Struggling with Slow Internet Speeds: A Family’s Frustrating Experience

In early 2022, I left my family home to be with a relative undergoing surgery, only to return five months later to a shocking realization: our internet speed had plummeted to a crawl of just 1.8 Mbps. Initially, I suspected the problem lay with my PC. However, it soon became clear that the issue was much broader, possibly linked to our ISP or router.

Despite paying for significantly higher speeds, our internet connection has remained frustratingly sluggish for more than six months now. Here’s a detailed account of our ongoing struggles to resolve this issue, which has included five visits from technicians:

• New Equipment, Same Result: Upon my return, the ISP promptly installed a brand-new modem, yet our speed remained unchanged. We also connected several laptops directly to the modem, only to confirm the persistently slow download speeds.

• Visitor Complaints: Family members who came by expressed their frustration over slow video download speeds while trying to work, further highlighting the problem.

• Technician Visits: The fifth technician visited recently and undertook a comprehensive inspection, even installing a new port at our neighborhood cable box. Everything from the exterior wiring to our network setup has been checked thoroughly, but no definitive cause for the slowdown has been identified. The technician assured us that there was no throttling from the ISP’s end.

• External Comparisons: To validate our concerns, I took my laptop to a nearby library and experienced significantly faster download speeds, which only added to our confusion.

Our family is feeling particularly lost regarding this issue. Although switching to a different ISP might seem like a logical step, a family member funding the bill is reluctant to do so, as he doesn’t personally experience the same speed issues. This dilemma has left me seeking solutions while resorting to the library whenever I need to download something critical.

Our connection is clean of any interference: no miners, hackers, or unauthorized users leeching off our network. The devices primarily in use are my computer, a rarely used laptop, and a couple of phones. An ISP technician even disconnected a T-Mobile booster, but it made no difference.

In the past, our internet speeds were commendable, but as one senior technician put it, we are now experiencing “Dial-up 90s speeds.” While speed tests occasionally show acceptable results, our internet connection becomes virtually unusable the moment any downloads or