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Why is my internet slow? Understanding what affects your connection

As part of this article, we spoke with Supervisor: Technical Service Support, Ms Ruth Kamalanga-Mufenda, and her Technical Service Support Team, who explained the various technical and environmental factors that can impact internet speeds, as well as best practices for maintaining a reliable connection.

1. Customers often assume there is a fault when their internet slows down. What are some of the most common reasons for slow internet speeds?

In most cases it is not a fault on the line or network. The most common causes are:

Example: Imagine driving on a highway. Even if the road is in perfect condition, traffic can still move slowly if there are too many cars, poor road signs, or a slow vehicle blocking the lane. Internet works the same way.

2. What is network congestion, and how can it affect a customer's internet experience, particularly during peak usage times?

Network congestion is when data traffic exceeds network’s available capacity, it is like traffic on a road. The network has a certain capacity, and when many customers use it at the same time — usually in the evenings (Peak hours) between about 19:00 and 22:00 — everyone gets a smaller share of that capacity, like a traffic jam and your car moves slower and slower the more cars join the road. The connection still works, but web pages load slower and videos may drop to a lower quality.

Example: Road during rush hour. When there are only a few vehicles, traffic moves freely. When thousands of vehicles use the same road at the same time, everyone experiences slower movement.

3. How does the number of devices connected to a home or office network impact internet performance?

Your internet line is shared by every device in the house or office. Ten phones, TVs, laptops and cameras all pull from the same pipe. Heavy users such as video streaming, online gaming and software updates take the biggest share, and they often keep using data in the background even when nobody is actively using the device. So the more devices are connected the more the connection is shared and the slower your connection becomes. Also remember that the router has to be talking/communicating to all these devices at the same time, so the more devices are simultaneously connected the slower the routers response will be and the slower your connection will appear to be.

Example: Your internet connection is like a road with four lanes. If one car is driving, traffic flows easily. If 20 cars suddenly use the same road, everyone has less space and moves slower.

4. Many customers use Wi-Fi without realizing its limitations. What are some factors that can affect Wi-Fi performance within a home or workplace?

Wi-Fi is radio, not cable, so it is easily disturbed. Performance drops because of where the router is placed, interference from neighbours' Wi-Fi, microwaves and cordless phones, an old router, and too many devices on one frequency band. The Wi-Fi speed inside the building is almost always lower than the speed delivered on the line itself. The walls within a house weaken the Wi-Fi signal as it passes through the walls, so the more walls between you and the Router the more you will experience slow speed.

5. How does the distance between a device and a Wi-Fi router or access point influence connection speeds?

The further you move from the router, the weaker the signal becomes and the slower the connection. When the signal gets weak, your device automatically slows down in order to stay connected. This is why the speed in a back bedroom is often far lower than the speed right next to the router.

6. What role do walls, furniture, and other physical obstacles play in Wi-Fi signal strength and internet performance?

Every wall or object between you and the router weakens the signal. Concrete, brick, metal, mirrors and anything holding water — fish tanks, geysers, even people in the room — block it the most. Wood and glass block less. The faster 5GHz band gives higher speeds but is blocked by walls more easily than the slower 2.4GHz band.

Example: It is like placing multiple roadblocks and checkpoints between you and your destination. The more obstacles there are, the slower the journey becomes.

7. How do fibre and mobile networks differ, and what factors can influence their performance?

Fibre sends light through a glass cable directly into the building, so it is fast, stable and consistent. Mobile is radio from a tower, shared by everyone in that area, and it is affected by how far you are from the tower, buildings in the way, and how busy the tower is at that moment. That is why mobile speed changes from place to place and from hour to hour.

Example: Fibre is like driving on a private highway with fewer interruptions. Mobile internet is like using public roads where traffic, weather, and road conditions can affect your journey.

8. Can weather conditions or environmental factors affect internet connectivity and speeds?

Fibre is mostly unaffected because the cables are underground. Mobile and wireless links can be affected by heavy rain and storms, and lightning can damage equipment. Power outages and very high temperatures can also affect equipment at the customer's premises as well as on the network.

Rain falling between two devices that share a wireless connection can sometimes cause the connection to almost go down completely, it can be like trying to send a signal through a container of water, the water will degrade the signal same as the rain drops make the signal weak and causes slow speed.

Example: Heavy rain may not damage the highway itself, but it can slow traffic and cause accidents.

9. What is international traffic, and why can websites or online services hosted outside Namibia sometimes appear slower?

International traffic is data travelling to and from servers outside Namibia. When you open a site hosted in Europe or America, your request travels thousands of kilometres through undersea cables and back again, which adds delay. Sites and services hosted or cached locally will always feel faster, even on exactly the same connection. Caches are these storage facilities that store the content we have already accessed, and this makes it easier for the next person trying to access the same content, and it then appears fast because they did not have to load the content from a server in America or China.

Example: It is like sending a package to another country. Even if local roads are clear, the package still has a much longer journey and might face delays at borders or busy routes.

10. To what extent does the performance of a customer's device influence their internet experience?

The device is very often the real bottleneck. Every device connected to the internet uses part of the available bandwidth. An older phone or laptop with an old Wi-Fi chip simply cannot reach modern speeds, no matter how good the line is. Full storage, too many open tabs or apps, viruses and outdated software also slow things down noticeably.

Example: Even on a perfect highway, an old car will travel slower than a modern sports car. The road is fine, but the vehicle has limitations.

11. How can customers determine whether a slow connection is caused by their device, Wi-Fi setup, or the network itself?

Test the same website(s) on two or more different devices. If only one device is slow, the device is the problem. Test on different times of the day and night to determine if the slow connection is anytime. Test on different locations of the house, stand right next to the router and gradually moving further away from it. If it is fast there but slow in the other room, it is a Wi-Fi problem and the distance is too far, a repeater may need to be setup. Test with only device connected. Next, plug a laptop directly into the router with a network cable and test. Check which package you are subscribed to by contacting the service provider. If it is slow everywhere, on every device, and also on a cable, then the connection itself should be reported.

Example: If one car has problems while all others drive normally, the issue is probably the car. If every car is stuck, the problem is likely the road or traffic conditions.

12. What simple troubleshooting steps can customers take before reporting a slow internet connection?

Example: Before reporting that a car is broken, you first check the fuel, tyre pressure, and whether the engine is running properly. The same principle applies to internet troubleshooting.

13. What are some common misconceptions customers have about internet speeds and network performance?

14. What practical advice would you give customers to help them achieve the best possible internet experience at home or at work?

Example: To improve traffic flow, you use better roads, remove obstacles, and choose the best route. Similarly, proper Wi-Fi setup improves internet performance.

15How is Telecom Namibia continuously investing in and improving its network to meet growing customer demand?

Telecom Namibia continues to expand its fibre footprint to more homes, businesses and towns, upgrade its mobile network, and increase international capacity so that customers get faster access to global content. Investment also goes into the core network, redundancy, meaning backup links, and backup power, so that the service remains stable and reliable as customer demand keeps growing.

Example: It is like the government widening highways, building new roads, and improving interchanges to handle more traffic and reduce congestion.