A slow connection speed can ruin your experience online whether you are watching Netflix or playing your favorite online multiplayer game. It can also make your downloads take an eternity to complete and waste your precious time. Normally, if you do not have a faulty connection, you should not expect a ‘slow speed’ but if you have recently switched from using a WiFi connection to LAN, then you might encounter this issue.
The speed of internet connection depends on a lot of variables, thus it is hard to draw any conclusion on any single factor. But that does not mean that you are out of luck if you are facing this issue. This guide will talk about 10 different methods that you can use to eliminate the slow LAN speed issue and hopefully increase your connection speed.
1. Use a Different DNS
If you are experiencing slow LAN speed then you can try a different DNS address to see if it improves your connection speed. There are numerous DNS providers you can try such as Google public DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4), Cisco OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220), Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1), etc. We recommend using the Google Public DNS as it has the least chance of going offline, although you can use any that you prefer.
Changing DNS is quick and easy. Start by opening up the Settings menu by either pressing Windows+i on your keyboard or by searching for it in the Start Menu search.
On the Settings window, click on ‘Network & internet’ from the left panel and then select ‘Ethernet’ from the right panel.
After that, click on the ‘Edit’ button next to the ‘DNS server assignment’ text.
A dialog box will appear called ‘Edit DNS settings’. From there use the dropdown menu to select ‘Manual’.
Once you select ‘Manual’, the window will expand and you will have two toggles, one for ‘IPv4’ and one for ‘IPv6’. Set the toggle for ‘IPv4’ to ‘On’ and two new text boxes labeled as ‘Preferred DNS’ and ‘Alternate DNS’ will appear.
Now you need to enter the DNS that you want to use. We will use the Google Public DNS as an example. Enter the primary DNS, 8.8.8.8 inside the ‘Preferred DNS’ textbox and then enter the alternate DNS, 8.8.4.4 inside the ‘Alternate DNS’ textbox.
After that, if you want to increase the privacy and security of the DNS that you are using, you can change the encryption using the ‘Preferred DNS encryption’ and set it to ‘Encrypted only’ or ‘Encrypted preferred, unencrypted allowed’. Once you are done making changes, save it by clicking on the ‘Save’ button.
2. Change Speed and Duplex Settings
Your LAN internet speed might be restricted if you have the wrong Speed and Duplex settings selected. For example, if your bandwidth is 100Mbps but your Speed and Duplex are set to 10Mbps then essentially you are using a 10Mbps connection. Thus, it is important when you have a LAN connection to check the Speed and Duplex settings.
To do that, first, open up the Settings menu by searching for it in Windows search and selecting it from the search results.
After the Settings menu comes up, click on ‘Network & internet’ on the left panel and then click on ‘Advanced network settings’ from the right panel.
Now, click on ‘More network adapter options’
After that, a new window will appear called ‘Network Connections’. From there, right-click on your ethernet adapter and then select ‘Properties’.
Another window will appear. Click on the ‘Configure’ button below the adapter name.
Now, on the Properties window, switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab and scroll down in the ‘Property:’ list until you see the ‘Speed & Duplex’ property. Highlight the property by clicking on once and using the dropdown menu below the Value text to select ‘100 Mbps Full Duplex’ if your bandwidth is 100Mbps or near that. If your bandwidth is above 100 Mbps or you are still getting a slow LAN connection then set it to 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex’.
3. Check for Pending Windows Update
If you are having Slow LAN Speed then you should check if there is a Windows Update that is ready to be downloaded. To do so, open up the Settings menu by pressing Windows+i on your keyboard.
After the Settings window appears, select ‘Windows update’ from the left panel and then click on the ‘Check for updates’ button.
Now windows will automatically start looking for pending updates.
If there is an update then it will be downloaded and installed automatically. After it is installed, your LAN speed will be normal. Do remember to restart your device to finish installing the update.
4. Disable Windows Update Services
The Windows Update is a service that runs in the background and this service is responsible for delivering updates from Microsoft to your computer. By default, you are not supposed to turn off this service as keeping Windows updates is crucial and also beneficial. But sometimes it can eat away your bandwidth when you don’t want any interruptions, like when you are playing online games.
To turn off the Windows Update service, Type ‘Services’ in the Start Menu search and then select the app from the search results.
After the Services window opens, if you scroll down to the bottom of the list you will see the Windows Update service.
Double-click on the service to open the Properties window. From there, first, click on the ‘Stop’ button under the Service Status section to end the service from running in the background.
After that, stop the service from automatically starting itself by using the dropdown menu next to Startup type and selecting ‘Disabled’
Now, click on ‘OK’ to save the changes and you are done.
