5 Common causes of slow mobile internet and how to fix them

Posted on Friday May 06, 2022

At one time or another, we've all experienced a slow internet connection on our mobile phones. This can be extremely frustrating, especially if we need to get something done urgently. In this blog post, we will discuss five common causes of slow internet on mobile phones and how to fix them.

Router location

One simple yet overlooked reason why your phone may be experiencing internet lag is because of your Wi-Fi router’s location. Although Wi-Fi has a range of up to 230 feet, the signal gets weaker the farther you are from the router. Large objects like doors and walls situated in between your phone and the router can also weaken the transmission.

It’s recommended to place your router in a centralized location, preferably away from concrete and masonry walls or other big objects like a fireplace. As the router signal radiates from all sides, if it's blocked by even just one large object, your Wi-Fi signal will weaken significantly and, consequently, impede your phone’s internet speed.

Wi-Fi noise

Electronic appliances typically emit wireless signals at a frequency similar to your router’s, which is 2.4 GHz. So if you live in an apartment complex or have a lot of electronic devices in your home, you may experience interference that can slow down your Wi-Fi. One way to fix this is to place your router in a central location away from other electronic devices.

You can also try changing the frequency or channel that your router is broadcasting on. To do this, you will need to log in to your router’s settings page, then look for a page or tab that says “wireless settings” or “channel.” From there, you can select a different frequency. For most routers, this will be 5 GHz. But before you do this, make sure that your phone supports 5 GHz, otherwise, it won’t be able to connect to the Wi-Fi.

Fluctuating network speed

Another reason for your phone’s slow internet connection could be fluctuating network speeds. To check whether this is the cause of slow internet speeds, ask these questions:

• How many devices are connected to the router?
• What are these devices using the internet for?

Increase your router’s internet bandwidth speed if there are many users and all of them are either streaming movies or downloading computer games or software updates. This will allow every phone connected to your network to enjoy faster internet speeds.

Poor VPN connection

Using a virtual private network (VPN) is a great way to improve your security and privacy when browsing the internet. But if your VPN connection is slow, it can also impact the speed of your internet connection. To fix this, try connecting to a different VPN server or switching to a different VPN protocol.

You can also try disabling your VPN. This will make your browsing experience faster, but it will also make it less secure. So only do this if you are connected to a safe network, such as your home or office Wi-Fi.

Full browser cache

Your mobile browser’s cache saves data from earlier searches in order to display faster results of similar searches in the future. Although your phone becomes more efficient for that particular search, it also makes your phone much slower when you do other things that require connecting to the internet.

You can clear your cache manually or use a cache cleaner app to get rid of useless data and optimize your phone’s internet speed. If you decide to download a cache cleaner app, make sure that it is trustworthy so you don’t accidentally download a malware-infected program.

There are many reasons for your phone’s lagging internet speed. If your business relies heavily on a speedy mobile internet connection and you’re unable to fix the problem, call our experts today. We’re always ready to help you.