Why Is My Wi-Fi So Inconsistent?

Wi-Fi provides a means of sharing an internet connection. Because of the sharing, the performance you see of your Wi-Fi can be inconsistent depending on the extent to which others are using the same internet connection.

Your Wi-Fi can be inconsistent depending on the number of smartphone users connected to the Wi-Fi router, the Number of IoT-based devices and Background downloads/updates in smartphone/windows pc/laptop. Also, it can be inconsistent if there are multiple routers, and LAN switches connected to the same source of internet.

Reasons Why Your Wi-Fi Is So Inconsistent?

1. Congestion on the uplink from the local wireless network because of total traffic from wireless and wired users on the same network. Probability: High
2. Congestion on the network operated by your ISP. Probability: High
3. Congestion on the server that you are pulling traffic from. Probability: Medium. As long as you can get your signal where you need it, you are less likely to get competing signals. Also, the band is generally less crowded in most areas because most routers are 2.4 or dual-band, so everyone is spewing 2.4 signals. 
4. Interference caused by microwave ovens. If you see things slow down when someone is running the microwave oven (for example), that could be your problem. Probability: Low.
5. If you’re doing certain tasks that require more bandwidth which reduces the performance for others e.g., downloads, and large uploads. 
6. Downloading larger files and gaming can cause this. Maybe try moving around your router to different spots to see if that can help.
7. It could be a momentary lag. The thing with Wi-Fi, it can be great but also just lags sometimes. If you want more consistency a direct wired ethernet cable goes a long way. 
8. Different internet bandwidth at different times. Sometimes you hardly need any bandwidth and sometimes it loads. Thus, the bandwidth is shared in a pool, the idea being that not everyone needs maximum bandwidth all the time. Therefore, although your client speed may be very fast, if the server has to serve thousands of requests simultaneously, it can be slow

Ways to Fix if Your Wi-Fi is Inconsistent

If you realize your Wi-Fi is being inconsistent, i.e., at times its speed both upload and download speeds are high while sometimes the Wi-Fi speed is low or zero altogether, there are several ways you can check and fix it so it becomes consistent and fast. Some of the ways to fix if your Wi-Fi is inconsistent include:

1. Upgrade the uplink. (Buy a better plan from the same ISP, or switch it.)
2. Switch to a different ISP. Your ISP may also prioritize traffic differently based on the plan/speed you purchased, so upgrading your plan might or might not help.
3. Try if you can connect to different servers, or do it at different times.
4. Move some users to a different frequency (2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz), and/or move some users to a wired network. Or, just use an Ethernet cable.
5. Try switching to a 5 GHz router to see if that helps. Try moving or replacing the Microwave. Try moving equipment away from the microwave. Use an Ethernet cable.
6. Check your Wi-Fi Card.
7. Once you know whether it is on your network or upstream, you know where to focus. Upstream issues are mostly resolved by working with your ISP or getting a better ISP. 

Why Your Wi-Fi is so Inconsistent?

Wi-Fi consistency depends on the kind of Wi-Fi you get. Usually, you aren’t using Wi-Fi alone, so depending on how many people are using it and how heavily, the speed will vary as the Wi-Fi has to distribute its speed to everyone.

