Don’t you just hate it when your internet connection speed dies down at night, right when you have planned to have a fun movie night or a much-needed multiplayer gameplay session with friends after a busy day at work? A slow internet connection is dreaded at any time of the day, but you may have noticed a huge decline in the quality of your connection during the nighttime.
There are a ton of reasons behind your dying internet connection at night. From router location to bad weather to the router’s upgrade and congested networks, this write-up will brief you on the problems that cause your internet to slow down at night.
Peak Hours
The internet rush hours fall between 7 pm to 11 pm which means almost everyone across the country is using the internet during these hours. Most people get free around this time from work or school which gives them a lot of time to spend on the web to unwind. Since everyone is connected to the network and using the internet for heavy-duty internet activities, you will surely suffer from a slow internet connection.
Your home network can only manage to cater to a limited number of people online, depending on the type of internet connection installed (cable, fiber, satellite, etc.)
Bad Weather
Poor weather conditions create a high likelihood of your internet connection slowing down. This is true especially if you are using a satellite connection instead of the good old cable. Because satellite connections deliver internet signals as radio waves wirelessly, any changes in the weather have a direct impact on the connection. Poor weather conditions cause signal interference and disruptions in internet speeds. The receiver antenna receives interrupted signals which lead to poor internet speeds.
Hardware Issues
Issues with the internet hardware are one of the biggest causes of slow internet speeds. If your internet equipment is outdated, you will not be able to receive bandwidth and speeds that satisfy your online needs. If multiple people in the house are streaming HD videos or downloading large files simultaneously, then all of your devices will get a lagging internet connection.
Network Congestion
Every internet user has gone through this universal issue. While you may have access to high bandwidth and fast internet at peak times, you might not always get it. This is because of network congestion. When more people are connected to the network and use the internet to play games online, stream HD videos, or download large files, the bandwidth is divided between the users. Therefore the internet speed slows down.
Network congestion limits the bandwidth across each device which is why there is not enough bandwidth for everyone to carry out the internet activities they want.
Slow VPN
A virtual private network is software that encrypts your internet traffic, hides your IP address, and reroutes it to another server, to make your device difficult to trace back to. You may be familiar with this if you have been working remotely and using a VPN to access company files from home. You can find a ton of VPN services and apps online.
You can subscribe to a free VPN service or pay a small fee to access faster internet even at peak times. However, even then your internet connection can slow down due to traffic jams at peak times. Not all VPNs are designed to offer equal opportunities. Some of them will trade off your personal details or security for free access.
Browser Extension
Most internet users don’t realize this, but browser extensions affect their browsing speed while improving their browsing experience. To be able to enjoy high internet speeds at night, disable the extensions on your browser before carrying out any browser-based activities online.
Router Upgrade
As we said, when more people connect to the network, the bandwidth gets divided between the users and the internet speed slows down. To be able to cater to more number of devices, it’s better to upgrade to a new router that can handle greater capacity. If your router is incapable of handling the traffic, you will not get access to fast internet speeds.
Wrapping It Up
A slow internet connection is one of the most painful things that one goes through. And we are not being dramatic. Imagine coming home after a long busy day at work only to get stuck with a dreadfully slow internet connection that hardly lets you do anything. Annoying, right? Hopefully, these tips will help you get out of such a situation quickly and easily!
We also recommend you switch to another internet plan if you keep facing slow internet speeds at night. For that, AT&T internet might be the perfect solution.
