Struggling with Slow Internet Speeds: A Family’s Frustrating Experience
In early 2022, I temporarily left my family’s home to support a sick relative undergoing surgery. When I returned five months later, I was immediately struck by how painfully slow our internet had become. Initially, I assumed the issue stemmed from my own computer, but further investigation revealed a more complex problem with our internet service provider (ISP) or possibly the router itself.
Despite experiencing reasonably fast internet speeds for gaming and general usage, we discovered that devices such as smartphones faced excruciatingly low download speeds—capped at a mere 1.8 Mbps. This issue has persisted for six months, despite five visits from various technicians sent by our ISP, leaving us feeling perplexed and frustrated.
Here’s a summary of our attempts to resolve this matter:
- We received a brand-new modem from the ISP, but the performance remained the same.
- Testing separate laptops connected directly to the modem still resulted in the same subpar download speeds.
- Visits from family members resulted in complaints regarding slow video downloads, which are crucial for remote work.
- On the fifth technician visit last week, we were told that a new port had been installed at the neighborhood cable box, and after thorough inspections of the exterior wiring and our internal network, the technician could not identify the cause of our slow speeds. He was confident that throttling wasn’t the issue, especially since we subscribe to a higher-speed plan.
- As a final diagnostic measure, I took my laptop to a local library and experienced noticeably faster download speeds and internet browsing without any issues.
Despite our best efforts, we are at a loss. Due to personal circumstances, the family member responsible for the bill is hesitant to switch providers, as the current download speeds do not affect his day-to-day activities. This leaves me to solve the problem alone or resort to using the library whenever I need to download something.
To provide additional context, our network is not being overutilized. Typically, only my computer and occasionally another laptop are connected, along with our phones. A T-Mobile booster previously connected to the modem was removed by an ISP technician without any improvement in service.
Once upon a time, our internet was quite fast. However, according to one senior technician, we are now experiencing speeds akin to “dial-up in the 90s.” Even though the technicians conducted speed tests that appeared to produce normal results, we noticed a stark decline when any
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