In this article we will see some tricks to use to increase Internet speed in Windows 10. Although it will also be applicable to practically any computer and operating system. The Internet connection is something that today is practically essential to work and use our equipment. surely many times we have been offline and have found absolutely nothing to do from our computer or Smartphone.
This is why, in addition to having a connection, the most important thing is that this connection goes as smoothly as possible within our possibilities. We must say that the options that we propose here are not going to optimize a connection that is already slow in itself, among other things because in most cases this depends more on the devices and the physical connection than on our operating system.
Anyway, we find it interesting to share this information with all readers to give useful ideas about this topic. The idea is also for this guide to be optimized and completed over time in case utilities come out that are really useful or new ideas.
Type of internet connection I have at home
The first thing we must identify is the type of connection we have at our home. Depending on it, we can get an idea of what speed we have and what speed we really should have. Each connection will have its own limitations and characteristics, and we may not even be able to do anything to improve it except purchase a new package
ADSL
The ADSL connection is the classic connection that we have through a common telephone line that we have in practically all our homes to speak on the landline.
With this connection we could reach up to 50 Mb theoretical via VDSL, although it depends a lot on how far we are from a repeater plant. The most common is we find between 20 and 30 Mbe from another company.
Fiber optic or coaxial cable connection
The fiber optic connection is the one currently being implemented in practically all major cities and towns. We will have much greater speed, although the cost will be higher.
The speeds offered by companies are between 50 Mb basic and up to 500 Mb for users with greater possibilities. There are also already 1 Gb connections, although it’s strange to find for now.
Satellite connection
This type of connection will be available to those users where the cable connection is not good enough to have it. Both in ADSL and, of course, in fiber optics.
The characteristic of this connection we will find quickly if we see in our home a cable that ends in an antenna installed somewhere in the house.
Currently the speeds are around 20 Mb and even 50 Mb, except for WiMax-type connection that can exceed these records considerably.
Other types of wireless networks
If we do not have any of this and we live quite isolated from population centers, what we will surely have are wireless connections similar to the previous one with very variable speeds and quite dependent on the weather and the obstacles that we have until the access point
In any case, we should take a look at the roles of the contract to see what speed we have contracted, both down and up.
How to measure my internet speed and latency
Considering then the theoretical connection that we have, it is necessary to verify for ourselves which speed is the one that really arrives.
To see this speed what we will have to do is access a speed test of those that circulate on the Internet.
Measure to latency
In addition to the upload and download speed, we can also measure the latency of our connection. This measures the time it takes for a package to travel from our equipment to the destination and then return. The better our connection the better the latency.
To consider a good connection we would have to have a latency of between 10 and 40 milliseconds.
Speed of our Wi-Fi
We will also have the possibility to measure the speed of our Wi-Fi to know if we are experiencing the bottleneck due to it.
Tricks to increase Internet speed on our computer
Given the preliminary checks, we fully enter the different options that we will have to improve our internet connection.
Physical limitations
The first thing we must consider are the physical limitations of our connection
Contracted speed Mb or MB
The contracted speed is essential in the result we obtain. We can distinguish two numerical values to define a connection. These are on the one hand the Megabits per second or Mbps and on the other the Megabytes per second or MB / s. They are very different, note that one letter is in lowercase and another in uppercase.
To distinguish these measures at all times you have to know that 1 MB is equivalent to 8 Mb. So, if they have a connection of 300 Mbps and we are doing a download test that shows us some results of 20 MB / s, what we have to do is the conversion of the units. In this way 300/8 = 37.5 MB, that is, our connection could work at 37MB / s and we have obtained 20MB so we are not reaching the maximum of it.
Although we must say that almost never will we get what the companies promise us
Cable
The condition of the connection cable is very important, if it is very old or heavily used, it may have lost performance. The cables are divided into several categories: 5, 5e, 6, 6e and 7. The higher the cable, the better. We recommend that this be at least category 5e. This code will be printed on the plastic cable sheath every certain distance.
We must also know that the longer the cable, the more losses we will obtain.
Obstacles in Wi-Fi antennas
To obtain a good Wi-Fi connection, we must avoid obstacles such as walls between the equipment and the router antenna. Also, the farther we are the worse the connection will be.
Own router or network card
If we have an old router or the one that the company gives us, it surely leaves a lot to be desired in terms of performance. This is why if we do not want limitations of this type what we will have to do is identify the router model we have and see if it is bad or good. In the same way we must ensure that our network card is not very old by checking by the brand and model what benefits we will get from it.
Get the most out of our network card
In almost any computer we have, very possibly we have an internal 1 Gbps network card that will be the one that comes on our motherboard. If we also have a card installed through an expansion card, it may be even more powerful, reaching up to 10 Gbps.