• The Wi-Fi itself also doesn’t necessarily have a fixed speed. Depending on the ISP that provides the internet connection the Wi-Fi might have a fixed bandwidth that only gets impaired by high traffic within itself as mentioned above, or the Wi-Fi s internet connection speed itself might change throughout the day for pretty much the same reason. This usually applies to routers that connect to the internet via LTE or some other wireless connection, but they are pretty much in their own bigger Wi-Fi themselves and just like your local Wi-Fi network they also have to share their connection and when more people use their internet the speed of individual networks gets reduced.
• It can also happen that things interfere with the connection. If you place your router on your microwave, you will probably lose your connection every time someone turns on the microwave. Similarly, if a lot of other Wi-Fi networks are around, they can reduce the signal quality of your Wi-Fi, causing you to get a worse connection and less speed. Generally speaking, that means that the more Wi-Fi networks there are, the more they are impairing each other. However, there are multiple channels in each Wi-Fi and just changing to a channel with less traffic from other networks can do wonders to improve the signal and therefore your speed.
• Directly connected to the point above, your position relative to the router can also make a big difference. In a small flat, you probably won’t notice, but in a big house, you will get a much better connection close to the router and might not get any on the other side of the house. Even if you live in a flat, one good strong wall can kill a room’s connection to be almost unusable.
• Hooking up an Ethernet cable will tell you whether the problem is upstream or on your wireless network.
• Your internet plan speed vs your Wi-Fi speed, as well as your internet medium (cable, DSL, fibre, satellite, 4g, etc.). For example, Wi-Fi will hand down provide a slower connection than hard-wired ethernet. Even if you have a super-fast router, your Wi-Fi card won’t keep up, throw in some signal loss and you will be lucky to hit 700 Mbps. Ethernet on the other hand gets 1gbps per port, Wi-Fi is completely communal.  Thus, it takes longer for your router to receive the request for data from the internet made by your Wi-Fi-connected computer. Most things that require a very fast connection (i.e., low latency) do not need high bandwidth (Mbps). These are things like gaming, VoIP, and real-time video chat. For these connections, those extra milliseconds of delay can become quite noticeable.

Ways To Get a More Consistent Wi-Fi Speed If It is inconsistent depending on Day of Week and Time of Day

• Is it shared Wi-Fi? If yes, then see who else is using it.
• If out to the net, then check with your ISP and run a speed test during slow and non-slow times.
• If your external speed is consistent then you could be having interference. If it is going to your Wi-Fi router and force it to select a clean band.

Reasons Why the Same Wi-Fi Give Different Speeds for Different Devices?

There are several factors.

1. Wi-Fi capabilities (certification level) of the client device
2. SNR of the Wi-Fi signal
3. Co-channel interference
4. Overlapping Wi-Fi channels
5. Number of Wi-Fi clients the Wi-Fi router has to serve
6. Distance of the client device from the Wi-Fi router

Factors That Reduce the Link Speed of Wi-Fi and How to Fix?

1.  RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) should be at least > -67 dBm. 
2. Going to the 5 GHz band if you haven’t already. 
3. Airtime congestion. This is a bit harder to debug but if you change to a different Wi-Fi channel and if you see performance improve, you were probably sharing the airtime with too many other people.
4. Location, probably best if you put it where you are most of the time. That way you’ll get the fastest speeds there. If you want the best coverage, then a central area will give the best coverage unless you have walls that are plaster, metal, or concrete. 
5. Get wired Wi-Fi extenders, Ethernet, MoCA, or powerline and put one in each room. Don’t use Wi-Fi mesh for the later scenario, you’ll only make it worse.

Conclusion

In most cases, the speed of an internet connection does not vary. (It can happen if the ISP has problems.) In the absence of others using the same Wi-Fi router and in the absence of radio interference issues, the performance of the Wi-Fi connection between your device and the router should not vary either. Radio interference can happen with some Wi-Fi setups, and the amount of that can vary depending on how many of your neighbours are using their systems, a factor which does vary with the time of day.

Frequently Asked Questions

When the Wi-Fi Is Super Slow and Inconsistent, Why Does Restart the Router Magically Fix It?

It may stop processes running in machines on your LAN that were competing for data. It may also have resulted from a bug in the router firmware that got it into an inefficient state that could be corrected by a power reset.

What Are the Reasons Why Wi-Fi May Be Slow and Inconsistent?

 If you live in a densely populated area (IE apartment complex), or if you are having signal interference caused by the default 2.4Ghz wavelength being saturated by other devices (way too many routers in the area), your Wi-Fi may be so inconsistent.