Not getting the internet speed you pay for?

Acutis · plain-English network help · updated June 2026

You pay for 500 Mbps and your speed test shows 80. Frustrating, but before you call to complain, it is worth measuring properly. A lot of "missing" speed is really the test setup, Wi-Fi overhead, or your own wiring, and a few of those you can fix yourself. Here is how to find out what is really going on.

Not getting the speed you pay for: test it correctly first

Most people test over Wi-Fi, with other devices busy, and then blame the provider. To get a number that actually means something:

• Test wired if you can. Plug a computer straight into the router with Ethernet. This removes Wi-Fi from the equation and shows what is actually arriving at your home.
• Pause everything else. No downloads, streaming, or backups running on other devices during the test.
• Use a reputable test. Try speedtest.net, fast.com, or your provider's own speed test. Run it two or three times and take the best result.
• Mind the units. Plans are sold in megabits (Mbps); downloads show in megabytes (MB/s). 500 Mbps is only about 62 MB/s at best. They are not the same number.

If a wired test on a quiet network gets close to your plan speed, your internet is fine and the slowness you feel is happening somewhere inside your home.

Wi-Fi overhead is normal

Wi-Fi never delivers the full wired speed, and that is expected, not a fault. Real-world Wi-Fi commonly lands at half to two-thirds of the wired number, and far less at distance or on the crowded 2.4 GHz band. If wired hits 480 Mbps and Wi-Fi in the next room gets 200, that gap is physics, not theft. To narrow it:

• Use the 5 GHz band for nearby, high-speed devices; keep 2.4 GHz for range.
• Move closer to the router or add a mesh node for far rooms.
• Remember that old laptops and phones have slower Wi-Fi chips and will cap out below your plan no matter what.

Check the device, not just the line

An old computer can be the bottleneck. A cheap USB Wi-Fi adapter, a Cat 5 cable limiting you to 100 Mbps, or a machine bogged down by background updates will all show a low number that has nothing to do with your provider. Test a second device. If a newer phone or laptop hits full speed in the same spot, the slow device is the problem.

Wiring inside your home

Between the wall and your router, bad cabling quietly steals speed:

• Ethernet cables: a Cat 5 (not 5e) cable, or a damaged one, caps you at 100 Mbps. Use Cat 5e or Cat 6 for gigabit.
• Coax splitters: on cable internet, every splitter weakens the signal. Too many, or a corroded connector, drags speed down.
• An aging modem or router: hardware rated below your plan cannot pass your full speed. A 100 Mbps router can never deliver a gigabit plan.

Is the ISP throttling you?

Throttling means your provider deliberately slows certain traffic. Real, but less common than people assume. Look for these patterns:

• Only one service is slow. If a general speed test is full speed but one video site or game crawls, that points to targeted throttling or that service's own congestion.
• Slow only at peak hours. Evening-only slowdowns are usually shared congestion, not per-customer throttling.
• A data cap was hit. Some plans slow you after a monthly limit. Check your account.

A quick way to test: run a speed test normally, then run it again through a VPN. If the VPN result is noticeably faster on a specific service, that service was being throttled.

Plan vs reality

Finally, check what you are actually owed. Advertised speeds are usually "up to," and some technologies (older DSL, distant cable) never reach the headline number. Log into your account and confirm your exact plan. If a clean wired test consistently falls well short of it, you have a real case:

1. Record several wired speed tests with dates and times.
2. Restart the modem and router and retest.
3. Call your provider with the numbers. Ask them to check the line and the modem signal levels remotely.

Coming in with wired test results from a quiet network makes the conversation short and hard to brush off.