Why is my upload speed faster than my download speed? – Answer

When it comes to the internet connection in our homes, there’s nothing more frustrating than having weak upload and download speeds.

And sometimes, you may even have a slow download speed and a fast upload speed simultaneously.

The good news is that there are actual measurements out there which determine how fast our internet is – these are better known as our upload speed and our download speed.

Your upload speed should not be faster than your download speed – but here’s a few reasons why that may be the case.

Why is my upload speed faster than my download speed? The most common reason

The truth is that this is only really a problem when your download speed is slow. You can run an internet speed test to determine how fas

If your upload speed and download speed are both high but your upload speed is a little higher, this won’t matter too much – it’s likely caused by congestion (a lot of connected devices downloading simultaneously).

Both of these speeds are measured in megabits per second (Mbps) and together, they make up our overall broadband internet speed.

The long and short of it is the higher the Mbps, the quicker your internet connection will be. And, in most cases, your download speed will always be faster than your upload speed.

If you find that your upload speed is higher than your download speed, then the first thing you should check is your Wi-Fi router. The problem may lie within your internet connectivity, and fixing issues with your router usually resolves this.

You will also want to check the device you’re connecting to the internet too. It could be that slow download speeds are caused by the advanced settings on your device, and it may be in need of an update.

As there are a couple of different reasons why your upload speed could be higher than your download speed, there are various solutions too. We’re going to examine the different ways in which you can fix this problem.

Check your router

One of the most common reasons why your upload speed might be outperforming your download speed is to do with software issues within your Wi-Fi router.

From time-to-time this can happen, and a reboot is usually enough to resolve the problem.

Reboot

In order to reboot your Wi-Fi router, either flick the on/off switch on the back of the router or turn it off and then on again via the plug socket that your router is connected to.

If a reboot of the router doesn’t balance out your upload and download speed in the correct way then you may well have to reset your router.

This is a more advanced method than a simple reboot as it will restore your router to its factory settings.

However, any modifications that you have made to your router over time could be playing a part in the lopsided upload/download speeds that you’re experiencing.

To reset your Wi-Fi router, you are first of all going to need locate the reset button on the back of the device.

This button can be surprisingly quite hard to locate due to the fact it is usually camouflaged within the router and is so tiny that you will need a drawing pin in order to press it.

Once you have found it, you are going to need to hold the button down for a minimum of ten seconds in order to activate a reset.

When it has fired back up, check to see if your download and upload speeds are back to where they need to be.

If rebooting AND resetting your router doesn’t work, then there are some other things that you can try in order to restore your internet speeds back to where they should be.

Adjust your Router Settings

You can access your router settings by using the router’s IP address – here, you can toggle some settings around to see if this affects your slow internet speeds.

One of these settings is your Wi-Fi Multimedia support, which you turn off and then run a speed test to see if it changes your internet speed (I’ll go into more detail on that in a minute).

You can also switch over to an ethernet cable to see if this makes your upload speed higher too. Using an ethernet connection is a good idea to determine whether the issue is caused by congestion.

This is because your wired connection should take priority over the wireless devices using your internet.

However, there’s usually no need to do anything drastic like switch or get two internet providers – troubleshooting the issue is usually enough.

Establish whether it is a device issue

Sometimes, you may be experiencing slow internet on one device while someone else in your household is experiencing no issues whatsoever.

Therefore, it is important to establish quickly whether it is a device issue or an internet issue.

In order to do this, you are going to need to take the following steps.

  1. Log on to two devices which use the internet to function. For example a laptop and a games console.
  2. Test the internet connection on both devices. For the examples given above you will be able to test your connection by navigating to the devices settings and then network settings.
  3. Check to see if the upload/download speed matches up on both devices.

If you find that your games console is operating are average levels while your laptop is displaying differing levels, then it is fair to assume that is is a problem with your laptop rather than the internet.

If this is the case then check for malware on your laptop by running a security scan and also check for any system updates.

Disable WMM support

If you’ve established that it is an internet issue and resetting/rebooting your router doesn’t work then there is one last thing that you could try before getting in direct contact with your internet service provider.

This isn’t essential but is worth a go if you are relatively tech proficient. To disable WMM support, follow these steps:

  1. Log on to a laptop or computer and bring up the command prompt by typing in ‘command prompt’ into the search bar typically found on your home screen. Alternatively, you can find it in the Control Panel.
  2. Once on command prompt, type in ‘ipconfig’ and hit enter.
  3. Scroll down until you see default gateway and copy the numbers next to it (this is your IP address).
  4. Open up an internet browser and paste the numbers into the search bar and hit enter
  5. This will bring up your Wi-Fi settings.
  6. Enter in your username and password to access your settings.
  7. Navigate to advanced settings and then ‘Quality of Service’ (QoS).
  8. There will be a button here next to ‘enable WMM’. You are going to want to de-select this button.
  9. Save the settings and see if it makes any difference to your download speed.

Conclusion

To conclude, your download speed should never be slower than your upload speed. and if it is then there is a problem that needs fixing.

Usually, a good download speed will be a minimum of 30-100MB+, and a good upload speed will be at least 5-10MB to match that.

We hope that the suggestions provided in this article will eradicate the issue, however, if they don’t then you should get in direct contact with your service provider who should be able to offer further assistance.

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Author

Andy

Andy is a Professional Content Editor with expertise in a whole host of areas (or so he tells us anyway). His main interests are sports, tv/film and social media. He has reviewed over 100 apps so far for Apps UK.

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