4 Easy Ways to Fix Your Laggy Internet

September 1, 2025

“You shouldn’t even be experiencing fluctuating speeds with your plan,” the Verizon Fios agent said over the phone. I was stumped.

I didn’t want to make a hasty decision switching out my current provider or buying a new router. So I turned to CNET’s advice for help.

What is gigabit internet?

Your internet speed is measured in megabits per second. In other words, your speed is measured by how much data can be processed over a network in a second. Gigabit internet refers to 1,000 megabits. The more data processed over your network, the better your connection performs.

Top providers that offer gigabit internet

4 expert tips to boost your internet

At the start of this journey, I felt like a kid riding their first bike. It felt daunting because I didn’t know where to start. Thankfully, one of our pages details how to boost your Wi-Fi connection in four simple steps. Here’s how it went.

1. Take a speed test

Before you do anything else, conduct an internet speed test. I chose Ookla’s speed test because this is the format I am most familiar with. CNET recommends Ookla for its consistency, and it also shows you your speed test history once you create an account. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

This step was fairly easy. I conducted a few speed tests online. The image above is a test I took near my workspace. Speeds of 248 to 275Mbps aren’t bad, being on a gigabit plan supported by a fiber connection makes them surprising (and disappointing). I took it a step further and went to an area of my home where we experienced the most internet trouble.

2. Move your router or your workspace

This next step requires you to experiment a bit with your router’s location or your workspace. It wasn’t easy to uproot my entire workspace, so I moved my router closer to my existing workspace area instead. This step wasn’t a significant change because the router was already placed across the room from my workspace. You should ideally move your router to a central location. Using an Ethernet cable might be helpful, especially if the new location of your router is far from the modem.

In any case, moving your router too far from the modem might prove troublesome. You can try to raise your router instead and mount it to the wall, if possible. That way, you don’t need to jump through all these hoops to install an Ethernet cable.

3. Add a Wi-Fi extender

If moving your router is not an option, try contacting your internet provider for additional equipment. After contacting my ISP, I discovered that a Fios Wi-Fi extender came with my plan at no extra cost to my monthly service bill. The extender came with a small guide, and at first glance, it seemed pretty simple.

Obtaining equipment from your ISP is not the only option — many Wi-Fi extenders currently on the market support Wi-Fi 6. CNET previously named the TP-Link RE605X as the top pick for the best Wi-Fi extender due to its affordability and easy-to-use controls. Note: TP-Link routers could be banned sometime this year due to a recent government investigation. That said, the next best thing is the Linksys RE7310, currently priced at $80, which tied in performance with the TP-Link RE605X when we tested them. Check out our other top picks for the best Wi-Fi Extenders.

Ethernet offers a wired connection through cables, which you can plug directly into the router, and should provide faster speeds than Wi-Fi. CNET’s own Hallie Seltzer tested this at her home.

I decided to pivot my approach and placed the extender a bit closer to the router, near my workspace. After a few minutes, I saw a solid white color — the sign of success.

4. Prioritize your traffic

My main takeaways

Once I successfully installed my extender, I conducted another speed test in my basement and I saw a surge in my internet connection, coming in at 598Mbps in download and 187Mbps in upload.

Source: CNET.