How to Fix Slow Data (And What Causes It)

Boredom has become a thing of the past, in fact as we’ve grown into this exponential digital age, our attention spans have dwindled lower and lower as we’ve had the entire internet in our pockets over the last decade and a half. In fact, according to Supportive Care Aba, “the average human has an attention span of only 8.25 seconds – 4.25 seconds less than in 2000.” and it’s actually “decreased by nearly 25% between 2000 and 2015.” Think about how often you glance down at your phone when there’s a moment of nothing going on- we’re guilty of it too! 

But phones aren’t just for our means of mindless entertainment, as fun as that is though, they also help us look up important information, send texts and make calls to our loved ones, and email our employers or employees back from the road when work needs our input. All of these capabilities, along with watching funny Youtube videos, involve data- (if you’re not with wifi), and slow data speeds can really impact our phone use. No one likes to see that loading bar reach 75% and then just stop. It’s annoying on a good day and a nuisance on a bad one, but why does this happen and what can you do to fix it? 

If you’re someone who's been experiencing longer loading times and buffering videos, then you’ve come to the right place as today we’re going to cover all the faucets of data, along with answering the golden question of how to fix slow data.

• Why does “slow data” happen? (and what it affects)
• Covering: Data Deprioritization and Throttling
• How to Fix Slow Data: Methods to Faster Speeds

Why does “slow data” happen?

Before we can give you solutions on how to fix slow data, we should go over why slow data happens at all. There are many reasons as to why your mobile data suddenly starts to slow down, so let’s name em’ all and explain em’ all:

• Poor Connection
• Network Congestion
• Data Roaming
• Full Cache
• Outdated Technology
• Cell Phone Plan ‘Type’
• Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space

Poor Connection

Sometimes the peskiest problems have the easiest solutions and this may be the case for you. As you’re using your phone out in the wild and glance up at the top of your screen you may notice that you don’t see your normal “5G” displayed and that could be because of your location! With poor connection or “no bars” you’ll have a really rough time trying to send a message or look something up, and even if you’re connected to a public free wifi hotspot you still might experience slower speeds. That’s because there may be a ton of other people also on this public hotspot and covering that much bandwidth could cause slower speeds. First things first, try moving locations to improve your connection. 

Network Congestion

Network congestion aka you’re experiencing a digital traffic jam. As any driver knows, when you get on the highway and only see a couple cars driving alongside you, you know you’ll be in for a smooth ride. That changes when you get on, driving for a few minutes only to slow down when you encounter a line of cars ahead, eventually leading you into a traffic jam. The same thing happens with a wireless network- the more people actively using their devices on the same network as you will lead to slower speeds. 

Just like early morning commutes and evenings coming home after work, most people use their phones in the mornings and evenings so you’ll experience the most “network congestion” around those times. If you notice that your speeds are slower around these times each day then you may be hitting those sweet, or not so sweet, spots of a digital traffic jam. The more people use their phones, the less bandwidth there is for all those tiny signals and transmissions to travel through- leading to slower speeds all around. 

Data Roaming

A term you might have come across or heard from someone before while talking tech is “data roaming” or simply “roaming.” Data roaming is when your data “roams” around looking for a cell tower to connect to because you might be outside your usual haunts. There aren’t cell phone towers covering every city or town in the world, and if you’re in a place where your wireless network of choice doesn’t have a nearby cell tower and you don’t have signal, your device will search to find service somewhere else. 

The three major wireless companies, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile have these “roaming agreements” to cover people that aren’t direct subscribers in these specific circumstances. 

• Good to Know: Smaller wireless companies, MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators), may or may not have roaming agreements. Meaning if you are signed up through a MVNO and are in an area where your provider’s cell towers aren’t in a good range there’s a chance you might be without service. However you’ll find that some of the bigger MVNOs do also have these roaming agreements- so look into your network’s terms to see if you fall under a roaming agreement. 

When you leave the range of your phone company's cell tower(s) your data will slow down because you are on a different network’s towers. As soon as you head in a different direction and notice your speeds pick back up along with seeing either “5G” or “4G LTE” at the top of your screen, then you know you’re back in the range of your network’s towers. 

