5 Myths About Boosting Internet Speed and Why They Don’t Work

[Batu69]

Internet speed is a critical measurement in the 21st century. All the information in the entire world is within the reach of our fingertips — if only it would arrive on screen a little faster. Slow internet speed is annoying. In fact, it is downright infuriating. So, it stands to reason there are thousands of tips detailing exactly how to boost your internet speeds into the stratosphere.

 

Unfortunately, they don’t all work. A number of tips stem from technical misunderstandings, while others are just straight-up myths. I’m going to debunk some of those myths for you, right now.

Myth 1: Clearing the Cache = Instant Speed-Up

This is a commonly cited internet speed boost, but it isn’t true. However, I can understand the misinformation surrounding this myth. Clearing various caches — think temporary internet files, cookies, website data, browsing history, and so on — can indeed be useful, but it won’t have a positive effect on internet speed.

 

 

In fact, it will do the opposite.

Cookies, website data, and other caches are used to store commonly accessed data. In turn, this actually speeds up your internet browsing experience as less resources are required to load frequently-visited pages.

Exceptions

Clearing your cache isn’t a bad piece of advice. It just won’t speed up your internet connection. However, there are occasions where it is the right thing to do. For instance, the cache for a specific application can become corrupted, or just out of date. At this time, clearing the cache would be sensible.

Myth 2: Disabling IPv6 Provides a Boost

This is another internet speed boost myth that — like all good legends — is borne of a misinterpretation. All major operating systems have built-in support for IPv6. Furthermore, the internet has completely exhausted its reserves of older IPv4 addresses (bar the African continent, but they’re beginning to run low, too). This means new websites and services will be hosted on IPv6 addresses. Subsequently, turning off IPv6 support will literally cause some sites to fail to display.

 

This myth propagated in the early days of IPv6. In 2010, when Mozilla Firefox 3 was released, it attempted to resolve DNS addresses with IPv6, before switching to IPv4. The failure to find the IPv6 address and subsequent switch to IPv4 took time. People complained, and Mozilla fixed the bug.

Configuration

Is there more to the myth? It is true misconfigured IPv6 settings would slow your connection to certain websites down, but not all of them. At worst, your browser would fall back to IPv4 DNS, and the site would load. IPv6 is the future (and at this point, the now) of the internet. Your ISP understands, and will be prepared.

Myth 3: SSL Is Network Intensive

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and its successor, Transport Layer Security (TLS), are cryptographic protocols. SSL/TLS provide communication security throughout the internet. The protocols are present in a massive number of common internet applications, including web browsers, email, instant messaging services, and VoIP (voice-over-IP) services, such as Skype. It does have a slight network overhead, but versus the security advantages it brings, it is utterly negligible.

 

In fact, there are two technologies in play designed to keep the encryption and communication process running as smoothly as possible. These are known as False Start and Session Resumption, as MaxCDN explains:

False Start speeds up the initial connection process by giving the sender a head start on the receiver. A normal TCP connection (known as a TCP handshake) forces one party to wait for a response from the other before continuing. With false start, the sender starts sending data when the handshake is only partially complete. By the time the handshake is finished, data has already been transferred…

 

Session Resumption caches keys and connection information on both the client and the server. When a client connects to a familiar server, both parties check and compare their caches for matching session IDs and parameters. Matching sessions result in a shorter handshake, while new connections result in a newly created session ID. While this reduces the number of round trips, it requires the server to maintain a list of thousands or possibly millions of unique session IDs.

Myth 4: Internet Speed Boost Software

In the heyday of dial-up modems, internet speed boosting software was insanely popular. These carried names such as SpeedConnect internet Accelerator and internet Cyclone. They claimed to automatically optimize Windows and network settings, providing an instant and miraculous boost to internet speed.

 

Speed boosting utilities were snake oil then, and so they remain. Your broadband/fiber connection will not be boosted by third-party software. At best, the software will do nothing. At worst, it will install spyware and/or malware, significantly slowing your connection — and causing a significant amount of alternative issues, too.

Myth 5: The DNS Flush

Our final myth concerns the domain name system (DNS). A commonly cited internet speed boost is to run the following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

This command immediately flushes the DNS cache. However, this has a negligible effect on internet speed. In fact, much like the clearing of cookies and other caches as mentioned in the first myth, flushing the DNS can actually temporarily slow your speed as the DNS cache repopulates.

What Really Works?

I’ve debunked some internet speed boost myths. Furthermore, I looked at where some of those myths come from, too. However, don’t worry: there are some actual methods to boost your internet speed.

 

We’ve covered how to boost your home network by positing your router, adjusting cable lengths, and more. We have also covered several ways to improve the speed of your router. Finally, if you’re struggling to get a strong Wi-Fi signal throughout your home, you might consider using powerline adapters. They’ve certainly helped me out!

 

Slow internet speeds are incredibly frustrating, and we’ve all experienced them. It can feel like all hope is lost after your ninth router restart. There will be a solution — but it won’t be one of these myths.

 

Article source

[stylemessiah]

Yup internet speed up software is utter bs...and another favourite, messing with the MTU on the modem router and OS is pointless in this day and age.....

 

Yup, totally recommend powerline adapters over Wifi repeaters/boosters (these iincrease latency and work at half duplex and halve your throughput on the extended hop), cant count the number of people who have bought repeaters and then call me wondering why a) they still cant get a good signal to that part of the house and b ) why its so slooooow when it does connect.....save your money and buy a powerline adapter kit (ideally with pass through plugs on them so you dont lose a socket)

[pc71520]

It is Hardware (not Software) what really makes difference...

[jbleck]

3 hours ago, pc71520 said:

It is Hardware (not Software) what really makes difference...

what hardware? ... the most important thing is the distance from the source and the cable quality...

ISP is irrelevant too at this point.

 

Location is the key... sooner or later the houses/appartments near the source will have an increase in price... even more then they have now on other facilities like supermarket, bar, restaurant, nice view, schools etc.

[Ice Frog]

you only get what you paid for, period.  

[pc71520]

22 hours ago, jbleck said:

what hardware?...

From new Routers and enhanced Ethernet cables to new-age Fiber Optics.

[DKT27]

I must mention though, as the internet gets faster worldwide, no one be looking at these things. But then again, we have big sized games and even 4K videos for some people, so who knows.

 

My problem with internet speed is more about WiFi speed as I for one am unhappy that AC routers are not so cheap as N ones here.

[DrKash]

I have 50 Mbps  Fiber Optics and the speed is really fast.