If you’re serious about surfing the web, chances are you are already spending anywhere from $20 to $99 per month for a broadband Internet connection. But regardless of how much you are paying pay, the question is: are you getting all the speed that your ISP said you would? And does your connection perform reliably without dropping out frequently or requiring modem reboots? With this quick guide, you can squeeze every last kilobit-per-second (kbps) of throughput out of your broadband modem and keep your connection running in tip top shape.
Here’s how:
1. Test Your Connection Speed
Before you start tweaking, get a baseline reading of your downstream and upstream connection speeds at Speedtest.net. If possible, measure the speeds at different times of day, especially during the hours when you use the connection most frequently, and at least once after midnight or 1:00 a.m. (when competition for bandwith is likely to be at its lowest level).
2. Update Your Firmware or Get a New ModemIf your cable or DSL modem is more than a couple of years old, ask your Internet service provider for a new one. The exchange will probably be free; and if there is a fee, you can usually waive it by agreeing to a new one-year contract. The latest cable modems meet the DOCSIS 2.0 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) standard. If you have a 1.1 modem and a high-throughput plan, you’ll likely experience a large speed increase just by swapping modems.
Even with a brand-new modem, make sure that you have the latest firmware installed. I upgraded my two-year-old Efficient Networks 5100b DSL modem from firmware version 1.0.0.39 to 1.0.0.53, and immediately saw my Speedtest throughput increase from 5.3 mbps to 5.9 mbps, just a hair below the 6 mbps that I’m paying for. Cable providers such as Comcast usually push new firmware to modems, so there’s no need for most cable modem users to perform upgrades themselves.
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