Why Full WiFi Bars Can Mean Your Internet is Slow
Has this ever happened to you?
You have a full WiFi bar on your phone or is on the same network as your laptop, everything looks good, but when you try to watch a YouTube video it keeps buffering, or a website is taking forever to load?
Well I am here to tell you that the issue likely isn't your WiFi signal strength, your WiFi signal strength is a measurement of how well you connect to your access point not how well your access point connects to the internet.
Lets dive into this and I'll give you some solutions that might help.
1. WiFi Signal Strength is Not Speed
As mentioned earlier your WiFi signal strength is how well you connect to your access point(router). So your access point might not be connecting to the internet very well.
Think about it as your car, if you know that there are a lot of roads that lead towards your destination, some will be busy and some will be clear, your car will decide which one it wants to take, these roads are like networks. Once you get on the road you cant change it mid trip
The speed of the road is how well your internet is, there are a lot of reasons your speed could be bad like, time of day, ISP issues, router issues, network congestion on your WiFi, or an issue on a website. So the reason why your speed is slow could be any of these things.
2. Know Your Speed. Know Your Ping. Know Your Download Speed
Now that we understand why you might be having speed issues, lets break down what a speed test is.
Download Speed
Download speed is how fast you can download something on your computer. This matters for videos, websites, and anything else that requires an internet connection.
Upload Speed
Upload speed is how fast you can upload something from your computer. This will matter for video calls, and anything that uploads to a website.
Ping(Latency)
Ping is a measurement of how responsive a network is in milliseconds. The lower the better, Ping will change depending on what you are trying to connect to. This is a big issue for gamers. Latency has many variables when it comes to speed that is why I suggest testing your speed on different servers, the most popular being Cloudflare.
If you want a more in depth look at Latency I suggest reading this article from Cloudflare - what-is-latency
3. There Are a Few Things You Can Try Before You Do Something Expensive
There are a few things you can try before you go and buy a new internet plan. Something as simple as moving closer to your router can make a huge difference. There will be a few things that I say that you will have to try and test with. A few of these things I recommend doing multiple times, or with another device to confirm.
Try to be close to your router, do a speed test, and then do another speed test where you normally are, if the speed changed dramatically there might be an issue with your WiFi coverage.
Pause any large downloads or uploads to see if that was the cause of the issue.
When you do a speed test just know that it is just a small sample of what your speed is at that time, and do another speed test somewhere else.
If you can do the same speed test on a different phone or laptop to see if it is an anomoly with one device.
Do a speed test at a different time of the day or with a wired connection if you have one, and see how the speed changes.
Change one thing at a time to see what changes your speed.
4. A Speed Test Can Help, But it is Not a Magic Bullet
When your connection is slow it is more important to look at numbers than your little bars on your phone.
On your Android you can go to the Google Play Store and download PingMaster Pro - Speed Test by Moonknight Studios.
I personally love this app because it tells me how fast my internet is, with both upload and download speeds and my ping. I can take this app anywhere I go and test my speed. It also compares multiple different tests that I can do at different points in time.
This app is a good start if you want to see if your speed changes at different points in time or if you move to a different spot.
This app cant tell you anything about the reason why your speed is low, the speed test is just a number at that moment in time.
5. Now That We Know How the Speed Test Works, Lets Talk About The Speeds
Low Download Speed
When your download speed is low look at congestion, WiFi coverage, or your ISP.
Low Upload Speed
When your upload speed is low look at your uploads first, then look at your internet speed.
High Ping
When your ping is high look at your test server, network congestion, and your connection.
Speeds Change When You Move
When your speed changes when you move look into your WiFi coverage.
These are all hints at the issues, not the definitive answer, that is what a speed test is.
These issues could happen when pinging a certain server, there could be a problem on your end or the servers end, we will have to look into it.
6. Upgrading Your Speed Might Not Be the Best Answer
If you are on a slow plan then upgrading might help, but it will not help WiFi coverage, network congestion, or a far away server.
I want you to figure out what your issue is and then upgrade if needed.
In Google's article about Speed Tests and How They Work they talk about speed tests and what can affect them.
Final Thoughts
Always remember that a full WiFi bar is not all that matters, when your internet feels like it is slow, check your download speed, upload speed, and ping, instead of looking at the bars on your phone. And when you do a test try in multiple places, or at a different time to see if something stands out before you spend more money on electronics or a new plan.
If you are on Android [PingMaster Pro - Speed Test by Moonknight Studios] is a great app to test your speed.
Now I am curious as to what your main issue is with your internet.
Video(Buffering) With Full WiFi Bars
High Ping While Gaming
Upload Speed or Video Calls
My Connection Feels Slow at Night
Let me know in the comments below and what helped you the most.
Top comments (0)
Some comments may only be visible to logged-in visitors. Sign in to view all comments.