The rampant spread of Coronavirus has forced people all over the world to stay in their homes. With the recent lockdown, hundreds and thousands of humans have been compelled workers to work from their houses. Because of this, there is an increased dependency on the internet. Also, broadband speeds are also falling in most parts of the world, including Australia.
The recent news circulating around Australia reveals that internet providers and online streaming websites have decided for a reduction in data usage because hundreds of Australian are confined in their houses due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Because of the current situation, National Broadband Network has also disclosed that they are suffering from a spike in traffic as more personnel are told to work from home to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Because of the lockdown, several workers working remotely have raised concerns for the NBN, who is not capable of dealing with the increasing level of pressure.
Has Netflix Also Agreed To It?
The most widely used streaming site-Netflix has also reduced the data of their users to stream movies, TV shows, and online games all over Australia because more and more employees are working from home. It is also expected that only a small number of users will notice a drop in their video streaming quality. These customers are those who have a streaming plan of higher than 4K.
At present, it is a highly proactive action. It is because there is not much increase in capacity requirements. The ISP Aussie Broadband makes the public its capacity use, and the entire company has witnessed a slight uptick in their daily usage. The NMC has offered the ISPs a 40% increase in their capacity allowance for free for the next three months. It will also ease some of the capacity related concerns.
Like in Australia, a few weeks ago, five of Spain’s major operators, including Vodafone and Orange, have issued a letter. The letter has warned the network operators that their networks would soon collapse because of the 40% reduction in traffic via IP networks and 50% jumps in voice calls and encouraging users to use the internet with more responsibility.
Similarly, Netflix has also shown approval to reduce its streaming bit rates all across Europe to keep the internet traffic under control in this challenging situation. To complicate matters, many Aussies are using VPNs to access Netflix content from the United States.
For sure, not everyone in Australia would be a tech-savvy person who would know how to tackle the speed problems hovering over the internet. In the next part of the article, we’ll be discussing some steps to ensure that the internet speed is optimized. This guide will not just help them in this epidemic situation but also in daily routine.
Steps for Optimized Internet Speed
We all are well aware of the significance of speed for a good internet connection. Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, follow these steps to boost your internet speed.
1. Run a Speed Test
The first and notable thing you must do is to know how fast your internet is working. To do so, just type speed tests into any search engine you use, and there come many unfastened trials out there. The most widely used website is speedtest Use this site and learn your internet speed. If your speed is slower than average than you must contact your ISP regarding this troubleshoot. However, in this situation, perform this test at least twice a day to get to know your average internet speed every day.
2. Use Ethernet
Plowing your devices quickly for your router is one of the reliable ways to boost your internet connection. Using an Ethernet cable is much more secure than Wi-Fi. Most of the new devices do not possess an Ethernet port, while other devices don’t have the Ethernet cables with them. However, you can go with adapters and enjoy a stable connection.
3. Change the Direction of Your Router
The placement of your router at your home can affect your Wi-Fi connection. The majority of the people have a small black container with antennas put away somewhere. But, according to experts’ opinion, the antennas have to be set high enough within the center of your home.
Avoid setting the router from thick walls that include bricks, concrete, and metals. Also, do not set the router after any other device that releases interference signals as well as with microwaves. If you have a router with antennas, then make sure one of them perfectly stands vertically up and the opposite horizontally to fit in the different receivers in your devices. Moreover, you can also ensure that your router’s firmware is updated to its latest version.
Is This Throttling of Data?
Well! Of course. This entire process is known as internet throttling. Throttling is the process in which an ISP intentionally slows down users’ internet data. At times you will witness lower speeds that are difficult to explain and are not attributed to equipment issues. You won’t get an explicit notification that your connection is throttled irrespective of the rules that put the pressure on to the telecom companies to inform you. Thus, the uncertainty about your slow connection can be somehow frustrating.
At present, you’ll usually see a throttling of your entire connection; however, with the rejection of Net Neutrality, many people worry that ISPs might start throttling particular types of content. In other words, the ability of ISPs to throttle gets expanded, adding the ability to throttle specific kinds of material or even to charge higher fees to major data users and other streaming services such as Netflix, their VPN bans notwithstanding.
In the majority of cases, throttling an internet connection is legal. A common reason for data being throttled is an excess use on a plan with a data cap. This is not just a problem in Australia, but in the EU and UK as well. Almost in all cases, ISPs are forced to inform their customers when they throttle the speed.
Another most common issue of throttling is the peak use hours because of which internet connection gets slowed down. It is because excessive numbers of users are using the internet at that time. Well! It is quite common for cable operators to slow down the internet speed from around 30% from 5-9 pm when everyone in the surrounding area starts watching their Netflix shows.
Quick Ways to Overcome ISP Throttling
Although there are several ways to cope up with this situation, however, the most widely used methods are discussed as follows.
1. Monitor Your Monthly Data Usage
In case you’ve gone beyond your data limit, especially on a capped plan, you can usually prevent the issue by doing better monitoring of your usage moving forward or switch to a plan with a higher data allowance.
2. Use a Reliable VPN
Preliminary research shows that top UK VPN services are exploding in popularity, effectively “tricking” ISPs into thinking that traffic is US-based, and thus avoiding any speed throttling. VPN services have long been used to circumvent geo-blocks on content, but only now to access that same content without speed caps. Therefore, it is recommended to start using premium best VPNs and streaming your favorite streaming site without any disturbance.
3. Switch to a New ISP
Many ISPs are notorious when it comes to slowing down their users’ connection, and almost every ISP has a different data cap in this regard. If you’re continuously being throttled, then it is a sign that you should sign up with another ISP that has a much higher data cap.
Final Thoughts
Towards the end of the article, we can only hope that the lethal virus soon gets controlled so that life can come back to normal. Also, ISP throttling is frequent for the service provider, but it does affect and frustrates the users. Hopefully, you’ve understood well the points mentioned above and will also follow them in your daily life.
