Improving my internet speed 10x

without paying more for it.

This may be a fairly obvious thing for some, but I thought it was worth sharing, as most people I know rely on WiFi.

So I’ve been using a laptop running Ubuntu as my main machine for a little while now.

I’d recently switched broadband providers, after which there was a noticeable change in page loading speeds. I ran a speed test and saw I was getting 50 Mbps download and 70 Mbps upload.

I was actually flummoxed, because I pay for 1 Gbps (~1000 Mbps). I tested again regularly the next few days and it fluctuated, but never breaching 150 Mbps.

I figured it could be a few different things. Maybe my provider is just not giving me what I pay for. Maybe the stock router they provided is crappy itself. Maybe it’s where my desk is relative to the router. The latter seemed to definitely play a part.

Now, when you’re on WiFi, you’re never going to get 100% of the speed you pay for. It’s just the nature of the beast. There’s interference from other devices and networks, etc. It just won’t happen. But you should be getting most of it.

There is, however, one way to get as close to 100% of your speed as possible. And that’s to plug directly into your router. This would also allow me to verify if my broadband provider was shortchanging me or not. I found a spare Ethernet cable, as you do, and plugged my laptop into my router. I instantly got 900 Mbps.

Lovely jubbly. Thankfully I’m not screwed, but now I’m thinking about building a mini data centre in my apartment.

There is, unfortunately, no time for such endeavours at the moment. So I compromised and decided to get a network switch.

A network switch is just a box with multiple Ethernet ports. The router is not in the room I work from, and the cable I had was not long enough. So a network switch would let me run one Ethernet cable from my router to the network switch, and then another from the switch to my laptop. It would also let me plug in many other devices. Think of it like an extension lead, but for internet instead of power.

To Amazon we go.

I picked up the simplest yet reliable gets-the-job-done switch I could find, and a couple of cables. I had to also think about how I was going to run the wires, because I have a cat. And if I wasn’t careful, he’d think I’ve just installed a new set of toys for him. So I also picked up some double sided cable tape that was roughly the same height as the cables. And opted for the flat wires instead of the more typical circular ones to also make this easier.

I hid the switch on my shelf, it’s smaller than your average book. After tediously taping the cabling along the bottom of walls, and setting everything up, it was done.

For most people, WiFi will still be more than sufficient, but it’s worth being aware you’re likely leaving speed on the table. You don’t even need to do all of the above. Just get a long Ethernet cable for a fiver and an adaptor if you’re laptop doesn’t have an Ethernet port. But that’s about it. Try it!