You contract an Internet rate of, for example, 500 Mbps. However, you see that at certain times you get more speed and at times of the day it drops a lot. If you have noticed that it happens to you, it is not something strange. Of course, it is not something that depends on you and, therefore, you will not be able to do much to improve it.
Internet is slower at certain times
But why is the Internet worse at certain times of the day? The reason is the saturation. The more people are connected, the worse the network can be. It does not mean that it always happens, it does not mean that it happens in all cases; but it is common. It is not the same to connect at 7 in the morning, when there are still many people sleeping and very few making intense use of the connection, than at 10 at night when most of them are at home and use platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, downloads…
what we have done is perform speed tests at different times of the day. While there have been some ups and downs, overall the results have been pretty clear. We start with tests first thing in the morning, between 07:30 and 09:00. There we had the best speed data, since these are hours when there are still few people connected.
As the morning wore on, and especially around lunchtime, the speed slowed down. In fact, there was a moment around 2-3 in the afternoon that was when this drop was most noticeable, both in download and upload speeds. It is logical to think that precisely at that time is when people connect the most when they arrive from work, from the university, etc. There is a minimum speed to watch 4K videos, so you may have problems.
In the afternoon, when there are fewer people in their homes again, the speed increased somewhat, although not to the figures that occurred early in the morning. In the evening, at dinner time, there was another fall.
It must be said that for these speed tests we have used the same computer, connected to the same place and with the same equipment with access to the router. The conditions, locally, were exactly the same in all the tests carried out. You can see this screenshot, where there are many of these tests that we have done during one day and, the next day, they were similar.
Several factors influence
As we say, this is a test that we have carried out in a specific place, with a specific operator. It does not mean that the same thing always happens, but it does mean that it is something that you can perfectly notice. We invite you to make a speed test in your homeat different times, so you can see if the speed really changes or not.
But beyond the general saturation that the network may have, there are several factors closer to you that can influence it. One of them directly affects your connection, since it is possible that at certain times there more people in your house, so they use more devices. It is not the same that you are alone than that there are 4 or 5 other people connected, with several devices using the Wi-Fi network.
They will also affect the networks of your neighbors. This will depend on where you live, since an isolated house, where you don’t have any Wi-Fi network nearby, is not the same as an apartment with many houses and full of networks everywhere. When your neighbors are at home, they will use the network more. That’s going to cause it to saturate. If you are connected to the same channel or a nearby one, you will have more problems.
In short, as you can see, it is possible that you have worst internet at certain hours of the day Generally, this will happen at lunchtime, around 2-3 in the afternoon, as well as at night, around 9 or 10. First thing in the morning, as well as at dawn, is when you will have higher speed as the network is less saturated.