5. Uninstall VPN Client
If you are using a VPN service, it can slow down your LAN speed significantly. Especially if it is a free VPN client. Often time, turning off or disabling the VPN might not work because it can run in the background and use up network bandwidth and resources. Thus, it is recommended that if you are experiencing slow LAN connection speed, then uninstall the VPN client.
Now, in Windows 11, you can use two methods to uninstall any software or application. You can either uninstall it from the Settings menu or use the Control Panel. To uninstall an app from the settings menu, first, open up the Settings menu by pressing Windows+i on your keyboard.
On the Settings window, click on ‘Apps’ from the left panel and then select ‘Apps & features’ from the right panel.
Now, if you scroll down, you will see a list of applications. In order to uninstall the VPN from here, first, locate the VPN client from the list, then click on the three vertical dots next to it, and then click on ‘Uninstall’.
After that, click on ‘Uninstall’ once again and it will be removed from your computer.
Alternatively, if you can also use the Control Panel to remove the VPN client. To do that, open up the Control Panel window by typing ‘Control Panel’ in the Start menu search and selecting it from the search results.
After the Control Panel window comes up, click on ‘Uninstall a program’.
Now you will be presented with a list of software. Locate the VPN from the light, highlight it by clicking on it once, and then click on the ‘Uninstall’ button from the toolbar to remove it from your computer.
After you have uninstalled the VPN client from your computer, your internet speed should go back to normal.
6. Manually Update Network Driver Using the Device Manager
It is possible that the driver software for the network adapter on your motherboard is outdated and it is causing the slow LAN speed issue. In this case, you have to manually update the network drivers and you can do this with the Device Manager app.
To launch the Device Manager, first press Windows+r on your keyboard to open up the Run window. On the Run window, type devmgmt.msc inside the command line and then press ‘Enter’.
On the Device Manager window, scroll down on the list of devices and click on ‘Network Adapter’ to expand the menu. From the expanded menu, right-click on the active network adapter and then select ‘Update driver’.
After that, another window will appear. Click on ‘Search automatically for drivers’.
This is how you manually update the driver for the network adaptor. If there is a newer version of the driver is available, it will be downloaded and installed automatically.
7. Turn Off IPv6 from Network Adaptor Properties
If you have IPv6 turned on, it might slow down the speed of your LAN connection. Although, disabling IPv6 is simple and quick.
Start by opening the Settings menu by pressing Windows+i on your keyboard. On the Settings window, click on ‘Network & internet’ on the left panel and then click on ‘Advanced network settings’ from the right panel.
After that, click on ‘More network adapter options’.
A window will appear called ‘Network Connections’. From there, right-click on your network adapter and then select ‘Properties’.
On the Properties window, scroll down and uncheck the box that says ‘Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6). After that, click on ‘OK’ to save the change and IPv6 will be disabled.
8. Disable LSO or Large Send Offload
Disabling the Large Send Offload feature from the network adapter properties can resolve the slow LAN speed issue. To do that, open up the Device Manager by searching for it in the Windows search.
Once the Device Manager window opens, scroll down and locate your network adapter from the list of devices. Right-click on the network adapter and select ‘Properties’.
After the Properties window opens, switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab, scroll down on the list of properties and then highlight ‘Large Send Offload v2 (IPv4)’. After that, use the dropdown menu and set the Value to ‘Disabled’.
9. Turn On Quality of Service or QoS on Your Router
Quality of Service or QoS is a feature present in the Router menu that lets you limit your bandwidth. Although limiting your connection speed might not seem the correct thing to do but many users have reported that enabling QoS has improved their experience with slow LAN speed.
QoS can only be enabled from your router’s menu. Thus, the menus and options can be different depending on the router you have. Here, we have a TP-Link router and it will be used to showcase how you can turn this feature on. If you have a TP-Link router, you can follow these steps and if you don’t it should not be very different for your router.
First, open up any internet browser and go to the homepage of your router by typing 192.168.0.1 inside the address bar and pressing ‘Enter’. Once the router homepage loads, log in using your credentials.
After you log in you will be able to see the QoS listed with other settings on the left side of the homepage.
After that, tick the box that says ‘Enable QoS’. Now use the text boxes next to ‘Upload Bandwidth’ and ‘Download Bandwidth’ and set these variables depending on your network bandwidth. Lastly, click on ‘Save’ to finalize the changes and QoS will be enabled.
10. Contact Your Network Provider
If you are still having slow LAN speed even after trying every fix from this guide then maybe there is no issue from your end. Slow internet can often be a result of poor connection strength or bad routing. In such cases, there is nothing you can do to improve the connection speed. If this is the case for you then you should contact your internet service provider and let them know about the issues you are having.
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