Improve the quality of the internet connection

One of the recurring doubts when using the computer at home is certainly the connection: everyone is afraid of not having a fast Internet connection as promised by the operator. This doubt can easily be solved with some internet speed tests that can verify the real amplitude of your network bandwidth, beyond any declaration by the provider. In this article he explains we will show you how to measure the speed of the Internet and how to optimize your connection, so as to make it as fast as possible.
The considerations apply to any Internet connection: ADSL, fiber optic and mobile connections, since most of the tips can also be applied on different types of connections.

Article Index

• How to test the Internet speed
• How to improve the quality of the Internet connection
• Conclusions

How to test the Internet speed

Before seeing the methods and tricks to speed up the connection we have to perform some tests on it, so as to check if our operator keeps the promises made at the time of signing the contract.
For a true and reliable test, we connect our computer to the Ethernet cable modem, avoiding the use of wireless: only in this way will we be able to obtain the maximum result in download and upload. Once connected, turn on the PC, open any web browser and go to the Speedtest by Ookla page.

To start the test, simply press the Go button and wait for the results; to have reliable values, we carry out 3 tests (from 3 different servers) and we average the results.
Based on this average, we will know if the operator is keeping his promises or offering us too slow a connection, comparing the value obtained (in Mbps) with the speed promised by the operator in the contract.

• Download speed at 80% or more : if the operator manages to give us such a high-performance line we have very little to complain about, we are already extremely lucky. This parameter should be the norm with FTTH connections, while it is rarer with FTTC connections (with ADSL we will never see it!).
• Download speed from 50% to 79% : this speed is the most common result that we can find with an Italian Internet connection; basically we don't have to worry too much, since in some situations we can intervene personally to obtain an increase in speed. These values ​​are common with FTTC, while they indicate problems with FTTH (ADSL hardly reach these performances).
• Download speed lower than 50% : here we must start to worry, since we get a speed lower than 50% compared to that promised by the operator, even more if we use modern connection technologies (FTTH and FTTC). With ADSL, on the other hand, this speed is the norm, we cannot do anything more.

For the upload, the control is much simpler, since it is sufficient to exceed 50% of the promised speed to have a good output connection.

How to improve the quality of the Internet connection

Once all the necessary checks have been made, we see in this chapter how to improve the quality of the Internet connection when we obtain download values ​​close to 50% or less, so that we can speed up the connection as far as possible.

Old hardware

The bottleneck could be the hardware's own, with modems, routers or network cards too old to be able to guarantee speeds above 50 Mbps. If the problem is of a hardware nature, we have collected all the best products that we can down here buy to replace obsolete or damaged components (we can also just buy what we need):

1. Modem router (ADSL and FTTC) : AVM FRITZ! Box 7530 International Modem Router (€ 129)
2. Router (for FTTH) : TP-Link Archer C6 Gigabit Router (49 €)
3. Ethernet cable : UGREEN Ethernet cable Cat 7, Network cable 10 Gbps 600 MHz / s (8 €)
4. Ethernet network card : UGREEN 1000 Mbps Full Duplex PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet network card (13 €)
5. Wi-Fi network card : Asus PCE-AC56 PCI-Ex Wireless AC1300 network card (49 €)
6. USB Wi-Fi adapter: TP-Link Archer T3U Dual Band USB Wireless Adapter 1300Mbps (20 €)

By purchasing one or more of the elements above, we will update the fundamental components to connect to the Internet, always obtaining a speed increase (especially if we used 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi with connections greater than 50 Mbps). To calculate the speed of your internal network, we recommend you read our guide on the LAN Speed ​​Test which measures the speed of the LAN .

