The three questions
1) Is it slow on wired desktops too, or just WiFi? 2) Is it slow reaching the internet, internal systems, or both? 3) Is it slow always, or at predictable times? Those three answers split the problem into: wireless issues, LAN hardware issues, internet/firewall issues, or saturation — four completely different fixes.
Question 1: wired or wireless?
\nPlug a laptop into ethernet and test. If wired is fast and WiFi is slow, everything about routers and internet plans is off the table — it\'s a wireless problem: coverage, interference, or overloaded access points (we wrote a full guide on WiFi that keeps dropping). If wired is also slow, the problem is deeper in the network, and no WiFi upgrade will help.
\n\nQuestion 2: internet, internal, or both?
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- Slow websites but fast internal file copies → the internet link or the firewall is the bottleneck. Test speed with security inspection on/off — an undersized firewall shows itself immediately. \n
- Fast internet but slow file server → internal: a failing switch, a bad cable run, a server disk problem, or a gigabit switch with a 100 Mbps bottleneck link someone plugged in years ago. \n
- Both slow → look at the core switch and anything every path shares — including duplex mismatches and a saturated uplink. \n
The forgotten culprit in older offices: one legacy 100 Mbps switch daisy-chained into a gigabit network, silently capping every device behind it at a tenth of expected speed.
\n\nQuestion 3: always slow, or slow at 2 PM?
\nConstant slowness points at hardware or configuration. Time-patterned slowness is saturation: backups running during work hours, cloud sync surges, streaming on unsegmented guest WiFi, or one workstation malware-saturating the uplink. Saturation can\'t be diagnosed by feel — it needs monitoring that records who used what, when. That data turns "the network is slow" into "the nightly backup is bleeding into work hours; we\'ll reschedule it."
\n\nWhat the fix usually costs (and what it doesn\'t)
\nMost slow-network cases resolve with targeted fixes: one failed switch, one cable run, one QoS policy, one rescheduled backup — hundreds of dollars, not tens of thousands. The expensive path is guess-upgrading: new internet plan (didn\'t help), new router (didn\'t help), new everything (helped by accident, three times the cost).
\nA structured assessment with real measurements typically takes a day or two on site. It\'s how we start every network infrastructure engagement — and it ends with a written diagnosis you own, whoever you hire to fix it.
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