Is your internet slow on your Windows laptop but not on your phone? Here’s how to solve this problem.

Is your internet connection super fast on your phone but acting like a lazy turtle on your laptop? Can you stream HD video on your mobile device without buffering, but have trouble opening a website on your laptop’s browser? What is the reason for such different treatment of different devices from your internet?

In this article, we will see why the internet is so fast on your mobile device but not on your laptop. Also, we will discuss methods to speed up your internet connection.

Why is the internet slow on your laptop compared to your mobile device?

The main reason for slow internet on a laptop can be bandwidth throttling from the same mobile phone you are comparing the speed with. Other causes include network resources being consumed by applications and processes on your device, hardware problems, outdated network drivers, or restrictions imposed by your ISP.

To bring your laptop up to the internet speed you get on your mobile, ensure maximum bandwidth, update its network drivers, close intensive network processes, change your DNS, check for hardware issues, or stop Windows updates. If all else fails, upgrade to a fast internet plan or replace your network card.

Now let’s see how to apply the above solutions to speed up your internet connection.

1. Check that your internet is really slow

Do you think your laptop has slower internet speed than your phone? If so, you should test your hypothesis by measuring your internet speed. To do this, disconnect all devices except the one you are testing. For example, when testing the Internet on your mobile device, all devices, including the laptop you want to test later, should not share the same connection.

Go to the same speed testing website, such as Speedtest by Ookla, and run the test on both devices. Also test your internet connection on another laptop to rule out a problem with your internet service provider.

• If the internet speed is almost the same on both devices but still seems slow on the laptop, it is an operating system level problem.
• If the internet is also slow on the other laptop, it’s probably a limitation from your ISP.
• If your laptop’s internet speed differs significantly from that of your mobile device, it could be a hardware problem.

Identify the scenario in which your problem falls and apply only the relevant fixes:

2. Eliminate hardware problems

To rule out hardware problems, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you using both devices at the same distance from your router? If not, take your laptop to where your cell phone gives you the best speed. A speed test in different locations can also be helpful.
• Are there any physical objects or instruments that transmit radio waves near where you use your laptop? If so, remove their interference.
• Have you rebooted your router since you encountered this problem? Do it if you haven’t already.

3. Eliminate ISP problems

Is the internet speed slow on all the laptops you have at home? If so, your internet service provider may be at fault. To fix this, change your Windows device’s DNS settings. If it improves the speed, keep the DNS unchanged, but if that has no effect, report the problem to your ISP. If you can switch providers, do so.

4. Disconnect other devices

Every device you connect to a network consumes bandwidth. As the number of devices increases, the bandwidth available to your already connected devices decreases. Another reason for slow internet on laptops can be the load on network resources imposed by other devices, especially the phone you’re comparing yourself to.

You should disconnect your other internet connected devices and see if that helps improve your laptop speed. Move on to the next fix if that doesn’t help.

5. Close unnecessary services and background processes

Your Windows device runs two types of processes or services: operating system processes that are necessary for Windows to function, and third-party processes or services that, while useful, strain your network resources. So you need to close them to improve speed. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Right click on the window To start and select Task manager.
2. First, go to the site process tab.
3. Click on the top The network to sort processes according to their network consumption.

   

4. Right-click on unnecessary processes that are hogging your resources and click Complete task.

   

5. Then click the button Initial applications tab.
6. If you think some tasks are unnecessary, right click on them and click disable.

   

7. Once you’re done, press Win + R to open run application.
8. Then write msconfig and click on Good.
9. To go to service in the tab System configuration window.
10. Check the box for Hide all Microsoft services.

    

11. Click on Disable all to disable all services or to selectively disable services you no longer need.

6. Turn off Windows and app updates

To keep our system free of viruses and to access all the new features, it is necessary to update the operating system regularly. However, if the updates overwhelm your resources, they do nothing for you. Therefore, you should disable them temporarily and see if that helps. Our guide on how to stop Windows updates will show you how.

Also, while disabling services as described above will likely stop third-party app updates, you may need to disable individual app updates if they overload your network. How can you verify this? Periodically monitor network-intensive processes in Task Manager and disable any application update-related processes you find running.

Also, you need to disable automatic updates of Microsoft Store as we failed to disable Microsoft services earlier. To do this, open the Microsoft Store, click your profile icon in the upper right corner and select Application settings. Press the button next to it Application updates to turn it off.

7. Update network drivers

Have you ever wondered how your device interprets the signal from your router or modem? It is the network drivers that make the interaction between hardware and software possible. If your drivers are outdated, you probably won’t have the best communication, which means you lose some potential speed.

To update network drivers, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Windows window To start and click on Device Manager.
2. Expand the category to Network adapters.

   

3. Right click on the driver you want to update and click Update the driver.

   

If you don’t know which one to update, you can just update them all.

8. When all else fails…

If you’re only having this problem on one laptop, you’ve ruled out hardware and your ISP as culprits, and none of the solutions above worked, follow these steps:

1. Use an Ethernet connection for faster speeds.
2. Get a faster internet plan.
3. Install a new wireless network card in the laptop.
4. Change your router’s Wi-Fi channel.

Speed ​​up your laptop’s internet

If your phone has fast internet but your laptop struggles to download a small file, you may feel discouraged. After reading our article, you should now have a better understanding of why you get different internet speeds on different devices. Also, now you will find it easier to overcome slow internet and eliminate this discrimination.