Why Is My Internet Slow at Night? 3 Fixes to Try

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Engadget explains a familiar frustration: your connection slows down in the evening because more people are home and online. Some of the congestion happens at your provider, and some comes from wireless interference around your home. You can do something about the latter.

Why does internet slow down in the evening?

Engadget points to two separate causes. The first is shared capacity at your internet provider. On cable networks, many homes in the same area share the capacity of a network segment. The more people are online, the less capacity is available to each household. This effect is much weaker on fibre, where far more capacity is available.

The second cause is competition for the same radio frequencies. In a large apartment building, dozens or sometimes hundreds of devices may compete for the same band. This is no longer about your provider: nearby routers transmit alongside yours and interfere with one another.

The source article gives no figures - not how much speed you might lose, nor the hours when slowdowns are worst. It describes how congestion works; it does not report measurements. Anyone promising a specific percentage improvement from changing one setting is making it up.

Test your internet connection vs. Wi-Fi

Before changing your router settings, find out where the bottleneck is. Take two measurements at the same time of day, ideally around 8 p.m., when the slowdown occurs.

Connect a laptop to your router with an Ethernet cable and run a speed test. Then unplug it, connect over Wi-Fi in the same room and test again. If both results are similarly low, the bottleneck is your internet connection. If the wired result is much faster, the problem is with Wi-Fi, so read on.

A regular speed test is enough to diagnose the issue. For a formal complaint, check your provider’s procedures and the measurement tools available in your country.

Wi-Fi bands: which devices should use each one?

A common problem with home networks is using one network name for all bands. The router decides which band each device uses, and it may make the wrong choice - a TV might stay on 2.4 GHz while a temperature sensor connects to 5 GHz.

Note: 6 GHz works only if both your router and your device support it. An older laptop simply will not see the band. Engadget recommends reserving 2.4 GHz for smart home devices that need range more than speed and can tolerate a brief interruption.

When does restarting your modem help?

The steps in the source article: unplug your modem and router for at least 30 seconds. Turn the modem on first and wait for it to connect, then turn on the router. The devices clear their buffers and reconnect from scratch, sometimes using a less congested route.

Engadget is clear that an improvement is not guaranteed, but things are unlikely to get worse. It is not a repair so much as a gamble with favourable odds. If restarting helps every time but the problem returns within a few hours, contact your provider. That may indicate a problem on its side, not yours.

What to do if your internet connection is slow

If a wired speed test shows that the problem is with your connection, contact your provider and check the speed terms in your contract. Look for the minimum and normally available speeds, rather than relying on an advertised “up to” speed.

Run wired tests at different times over several days and note the times. A series of evening results makes a stronger case than a single screenshot. Ask your provider how to raise a complaint if the issue persists.

Our view: if fibre is available in your building but you still use cable internet, evening slowdowns are a strong reason to consider switching. No router setting can eliminate the shared-capacity limitations of a cable network.

What you can do at home

1. At 8 p.m., measure your speed over both Ethernet and Wi-Fi in the same room. Record both results.
2. If both are slow, the problem is with your internet connection. Repeat the wired test over three evenings and check the minimum speed in your contract.
3. If the wired connection holds up but Wi-Fi does not, open your router settings and give the bands separate network names, such as “Home-24” and “Home-5”.
4. Connect your TV, console and laptop to 5 GHz. Leave sensors and smart plugs on 2.4 GHz.
5. For the 2.4 GHz channel, choose 1, 6 or 11 instead of automatic selection. These three channels do not overlap with one another.
6. Turn off automatic system and game updates during the day. In Windows, set active hours; on consoles, use overnight download mode.
7. If evening slowdowns continue and fibre is available in your building, compare the cost of switching providers.

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