Why Is My Internet Slow? Let’s Solve the Mystery!

Ever wondered why your internet feels like it’s stuck in slow motion? Here are some common culprits:

• Wi-Fi Woes: If you’re far from your router or there are walls in the way, your Wi-Fi signal might be struggling to reach you. Plus, other gadgets like microwaves can interfere with your signal.
• Device Drama: Older devices might not keep up with the latest Wi-Fi standards. Background apps and pesky malware can also hog your bandwidth, slowing things down.
• Cable Chaos: Damaged or loose cables can mess with your connection. Make sure everything’s plugged in snugly!
• Network Nuisances: During peak times, everyone’s online, which can slow things down. 
• External Factors: Bad weather or ongoing network upgrades can temporarily affect your speeds. 

Found on this page will be several tips & tricks on how to improve the speed issue at hand

Basic Checks

Below are some checks that we recommend performing to help solve your speed issue. Further down on the page are more detailed descriptions to further assist you in finding a solution. 

Check the cables

This one is simple, look at all the cables connected to you Modem and make sure all the cables are secure.

1. Cables to check - power cable, ethernet Cables, WAN/DSL cable (if on Fixed Broadband connection).
2. Try an alternative ethernet cable between your Optical network terminal (ONT) and the modem.

Power Cycle

That age old saying "have you tried turning it Off and On again", as funny as it is holds some truth as even technology needs a restart every now and then

1. To power cycle the modem simply turn the modems power off for 10 - 15 seconds and then back on again. Just like humans waking up in the morning give the modem a few mins to find its feet again.
2. Run a Scan

All the physical checks done. Still having issues?

Head over to the Slingshot App and run a Wi-Fi Network Scan

1. This will run a health check on your network to let you know if we think anything is amiss. It has a lot of smarts and will suggest ways you can improve your connection
2. After following the suggestions try browsing like normal and see how its improved, still need more help run another scan!

Identifying where the problem may lie

Various factors impact the broadband speeds you experience with your connection. Found below are several different things to consider when trying to locate the reason why your Broadband speed is slowing down. Again, we recommend trying the Wi-Fi scanner found on the Slingshot app to help identify if the issue is due to Wi-Fi interference or modem placement. 

Be sure to also check out our Outages page, as it may be that there is an outage in your area or nearby that could be impacting your speed temporarily. 

• Wireless Connections

  Speed issues often arise when using a Wi-Fi connection. This is due to the nature of Wireless technologies, and that they need to travel through the air to reach their destination, making them prone to interference along the way.

  We recommend downloading the Slingshot Broadband app to run the Wi-Fi assistance tool. This will allow the tool to scan the Wi-Fi from your modem to your device, and its surroundings from which it can make a range of suggestions on how it thinks your connection may be better improved.

• Users at any given time

  The more people using the internet simultaneously, the more strain it puts on the modem and connection, potentially reducing speeds for everyone.

  Does the speed seem to reduce when there are multiple devices running at once? If so, it may be that your internet speed needs an upgrade, or your modem may be out of date to support multiple users more efficiently simultaneously. Check out our Broadband plans to see if there is a faster one for you!

• Distance from Modem and the Size of the property

  Wi-Fi signals travel through the air and can be interfered with by objects. Slower speeds may occur if you are far from the modem. Wi-Fi only has a finite range before its signal begins to diminish, this is just the nature of how Wireless technologies work.

  If you find yourself in this situation, and you have a larger or multi-storied property, we suggest looking taking up one of our mesh units to help strengthen the Wi-Fi signal across your property.

• Restarting the modem
  The old saying, have you tried turning it off and on again actually goes a long way in the realm of internet technology. Switching your modem off and on again can quite often resolve some of the issues you may be experiencing. This isn’t because the hardware is failing, but more because the memory on board may have been full, or the unit was simply getting a bit too hot after being online for quite some time. Disconnect the power for 30 seconds and try again!
• Checking Cables
  Ethernet cables are often overlooked when diagnosing internet issues. These cables although do last a very long time, can be prone over time to damage and simply just not do their job. For example, you may have a 1 Gigabit internet connection, but the cable between the ONT and your modem has been a bit damaged, therefore your highest achievable speeds may only be around 90Mbps on a speed test. Try replacing the cable here, and seeing if it works, you never know!
• Age of hardware
  Sometimes a culprit for slow speeds may simply be the age of the modem itself. It may be that you’ve had it for several years, and it’s just always worked without any second guessing, but now that you’ve come across some issues with the speed or even signals dropping off, it may be that your modem just simply isn’t cutting it anymore. Contact our friendly team, and discuss taking up one of our newer models, you may find that with the new Wi-Fi technologies it will give you an even greater experience than before!
• Gaming
  Do you experience speed issues only when gaming? This may be because the server you are connecting to isn’t hosted locally in New Zealand, and because of this it is prone to external factors. This includes the distance to the host server, and the load on that server. Some games for example may experience an overwhelming increase in players when some new content is released, and when combined with the server being overseas, may cause some issues to how your game performs. A good work around here is to see if there is a closer game server for you to join, for example, quite often Australasian servers provide a better Ping compared to American or European servers.
• External interference (Wireless Customers)
  If you are a wireless broadband customer, sudden speed drops may be due to external interference. More than likely, this is due to a change in the weather, with rainy stormy weather reducing the signal strength. What we suggest here is that you try switching the modem off and moving it to another location at your property to see if it can establish a stronger connection.

What should I do now?

If you find that you’ve performed all these steps, and you haven’t found a possible cause for your broadband issue, contact our team. We will complete some final checks with you before reporting a fault.