Full Cache

You might have heard the term “clear your cache” before and kinda understand what it means but not to the fullest extent, that’s okay! Your mobile browser, Google, Safari, Firefox, or some other browser, will “cache” or “store” your search history and cookies just like your computer does. This makes future searches faster as the browser doesn’t have to download the select pages each and every time you search for your frequently visited sites. 

But just like having too many pictures and your phone storage starts to fill up, a cache can get full too and when your cache gets “full” you’ll experience slower speeds. To get your faster speeds to come back we’ll need to clear your cache- more on that later.

Outdated Technology

At the end of the day it might be your phone’s fault. With technology outrunning us faster and faster in recent years, older or outdated technology becomes slower and slower leading to those frustrating moments waiting for the loading screen to finally load. Older phone models may not be able to handle the amount of apps, sources, photos, videos, and other programs you’ve added onto it. The operating system and processing power might not be fast enough to keep up with everything you want to do with your current device. You can clear out some apps, transfer some photos and videos over- but it might be that time to start looking into a new phone. 

Cell Phone Plan ‘Type’

When you first signed up for your current cell phone plan you might have looked at those “lower” monthly data allotments and went: “yeah, that’s about how much I use each month, let’s save some money!” 

But now you’ve had a change in scenery and forgot that the plan you’re on may not be enough to support your current needs. As a new heavy-data user you may need to consider “tiering-up” to a data plan with more data to spare. Most major carriers will have all of their postpaid plans labeled as “unlimited” but if you’re signed up through a MVNO then you may be on a data plan that gives you a certain amount of gigabytes per month. If there is a plan that increases your monthly data allotment then you can tier up, but if you’re already on the highest available option that carrier sells, then you might need to switch carriers. 

If you want to compare and contrast Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or any wireless carrier to over 1,200 other phone plans so you know you’re getting the service that’s right for you, then make sure to check out the REALLY compare page which allows you to look at pricing, coverage, what phone plans are available, current deals and steals, and how you can make the most of your potential phone bill.

Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space

If you’re a frequent browser and tend to keep open every tab, along with opening an app up and not closing it properly when you’re done- then you aren’t alone. You might have accidentally fallen for the oldest trick in the book of having too many apps and tabs open causing your phone to be slower because in the background it’s still processing those requests. Even if you have the highest tier data plan, with dozens and dozens of programs open all the time your phone speeds will still be diminished. 

Those are a few reasons as to why your data speeds may be slower than normal, but we haven’t covered it all. In fact, we wanted to make a whole section for data deprioritization and throttling as these two things are most commonly related to slow data speeds.

Covering: Data Deprioritization and Throttling

If you’ve been using your phone’s data way more this month than you have previously then there’s a good chance that your data is being deprioritized. Data deprioritization is the temporary slowing of your data speeds in order to give priority to other customers. This might be because of network congestion, or because you are in a “high-traffic” area like a concert hall or sports stadium. In order for the phone company to keep up with so many people in one place using their phones they will slow down speeds so everyone can have access to a certain base level data speed. 

We talked a little bit about the data “threshold,” but deprioritization can also happen when one has used up their monthly allotment. Speeds will resume to normal when your billing cycle resumes. 

Throttling is when your data is dramatically slowed to the point where it’s almost unusable. Your data speeds can get throttled if you’ve used over your data allotment for the month, instead of overage fees your data will just slow down almost completely instead. 

If you’ve noticed that your speeds are a little slower than normal but resume back after a short period of time then there’s a good chance your data was being deprioritized. However if you notice a huge decline in speeds and it doesn’t go back to normal after that short period then your data might be getting throttled. This will go back to normal when your billing cycle renews once again. 

• To check if your speeds are being deprioritized and/or throttled download a ‘Speed Test’ app- (SpeedTest by Ookla is a good one), or simple type “speed test” on your devices’ browser. There you can get a baseline for your phone’s speeds and when you next experience a drop in speed bring up the app and check it.

To learn more about data deprioritization and throttling check out our related article: Deprioritization vs Throttling: The Key Differences

How to Fix Slow Data: Methods to Faster Speeds

We know the causes, now’s the time for the solutions. Let’s go over how to fix slow data so you can hopefully get back to browsing with ease. 