Wireless interference

If we use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet we take advantage of the 5 GHz network where possible, less subject to interference and able to offer superior performance (at the expense of coverage, which never exceeds the two rooms). If instead we use the 2.4 GHz connection, we will have to read our guide to connect to the wireless channel of the wifi network with the most powerful signal, so as to obtain an increase in speed (however, calculate that with 2.4 GHz networks we will hardly go over 40 Mbps, even with a higher speed connection).
We can adapt our computers to take advantage of the faster connection by reading our guide to the best 5 GHz WiFi adapters for PC, for faster connections .

DNS server

With slow DNS servers we will get a very slow page load, to the point of compromising navigation (even if we have 1000 Mbps speed!).
DNS servers from most providers are not very fast and can often reduce bandwidth. Fortunately, we can get the addresses of other faster DNS servers for free, such as those listed below:

1. Google DNS : 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
2. OpenDNS : 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
3. Cloudflare DNS : 1.1.1.1

We can configure these DNS on PC and smartphone by reading our guides on how to change the DNS servers of the internet connection on Windows and How to change DNS on Android and iPhone .
In another guide we can try the program that finds the fastest and best dns depending on the network and the PC used.

Too many programs on the net

Many programs and processes use the connection to transfer data, synchronize or download updates.
You can check which programs access the Internet with Networx and check the bandwidth usage and open connections on your computer with Connection Watcher .
We can also manage the network bandwidth by deciding who should use more of it between programs and applications. Finally, with Windows Firewall you can block programs by preventing them from connecting to the internet.

Set a limit on reserved bandwidth

By default, Windows takes all the bandwidth for automatic updates . During the updates, therefore, we may find it difficult to navigate or download due to the updates.
Luckily Windows 10 allows you to set a bandwidth limit for updates! To set this limit, open the Settings app, go to the Update and security -> Delivery optimization path and click on Advanced options .

From here, simply set the items as follows:

• We activate the check Limit the bandwidth used to download updates in the background and set the value as 50% ;
• We activate the check box Limit the bandwidth used to download the updates in the foreground and set the value as 80% ;
• We activate the check box Limit the amount of bandwidth used to upload updates to other PCs on the Internet and set the value as 50% .

In this way the background updates of the system will not be able to take more than 50% of our connection speed, so as to allow us to navigate without problems; if instead we want to speed up the update process, simply leave the settings window open and in the foreground, taking care to take us to the Update and security -> Windows Update path and click on Check for updates .

Malware infections

Regularly scanning for malware will allow you to verify that your computer is not infected with any dangerous malware, especially trojans that exchange data and exploit our network for illicit purposes (having unwittingly entered a botnet). Viruses are always designed to replicate and spread, so they always try to access the internet and slow down the data transmission speed.
In this regard, I invite you to read our guides on How to remove malware and viruses from the infected computer and on What to do if the computer is affected by a virus .

Other advice

Here we have collected all the other valid tips which, even if they do not allow to increase the connection speed, can optimize the loading of pages and data traveling on the LAN.

1. We can optimize the browser used without installing too many extensions or plugins on it that slow down the loading of the sites and the browser itself. There are also several tricks to speed up Firefox and to speed up Chrome that are worth reading.
2. To optimize the internet on your computer, we can use the TCP Optimizer tool, which allows you to optimize the path of packets from the modem to our computer, speeding up the loading of pages.
3. We can speed up Windows 10, so as to make it always snappy with any network connection.
4. In extreme cases we can also repair Windows 10, so as to quickly remove any malware, any incorrect network settings or any problem that slows down our connection (the cause is not always obvious).

In other guides we have shown you some tricks to speed up the network connection and effective methods to reduce latency by obtaining a faster connection .

Conclusions

If after all these considerations, checks and modifications, the speed detected by Speedtest should not change, all that remains is to protest with the provider paid for the Internet and consider, if necessary, if it is not convenient to change it. In this regard, I remember that it is possible to know which providers are to surf the internet faster in Italy .
Still on the subject of optimizations for the Internet, we advise you to read our guide on How to surf the Internet faster, where we can find other valid tips to improve the quality of the Internet connection.