Why Is My Internet Slow?

There are quite a few reasons why your internet could be slow or problematic. We will explain a few reasons and then give you some options on how to fix them.

Distance from your local ADSL exchange

★ This is where the copper phone line from your house connects to a much better quality backbone

★ The further your house is from this exchange, the slower your internet will be

Poor quality phone cable inside your house

★ If you house is more than 12-15 years old, it is likely that you have poor quality phone cable installed in your home that was never intended to be used for ADSL internet

★ Poor quality cable cannot carry the ADSL signal as efficiently and is more susceptible to interference

Poor quality installation practices

★ Electrical cables and hot water pipes are very big sources of interference to the ADSL signal

★ If you house is more than 12-15 years old, it is likely that you will have electrical wiring and hot water pipes that are too close to your phone cable

★ Phone cables too close to electrical wiring is the main cause of ADSL dropouts

Too many joins and ADSL in-line filters

★ Most houses will have 2-3 or even more phone outlets

★ Each outlet means the phone cable has been cut and joined

★ Each outlet means an ADSL in-line filter is attached

★ Each join and ADSL in-line filter is a bottleneck and an entry point for interference

Poor quality wall sockets / outlets

★ The older style rectangular shaped yellow phone connectors used throughout Australia for decades are well known sources of ADSL signal problems

★ Most of them are old, have potentially loose or faulty terminations and are big entry points for interference

Home alarm systems

★ Typical home alarm systems are wired in such a way as to force all ADSL signals to pass through the alarm control panel and digital dialer. These are a major cause of ADSL dropouts

★ Alarm wires which run throughout the house to all the alarm sensors can also cause ADSL dropouts if they run parallel or are grouped together with phone cables carrying ADSL signals

Now that you know why your Internet is slow, let's look at how to fix your slow internet connection and increase your internet speed.