How to Slow Down the Internet for Other Users?

This is how to slow down the internet for other users.

Someone in your house is blocking the internet? Slow his internet down.

So if you want to slow down the internet for others, then you’re in the right place.

Let’s jump right in!

How You can make the internet slower for other users

Let’s be honest—not all the devices in your household need high-speed internet.

The people that are browsing social media or corresponding via email don’t need 100 Mbps download speeds or low ping.

Gamers and streamers, on the other hand, will benefit from both of these things.

Even though modern households can have incredible internet speeds (certainly much faster than a decade ago), network crowding can still be a significant issue. 

If there are several people watching streaming services, gaming, browsing the internet, and watching YouTube videos, pretty much none of them will be guaranteed a stable connection.

So, how can you prioritize connections and devices? 

How can you slow down internet speeds for some users to make sure others have a faster, more stable connection?

Let’s learn this!

What Dictates Your Internet Speeds

First, we need to know which factors contribute to (or slow down) our internet speeds.

We need to understand that the internet is a huge network of variables that include things that happen both inside and outside your home. 

And, if we’re talking about WiFi, there are a lot of things that could be happening in your home that are messing with your speeds.

Here are some factors that affect your internet speed. Keep in mind, though, that there are many other factors out there!

• Your ISP: obviously, the plan you’re currently on will affect your speeds significantly. More importantly, your ISPs infrastructure will also have a big impact: if you live in a big neighborhood, they might have challenges ensuring that each household is properly connected and gets the right speeds.

• The type of your connection: DSL connections are typically slower than cable, which are slower than fiber. Switching to a cable internet provider from a landline can greatly impact your network speed and stability.

• Network crowding: even the idle devices connected to your WiFi network are likely doing something in the background: updating apps, synchronizing data, etc. The more devices connected, the slower the connection for everyone.

• Router quality: if you’re seeing consistently slower speeds, your router may be to blame. An old router can often get damaged from heat stress. Plus, router technology is advancing anyway, so if you have a 5-year-old router, it might be time to upgrade.

What Is Considered a “Fast” Internet Connection?

Let’s get one thing out of the way: we’re only talking about download speeds here since they’re the most important for consuming content.

If your page loading time is too slow, your YouTube videos won’t buffer, and you don’t have a stable enough connection for gaming—that’s all due to low download speeds.

So, what is a good download speed that lets you do all these things with no interruptions?

The ongoing nationwide study by the FCC called Measuring Broadband Across America found that performance and ease of basic browsing improve with higher speeds up until a certain point: 10 Mbps.

In other words, you don’t need more than that for basic web surfing.

Other activities such as gaming and HD video streaming may require higher speeds.

In 2015, the FCC defined anything over 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload.

Today, these requirements are slightly higher, and you can hardly say you have high-speed internet with 25 Mbps.

From a technical standpoint, though—25 Mbps will likely be enough for most online activities.

How Fast Can WiFi Get?

When WiFi was first introduced, you pretty much needed to concede that this type of connection will be slower than cable.

Today, we have WiFi standards capable of achieving incredible speeds, in many cases even faster than cable internet. 

The only advantage that cables will always have over WiFi is that they allow for a more stable, uninterrupted connection.

Different WiFi Standards

Depending on the WiFi standard you’re using, you’ll be able to get different speeds.

• 802.11a and 802.11b: The first two standards ever approved. The “a” standard used the 5 GHz frequency to achieve higher speeds, while the “b” standard provided a better range with a 2.4 GHz frequency.

• 802.11g: This standard was released in 2003 and was able to achieve up to 54 Mbps.

• 802.11n: This standard allows speeds up to 600 Mbps—it was a big breakthrough in the industry. It’s also a dual-band standard, introducing two frequencies:2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. This standard was released in 2009.

• 802.11ac: A common standard today, the 802.11ac broke through the 1 Gbps range. It also works on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies, offering up to 2 Gbps for the 5 GHz frequency.

• 802.11ax: The latest standard, approved on February 9th, 2021. It’s meant to provide great speeds at both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz frequency. It’s planned as a solution for malls, corporate offices, and other public spaces with crowded networks.

You can check which standard your WiFi is by going to the WiFi settings on your PC or laptop (bottom right corner) and clicking “Properties” right under the name of your current WiFi network. 

Scroll down to the bottom of the Properties screen, and you’ll see your standard next to the “Description” field.

It will usually be written as a part of your router’s name (e.g., Realtek 8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac).

How to Slow Down Internet for Other Users?

Now that we’re familiar with the basics let’s answer our question: how can you slow down the connection for other users?

Well, the first thing you need to do is access your router’s settings. Once you do that, you can follow the instructions below. 

Note that the actions you can take will depend on your ISP and the type of your router.

Easy Solution: Speed Limit Rate

Your router might have an easy way for you to set the speed limit for specific devices, especially if it’s a new one.

For example, some Huawei routers have a Limit Rate setting that allows you to do this in just a few clicks. You only need to do this:

1. Go to the Manage Devices page;
2. Toggle Limit Rate on;
3. Manually set speed limit rates.

That’s all there is to it! If you’re lucky, it will really be this easy.

QoS Settings

On the other hand, It’s more likely that you’ll have to do this manually by accessing the QoS (Quality of Service) settings.

Here’s how you can do this.

1. First, you might need to enable QoS. Navigate to “QoS” in the main menu, then go to “QoS Settings,” and select “Enable QoS.”
2. In the QoS, find something similar to “Rules,” “Rules list”—this will depend on your router. You need to add a new rule that will allow you to tell your router how to treat devices that are coming from different IP addresses.
3. At this point, you’ll need to give your PC or laptop a static IP address so that the router “remembers” it and prioritizes it when it comes to bandwidth. Create and enter that IP address, then set the maximum speeds your ISP allows.
4. Finally, you want to do the same thing for other IP addresses but give them a speed limit (instead of entering max speeds as you did for your IP address). You can do this by entering IP address ranges (e.g., from 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.1.199) and entering the limits you want.

Essentially, what you’re doing here is telling your router:

“For this one device that always uses the same IP address, don’t limit its maximum speed. For all other devices that may come from any IP address in the defined ranges, limit the download and upload speeds to the entered values.”

Bandwidth Control Options

Bandwidth control options are similar to QoS settings, only you arrive at them differently. Some routers will require you to set the speed limits here.

1. Navigate to “Advance Routing” and find the “Bandwidth Control” setting.
2. You might need to set your DHCP server to “Off”—you’ll probably find this among your main tabs, just like the QoS settings earlier. When you do this, you’ll be able to manually tweak settings and assign an IP for each device.
3. The rest of the process is the same—give your device a static IP address and give it the maximum speed. Then set IP ranges for other devices and place limits on their max speeds.