Turn off data roaming

If you don’t want the “data roaming” feature on then you can turn it off by following a few steps. First let’s go over the how-to for iPhone/IOS users:

1. Go to ‘Settings’ and click on it
2. Click ‘Cellular’
3. Towards the top you’ll see ‘Cellular Data Options’ – click that
4. There will then be a ‘Data Roaming’ toggle feature, switch that off

Now for Android it’s good to know that not all android devices are the same, you may have some screen display options that aren’t in the exact positions we mention here or the language might be slightly different; usually if you follow a similar pattern then you’ll get to the same place. If you can’t then your phone might not support this feature.

1. Go to ‘Settings’ and click on it
2. Then find ‘Connections’ and click on it
3. You’ll see ‘Mobile Networks’ – click on that
4. Just like iPhone/IOS users, there will then be a ‘Data Roaming’ toggle feature, switch that off

Clear your Cache

To clear your cache for iPhone in Safari you’ll want to:

1. Go to ‘Settings’ and click on it
2. Scroll down until you see ‘Safari’ – click on it
3. Then scroll down again and find ‘Clear History and Website Data’ – click on it

For Android users you’ll be able to clear your cache via a particular app by- (yes you’ll need to do it one-by-one if you use multiple browser-like apps):

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1. Go to ‘Settings’ and click on it
2. Either find and click on ‘Storage’ or ‘Apps’
3. There you will see a list of apps where you can go through, click on a frequently used app like ‘Chrome’ and then click on the ‘Clear Cache’ option not the storage or app itself- (you don’t want to accidentally clear out all your storage on the app as that will essentially “factory reset” it)

Download an “Optimizer”

There are many tips and tricks out there to help boost your device’s performance and one of the ways many have taken a liking to is an “optimizer.” Apps like Net Optimizer: Optimize Ping (For Android) and Net Optimizer: Boost Internet (For Apple) will speed up your mobile data. It will pause those background apps and completely optimize your phone’s capabilities.

Go “Text Only” on Browser

When you’re searching for something on your phone’s browser you’ll have videos and pictures auto-load which is great most of the time but when you’re experiencing slower speeds it’s not helpful. You can go “Text Only” which will give you the text of the article you’re reading and nothing else- eliminating pesky pop ups and media that might take up your phone’s processing power. 

For iPhone/IOS users you can:

1. Go to ‘Safari’ and click on it
2. On the web page in the top-left there will be an ‘aA’ symbol – click on it
3. A drop down menu will open up, you are going to want to click on the ‘Show Reader’ option

(You can also make this permanent by going to your ‘Settings’ and clicking on ‘Safari’ where you’ll scroll down to see the ‘Reader’ option. There you can toggle it on for ‘All Websites’.)

For Android users you can:

1. Go to ‘Chrome’ and open it
2. There will be three dots in the top-right hand corner, click on that
3. Then click on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Accessibility’
4. You’ll then need to check the box that says ‘Simplified view for web pages’
5. Each time you visit a website that supports this feature you’ll get a popup with a checkmark to change the page to “text only” mode

Lastly: Network Restart

When you restart your network you’ll essentially be starting from scratch, at least for Network Settings. That means any previously saved wifi networks you’re familiar with will reset along with bluetooth devices. We’ve kept this solution for last because it’s definitely not one most people want to do as resetting their familiar network connections can mean typing in the passwords to your known wifi addresses, and reconnecting all of your bluetooth devices which is a pain. But with a network restart this could be the boost your phone needs, think of it like a fresh start.

For iPhone/IOS users you’ll need to:

1. Go to ‘Settings’ and click on it
2. Click on ‘General’
3. Scroll down until you see ‘Reset’ – click on that
4. A pop-up will appear with a few options, click on ‘Reset Network Settings’
5. Confirm your password and click on ‘Reset Network Settings’ to begin

For Android users you again might have different settings as not every make and model are the same, but here is a path you might be able to use:

1. Go to ‘Settings’ and click on it
2. Find ‘System’ or ‘General Management’ – click on it (both options should take you to the right place)
3. Click on ‘Advanced’
4. Find either ‘Reset Options’ or ‘Reset Network Settings’ – click on that and then you’ll either be prompted to then click on a setting called ‘Reset Wi-Fi, Mobile, & Bluetooth’ or you’ll be presented with a “reset settings” confirmation, click on it

Slow data can be a real pain in the butt, especially when you’re someone who's constantly using it for leisurely activities or important business. Hopefully today you’ve learned a bit about what causes slow data and how to fix it for a faster user experience.