Why Wi-Fi Gets Slow in the Evening: Possible Reasons and How to Fix It (Even with the 5 GHz Band)

The Internet connection that slows down in the evening hours, with streaming videos that freeze, online games that accumulate scary delays and video calls that are unstable to say the least, is a phenomenon that we have all experienced sooner or later. In some cases you may observe a sharp drop in home network performance during the evening, and there may be several reasons for this. Some depend on external factors, linked to our provider’s network infrastructure, while others originate directly in our home, in the way we use Wi-Fi or in the configuration of connected devices. Let’s review the possible reasons why the Internet becomes slow in the evening (one above all network congestion) and, above all, let’s try to understand some tricks to prevent this from happening.

5 reasons why the Internet is slower in the evening

Let’s analyze some of the main causes of Internet slowdowns in the evening.

Network congestion

One of the most common causes of evening slowdowns is network congestion. During so-called peak hours, many households simultaneously use data-intensive services, such as video streaming or online gaming. After a day of work or study, the evening becomes the ideal time for many to relax through solutions that take advantage of the Internet. Since bandwidth (i.e. the amount of data that can pass through a connection in a certain amount of time) is shared among users connected to the same infrastructure, the more people use the network at the same time, the smaller the quota available for each will be. Typical signs of this phenomenon are video buffering, i.e. the pause needed to load new data during streaming, or high ping in online video games. Ping is a measure of latency and indicates how long it takes for a signal to go back and forth between two devices.

Network provider policies

Other slowdowns may be linked to network provider policies. Some operators have monthly high-speed data traffic limits: when this threshold is exceeded, the connection may be slowed down until the start of the next billing cycle. Even plans that advertise “unlimited” traffic may actually provide an amount of data that can be used at maximum speed, after which the connection is deprioritized, i.e. treated with a lower priority than other users who have not reached these thresholds. In practice the network continues to function, but with lower performance than usual.

In certain cases, providers can also apply selective traffic limitation, a practice called throttling. This means that certain types of network-intensive tasks (for example, high-definition video streaming or the transfer of very large files) are deliberately slowed down to avoid overloading the infrastructure. This type of throttling is difficult to spot, but it can appear when specific services run slowly even though your home Wi-Fi signal appears strong.

Bad Wi-Fi configuration

Not all slowdowns depend on the outside, however. Very often the problem arises inside the home and can be attributable to a poor configuration of the Wi-Fi and, sometimes, also of the devices connected to it. Wi-Fi is a radio signal that weakens when it passes through obstacles such as walls, furniture or appliances. If the router is placed in a corner of the house (rather than in a central area of ​​the house) or if it is hidden behind other objects (especially those that slow down its range), some rooms may receive a weaker signal. Furthermore, each device connected to the network (smartphones, smart televisions, tablets or home automation systems) uses a part of the available bandwidth. When many devices transmit data at the same time, overall performance may decrease.

Outdated hardware

Latency may also increase for hardware-related technical reasons. Very old routers or modems may not be able to efficiently handle the traffic generated by numerous devices. In this case the connection may seem slow even when the download speed is theoretically high, because the data arrives late in applications that require real-time communications, such as video calls.

Malware

There are also less obvious, but absolutely possible, causes. Some malicious software, called malware, can run in the background on our computer using the Internet connection to send data or communicate with external servers. This invisible consumption of bandwidth can reduce the speed available for normal tasks and compromise the performance of the entire home network (as well as endangering our security, of course).

Tips to improve the situation

Fortunately, there are several strategies to improve the situation. Let’s look at five of them.

• A first intervention to carry out, which is simple and accessible to everyone, is to restart the router, an operation that often resolves small temporary malfunctions.
• Placing the device in a central and elevated point of the house helps to better distribute the Wi-Fi signal.
• Another solution is to use different frequency bands. Wi-Fi networks typically operate on two main bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The former covers longer distances but offers slower speeds and is more prone to interference; the second guarantees higher performance but has a more limited range. Choosing the band best suited to the location of your devices can improve your browsing experience.
• In larger homes it may be useful to install mesh Wi-Fi systems or signal repeaters, devices that extend coverage by creating more network access points.
• If your home traffic is high because you use streaming, remote work and online gaming at the same time at home, you may need to consider a faster Internet plan by switching to technologies such as FTTH fiber optics (if available), which offer greater download and upload speeds and lower latency compared to ADSL or FTTC connections.