll have a good idea of the problem.

Is there a bandwidth problem?

The internet’s core is managing the spike in traffic just fine, experts say. It has massive capacity to handle streaming services.

True, Netflix recently throttled down its video quality in Europe at the request of authorities there. But the company stores its programs on servers close to users’ homes, and there’s no evidence that it is clogging networks.

Why does your home connection falter?

The problem partly lies in the socalled ‘last mile’, the link that connects your home to the ultrahigh speed internet backbone.

Most homes get their internet from cable companies or telecom operators and thus connect to the broader network via cable. These connections provide faster ‘downstream’ speeds to your home than ‘upstream’ speeds back to the internet. Since videoconferencing sends equal amounts of data both ways, simultaneous sessions can clog the upstream channel and disrupt service. If that happens, one solution is to have some family members switch to audio-only, which conserves bandwidth. You could also order a service upgrade, although that might not be necessary always.

Does your home network need an upgrade?

It might. Start with your internet modem. If it’s several years old, it’s probably time to ask your provider if upgrading the modem’s internal software, or replacing the modem entirely, will help. Older modems often can’t deliver the full bandwidth you’re paying for to your household.

Next up is your WiFi router. If you have cable, it may be built into your modem. Try moving it to a more central location in your home or apartment that will ensure bandwidth is distributed more equally. Or you can add more access points and distribute WiFi with a ‘mesh’ network. One more possibility: You can connect some devices directly to the router

— AP

Latest mesh routers let you add several satellite stations that boost your signal throughout the house