Slow Internet Speed Lately

[Scoots]

Hey Guys,

For the last 11 or so days, I have been having problems with my internet speed. I've been trying to update my SWTOR, and stream YouTube videos in that time, with little to no success. Everyone in my house is having this problem. it takes 35minutes to stream a 5minute video. It takes 24hours to update 2gigabytes on SWTOR.

What the hell is going on?

We called the ISP, they said someone is uploading alot. Could this be a worm? I know my brother and sister torrent alot of crap like TV Shows, but recently they have stopped. Does it take time for a connection to recover?

Could it be a virus on someones computer?

Thanks for the help, It would mean ALOT if someone helped me out.

[Cyanotical]

it could be a virus, torrenting is also upload, and it could be that your ISP has throttled your connection for exceeding a bandwidth cap

[Scoots]

it could be a virus, torrenting is also upload, and it could be that your ISP has throttled your connection for exceeding a bandwidth cap

We have unlimited bandwidth. That is also what I was thinking.

edit: Apparently they aren't throttling our speed. It appears someone is just uploading/downloading alot. Right now my SWTOR only has 27.44kb/s... :/

[Synthaxx]

We have unlimited bandwidth. That is also what I was thinking.

It could also be that they've seen you're torrenting and imposed a limit on the line. The tech for this has existed for many years and is quite common at ISP level. It'll kick in if it detects torrenting is going on, and i've read that torrent network encryption doesn't always defeat it (crosschecking the client IP with it's destinations to see if it corresponds to datacenters or if it corresponds to homes and such).

Additionally, almost every single ISP in existence will have a Fair Usage Policy/FUP, or Acceptable Usage Policy/AUP (both are slightly different in their scope) even if your plan doesn't have a cap. This will come into effect regardless of the package you buy. It's merely so that the very heavy users don't cause everyone else to have a slow service.

Personally, i'd do a thorough scan of every device on your network with heuristics at max setting, make sure there's no unauthorized devices on the network (check your routers "DHCP clients" page). Scan for rootkits. It could be that something in your system has been taken into a botnet (at the very worst), but it could literally just be that you've been capped due to the torrenting.

[Scoots]

Personally, i'd do a thorough scan of every device on your network with heuristics at max setting, make sure there's no unauthorized devices on the network (check your routers "DHCP clients" page). Scan for rootkits. It could be that something in your system has been taken into a botnet (at the very worst), but it could literally just be that you've been capped due to the torrenting.

Thanks! How do I go to my router page?

[Synthaxx]

Thanks! How do I go to my router page?

It depends entirely on the router model. Usually, you'll just navigate to 192.168.0.1, but other common options are 192.168.1.1, 192.168.2.1. As said, it depends on the router model. You'll usually have to connect your PC or a system with a cable rather than wirelessly in order to setup the router, but if wireless is already setup, then you can manage it via wireless too.

From there, you should see a menu. They're usually on the left, but some routers have them at the top. You want to find an option called "DHCP Clients" or something similar. It might be just "Clients List", or "DHCP". If there's no such option, then it'll be available in "LAN Setup" page that's available on every router (i've never seen a router without at least this).

From here, you basically want to make sure that the number of wired and wireless devices (PC's, Phones, Tablets, Laptops, even Set-top TV Boxes if you connect that to your router for "Watch Anytime" services) is the same. If you've got 4 devices, there should be 4 clients shown on the DHCP page. If you've got 8 devices, there'll be 8 clients on the DHCP page. etc.

If there's ANY devices you don't recognize in the list, then it's quite possible your wifi has been hacked by someone outside the house (and i'll bet there's a chalk mark on a wall outside too). Follow the instructions below to "reset" and secure your network if there's any device you don't recognize, but otherwise skip to the bottom regarding virus scans.

Simply change the wireless password, ideally using WPA2 encryption. Do not use WEP. It's been insecure for almost a decade now and tools to get a WEP key are easy enough to find. Switch to a new wireless channel if possible. Try to avoid using "WPS", that's where you press a button on the router and the connecting device to "pair" them, and enter the password manually across all your devices. Also, change the password you use to login to the router management page itself (that's the 192.168.x.x page mentioned earlier).

When you're connecting devices to the network, set them up so they connect even if the router isn't broadcasting it's SSID. In Windows 7, this can be done by clicking on the Wireless icon in the notification area (bottom right of the screen), right-clicking on the connected network and selecting "Status", clicking "Wireless Properties", and then checking the box "Connect even if the network is not broadcasting it's name (SSID)", and then clicking OK at the bottom.

Once you've got everything connected to the network, set your router to not broadcast it's SSID. That's literally what the option should say - "Broadcast SSID", and it'll either be a checkbox or a dropdown box. It's not available on all routers, especially older ones, but any created since ~2008 or so should have this option. Select no/uncheck the box, and then save the changes.


Virus Scanning
Now i'd recommend doing the virus scans (highest settings with heuristics + rootkit scanning if available). I recommend doing the virus scan after checking (and if needed, resecuring) your network and not the other way around, just in case it's someone on your network that's managed to sneak your system into a botnet without you knowing (fairly difficult, but nothing's out of the realm of possibility).

I'm still guessing your ISP's FUP and AUP came into effect from the torrenting, but it's better to see whether it's something on your side. It's a bit of an extreme example that you'd be in a botnet without your knowledge, or that someone would be on your network and be using up so much bandwidth it'd be dragging you down without you noticing them sat outside your house, but i felt it better to mention it anyway.

[googlegirl]

First of all try clearing cookies,browser history and cache,avoid running electronic devices at once,upgrade your modem or router to a newer model and have a periodic check in your modem ventilation, or do you using P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing programs? If so then try turning the file sharing program off, as file sharing programs use up allot of bandwidth some broadband providers limit the speed you can use the internet if you are using file sharing programs.

If you turn off the file sharing program your broadband speed goes back to normal .

I faced the same problem ,after doing this i checked my speed from scanmyspeed
where my download speed-62.23 mbps
upload speed-2.88mbps

apparently my internet speed is faster than before.

If these doesn't apply ,there is a chance you may have a virus on your computer. A computer virus is likely to not just slow your broadband and Internet down but your computer too.

If you find that not only is your broadband running slower but you notice that your computer is a bit more sluggish or notice that you have corrupt files or programs are not opening then you may well have a virus.Try to overcome this,your internet speed ll automatically rise up.

Good luck

[Majesticii]

I think someone is pirating your bandwidth via wireless, no security (WPA2) set or something?

[Amex]

It seems likely from the information you have given us that one of your siblings has a number of torrents running without maybe realising. Ensure any torrent clients on any machines are off.

If not this then @Makesticii's point seems another likely reason so just follow @Synthaxx's instructions. If you are having trouble logging into your router if you don't know the password it's likely you have not changed it from the default (also one of the reaosns you could have been hacked!) so just google the name and model of your router and "default user password" and it should come up.

Best of luck