We have a way to get the most out of it, although where we will most notice it is in connections within our LAN and if we have a powerful Switch or router. What we will have to do is configure the Speed & Duplex parameter of it.
Through this method we will get the most out of the network card, at least.
Configure DNS server for our connection
What the DNS server does in our connection is to translate the names that we put in the browser into IP addresses to connect to the websites that we request.
This is why, if we have a good DNS server configured, we will be gaining speed in terms of the time it takes to resolve the site name and obtain the connection.
To know how to change the DNS server of our connection, we also have already made a tutorial that teaches you absolutely everything, even the best DNS servers.
Choosing the best internet browser
On the network we have numerous browsers available through which we can access the internet from our computer. You will have realized that, being the main interface through which we access the network, it must be as fast as possible to load pages and others.
Among the best browsers of the moment are:
- Mozilla Firefox: the well-known web browser of the fox brand is today the one with the best management of both RAM and CPU memory, although it is not the fastest opening pages.
- Microsoft Edge: Despite being the property of Windows and automatically not trusting its features, the truth is that it is one of the best-optimized browsers for connections at the moment. This browser is one of the fastest to open.
- Google Chrome: Google’s browser has become the first choice for many of us. And they have a basis since it is the one that opens the web pages the fastest
- Opera: Other browsers chosen by far is Opera, this is also one of the fastest to open web pages and best performs its function.
We leave it up to everyone to try them to see which one they like the most and offer better benefits.
Check if someone steals your Wi-Fi
Another thing that may be obvious but that we never think about. Is someone stealing internet from us through our WiFi?
There is three evidences that Wi-Fi may be stolen from us and that we can verify it ourselves:
Slower connection
Earlier we indicated how to perform a speed test on the Wi-Fi network. Through this or simply because we do not notice, we will surely experience a slow connection if we connect to Wi-Fi and it is stealing our bandwidth.
WLAN router light
Another way to know if this is happening is to disconnect all connections from wireless devices to our router. Don’t forget about laptops or Smartphone. Now check if the Light indicating that the WLAN is active and blinking. If so, you already know that someone else is connected to your router
Foolproof method enter your router
If you have access to your router, what you have to do is enter from your web browser to it and look for a section that says something like “Connected devices” that possibly brings your computer.
If not, browse its WLAN options and check if there is somewhere a list of devices with MAC addresses in a table.
To access your router we must open a CMD window and type IPConfig. We must identify our adapter as “Ethernet Ethernet Adapter” or “WLAN Adapter”. Now we must identify the line “Default gateway”.
We put that IP address in our browser and immediately the router will request a password. Possibly have the user “admin” or “1234” and the password “password”, “admin” or “1234” if we have not bought it ourselves. If neither works we should call our internet provider and ask them.
We recommend changing this password to a personalized one from within the router and also enable WPA2 encryption and change the Wi-Fi password.
Disable or close network consuming programs
Another way to check if our bandwidth is being used by programs that we have installed is by going to the Windows task manager.
To do this, we right-click on the desktop taskbar and choose the “Task Manager” option. Once opened, click on “More details” to enlarge this window.
Now we are located on the “processes” tab and we will see a list of programs with different columns of information. we must identify the “Red”. There we can see which programs are taking bandwidth.
If we click on one of them with the right button we can close it.
Select best channel for Wi-Fi
This section is somewhat subjective, since many less current equipment do not have a connection band higher than 2.4 GHz.
Basically what it is about in this section to connect our device to the fastest channel available in our router. In general, we will have two types of channels available:
2.4 Ghz channel: this channel will allow a maximum connection of 400 Mbps or what is the same, 50MB per second. Older computers will only have this option on their Wi-Fi cards
5 GHz channel: this channel allows a connection of up to 1700 Mbps, so if our team has it, it is recommended to use it.
Normally, today’s routers automatically manage these channels, so we will not have to do anything. But in other cases the router will have two types of connections marked precisely by these two values. Whenever we can, we should choose the 5 GHz
We can also manage this within the router in the corresponding section.
LAN connection better than WLAN
Whenever we can, we must connect to our equipment through an ethernet cable to our router. This will allow us to obtain the maximum available bandwidth and the best latency.
The Wi-Fi signal introduces latency and if we can only connect to a 2.4 GHz channel we will also be limited to 50MB
Final Word
If these programs have something bad, it is that, instead of better our connection, what it does is make it worse, due to the constant queries to the network that they make. This is why, if you have one installed, possibly in the long run, you have more problems than advantages. These are gaps in the things that we must take into account to increase the speed of the Internet. We will try to continue expanding this guide to offer the maximum possible solutions.