Internet slowing down? Here's some tips on how to speed it up

How to maximize your internet usage

With more people staying at home, it's important to make sure you're getting the most out of your internet.

(FOX 9) - With millions of Americans now working from home and students around the country learning online, you may be noticing your internet slowing down. Luckily, there are some ways to fix that.

“Just since March 1, we saw a 212% increase in that video chat use as customers continue to move to working from home and educating from home,” said Jill Hornbacher, Director of external communications for Comcast.

That has a lot of people wondering what they can do to maximize their internet speeds.

1. Are you a close enough distance to your router?

In an apartment, you may not have this issue, but in a house, experts recommend either putting yourself in the same room as the router, or installing mesh networks.

“A true mesh network, you’re kind of like pinging in all those spots that you have, these plug into just your wall outlets. They’re not that difficult to do,” said Barb Barnes Dickerson with The Connected Home, which helps connect residents with available service providers.

2. How many people are using the internet? Can it wait?

If you have multiple people in the home using the internet at once, can one of those activities wait until the work or e-learning is complete?

3. Download things ahead of time

Barnes Dickerson said that, for example, if you plan on watching a movie, download it ahead of time - perhaps at night when fewer people are online. The same goes for computer updates and other important downloads.

4. Time for an upgrade?

At the end of the day, unfortunately, it may just come down to the fact that you need an upgrade to your system and/or service provider.