Why Is My Home Comcast Service Unreliable?

6 Reasons Why Your Home Cyberspace Is So Unreliable

Jun 24, 2021 Share
FAQ, Featured

There'southward never a adept fourth dimension for your internet to get out, especially when you work from home. A fast connection isn't much practiced if it cuts out in the middle of an of import meeting or brings the movie you're watching to a grinding halt.

The source of your bug might be your abode network or your isp (ISP). We'll wait at some of the most mutual issues and what you can do about them.

Your router crashed

You might not think well-nigh it this way, but your router is simply a specialized computer that has a processor and runs software in order to keep your network running. And, merely similar any computer, the software it'south running can crash, as can the entire device. There are countless reasons this can happen, from bugs in the software to the whole router overheating.

How to prepare it

Fortunately, the firsthand solution is very simple: plow it off and on again. This will reboot the system and all the software tin can start up over again. The downside is that while power cycling the system similar this will go your network up and running again, it doesn't practice anything to fix the problem that made your router crash in the first place.

If y'all find yourself restarting your router on a regular basis, you might accept a more serious problem. The first pace would be to log in to your router and update your firmware. If the problem continues, information technology might be time to purchase a new router.

At that place are also many devices on your network

Even if your internet connection has enough speed for all the devices on your network, sometimes y'all can take more devices than your router can keep up with. It's a bit similar trying to manage a crowded restaurant. Even if in that location'due south enough of food coming out of the kitchen, it's going to be hard keeping all the tables happy if you accept but one server.

If you lot accept an older router, it will communicate with your devices one at a time. Information technology might send a chunk of video information to your Tv, transport a notification to your cell phone, transport part of a software update to your office figurer, and so finally send the next chunk of video to your Television. If you accept too many devices on your network, it might not get the next clamper of video to your TV in time to keep the show playing smoothly.

Modern routers make use of multi-user, multiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO) technology. This allows the router to send data to more one device at a time so that information technology can manage network traffic more efficiently. Wi-Fi 6 routers have fifty-fifty greater MU-MIMO capacity, as well as several other technologies to assist manage multiple devices.

How to fix it

If your router'due south relatively new and supports MU-MIMO, you probably don't take enough devices that you lot demand to blitz out and upgrade to Wi-Fi vi. If, however, you have an older router and a ton of smart devices, upgrading to a Wi-Fi 6 router might give you a more than reliable connection.

There'southward internet congestion in your area

If you take cable internet, you might notice your connectedness gets dull or inconsistent at the same fourth dimension every day. This is because bandwidth on cablevision connections is actually shared amidst several homes in the same neighborhood, causing congestion at meridian hours.

How to set it

The easiest style to deal with this problem is to avert doing bandwidth-intensive activities, like streaming video at peak hours in the evening. Of course, the reason that there's congestion in the starting time identify is considering it's a time when you probably want to be relaxing and watching a motion-picture show.

The more permanent solution is to switch to an internet provider that uses a different technology, like cobweb.

Want to see what other providers are available in your area? Enter your nix code beneath.

You have loftier latency

If your connection does simply fine streaming Netflix but suddenly develops issues when you're on a Zoom call or playing games online, you might take high latency.

Latency measures the fourth dimension it takes for a bespeak to go from your computer to its destination and back. If this delay is as well long, information technology can cause bug for real-time activities like video chat and multiplayer games.

To observe out if you lot have high latency, the first step is to take a speed test. This volition show your upload and download speed, also as your latency. A good latency measurement is 1 that falls betwixt 50 ms and 100 ms. Latency that's higher than 150 ms can crusade major disruptions like lag, dropped calls, and losing your connection to game servers.

How to prepare it

In that location are lots of ways to reduce latency on your home network, but the easiest fashion is to plug the device you're using in to your router using an Ethernet cable.

Your connexion is being throttled

If you discover that your connectedness gets slow or inconsistent at the end of every month, your connection might be throttled for passing your monthly data cap. Many internet plans (including some that advertise "unlimited information") have limits for the amount of data y'all can use in a single month. If you pass these limits before the next month starts, you could be charged actress fees or have your speed dramatically reduced.

How to fix it

If y'all pass your data cap consistently every month, it might be worth upgrading to a plan with a college data allowance. Y'all could likewise switch to an net provider without data caps. Just sayin'.

Your provider's network is down

Sometimes the problem isn't on your terminate at all. Providers can have all or part of their network become down due to natural disasters and severe conditions or simply the normal wear and tear on older systems. These unplanned outages are most common in older wired technologies like DSL and less mutual in technologies like fiber.

ISPs also take to have down function of their network on purpose to perform maintenance. Once again, less reliable technologies like DSL require more than maintenance. With planned downtime, ISPs tin usually keep your connection from going out completely, but you lot might observe the drop in speed.

How to set up information technology

If you suspect that your Isp'due south network is down, near accept an outage tracker somewhere on their website. Y'all tin also telephone call your ISP's client service to report an outage and get an estimate of when your service will be upward once again.

If all else fails…

If you lot've tried everything and you nonetheless take an unreliable net connection, it might be worth it to switch to a different provider. When choosing a replacement, be sure to prioritize factors like reliability every bit well as speed. Some connection types, like fiber, are inherently more reliable. You can too go an thought of how reliable an Internet access provider'south network is by reading customer reviews or checking out its reliability score on our customer satisfaction survey.

Discover reliable internet plans in your area. Enter your zip lawmaking below.

Writer - Peter Christiansen

Peter Christiansen writes about satellite cyberspace, rural connectivity, livestreaming, and parental controls for HighSpeedInternet.com. Peter holds a PhD in communication from the University of Utah and has been working in tech for over 15 years as a computer developer, game developer, filmmaker, and author. His writing has been praised by outlets like Wired, Digital Humanities At present, and the New Statesman.

Editor - Cara Haynes

Cara Haynes has been editing and writing in the digital infinite for vii years, and she's edited all things internet for HighSpeedInternet.com for v years. She graduated with a BA in English and a small-scale in editing from Brigham Young University. When she's not editing, she makes tech accessible through her freelance writing for brands like Pluralsight. She believes no one should feel lost in net country and that a skillful internet connection significantly extends your life span.