How to check and increase bandwidth
From providing entertainment to allowing you to do your job from home, the internet plays a huge role in your daily life. That’s why it’s important to have sufficient bandwidth to support all of your online activities. Find out how you can monitor and manage your bandwidth to improve your internet performance.
What applications consume a lot of bandwidth?
A bandwidth hog is a term used to describe applications or files that consume a lot of data to run. For example, if you installed a music downloading app on your device and it took up more than 10% of your bandwidth, it would be considered a bandwidth hog.
Top bandwidth hogging apps typically include:
How to check bandwidth usage?
Between working from home and surfing the web, your computer is used for a number of reasons. That’s why it’s important to monitor internet usage on your home network by checking on which applications are taking up your bandwidth and how much data they need to run. Learn how to keep track of your data usage on your computer below.
How to check bandwidth usage on a PC computer
To find out which applications are bandwidth hogs on your PC computer, follow these steps:
How to check bandwidth usage on a Mac computer
Follow these steps to monitor and manage your application bandwidth on a Mac computer:
How to check mobile data usage
Apps offer a convenient way for you to access a variety of resources directly on your mobile phone. You can download an application for basically anything these days, including all your social media accounts, your favorite stores and podcasts. However, each of these apps use data that may consume your available bandwidth. Find out how you can track and monitor your mobile data usage.
How to check data usage on your iPhone
Check which applications are consuming your iPhone’s data with these steps:
How to check data usage on your smartphone
How to increase bandwidth
Here are a few ways you can increase bandwidth for your home internet:
1. Set limits on your applications
Applications for video games and streaming tend to consume the most amount of bandwidth. If you’re working from home or need to pick up the speed, you can set limits or block specific applications during certain times on both your computer and smartphones.
2. Use Parental Controls
If your kids are using the internet, you can utilize parental controls to limit their usage on specific sites. For example, online gaming and social media can be bandwidth hogs. Set limits or block certain sites from being used at specific hours. Cox offers advanced security features, such as parental control, with their Panoramic wifi plan.
3. Scan for malware
Malware, like Trojan horses and spyware, can sneak into your devices and consume your bandwidth for malicious purposes. Make sure to install security tools that can scan and prevent malware from reaching your network. Customers that have Cox will benefit from advanced security features that help protect against malware with their Panoramic wifi subscription.
4. Reserve bandwidth
Quality of service (QoS) is a tool you can use to reserve bandwidth for specific applications. For example, if you have a video call scheduled for a specific time, you can configure QoS to reserve the bandwidth required to run that application. The bandwidth will only be reserved when that application is in use and will be available when it’s closed.
6. Upgrade your internet plan
Applications aren’t the only thing that can be consuming your bandwidth users and devices can also consume your data. If you have a household with multiple devices connected to your network and more than one user accessing the internet, it may be time to upgrade your internet plan. Providers like Cox offer Panoramic Wifi. This internet solution not only gives you coverage throughout the house, its dual-band router automatically chooses the best route for your devices to help improve performance. With this type of plan, even the bandwidth hogs can’t slow you down.
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