Having a consistent and stable internet connection is a desire of every subscriber of any internet service provider. But, for various reasons that don’t happen for everyone or all the time. So, why is Suddenlink’s internet so bad?
There are many reasons, but most commonly it is due to issues with equipment or Suddenlink’s infrastructure.
Let’s go over all the possible reasons and how they make Suddenlink’s internet so bad.
Why is Suddenlink internet so bad?
Suddenlink doesn’t have a stellar reputation for the quality of its services, and it is a well-deserved one as it’s evident from the investigation conducted by West Virginia’s Public Service Commission.
But, poor infrastructure and lack of maintenance of it are just two of the reasons.
Sometimes Suddenlink’s internet can be bad for reasons that are in your control, and such things you can more or less easily fix.
1. Infrastructure quality
Suddenlink is known as the internet service provider with one of the worst infrastructures in the United States.
It’s very old and aging, and usually not up to snuff to provide the speeds that are included in their plans. One of the pieces of evidence of poor infrastructure is numerous reports from their subscribers.
The most common complaint is loss of connectivity during the “rush hours” between 5 PM and 10 PM. While lower speeds are to be expected during these hours, because of the increased use, a complete absence of service is evidence of infrastructure that can’t handle the number of subscribers.
2. Poor maintenance
A couple of years ago WV Public Services Commission has published a report on Suddenlink’s services along with dishing out a penalty for poor infrastructure maintenance and lack of action on thousands of customers’ complaints.
Infrastructure that is not properly maintained will and it does fail, and then the service quality just nose dives.
3. Old cables
Cables and splitters in your home can be the reason for bad internet service, especially if they are old. They are most often not intended to be used for more than 3 to 5 years, but many people have ones that are even more than a decade old.
Such old cables are prone to cracking, and the integrity of internal wires is a huge question mark.
4. Old router/modem
Old routers and modems can create problems by not being compatible with newer Suddenlink services, so they can be an obstacle to enjoying the full capacity of your subscription.
Another problem is that for higher connection speeds you need hardware support of newer protocols and standards. Old enough equipment does not support the newest and the best of those.
5. Plan data limit
One of the characteristics that make Suddenlink often unattractive to potential customers is the data limits of their plans.
Depending on your subscription plan you have a different amount of monthly traffic quota, only the highest tier plan has an unlimited data plan.
What this means is that depending on your consumption, you could use up whole your quota.
And then your service could be throttled or even completely turned off.
6. Router position
One thing that many people get wrong is where to place their routers inside of their homes. They usually put it somewhere out of the way, where no one could damage it by accident.
And that is usually some corner of the house. But the router should be in the center, because it emits radiowaves 360 degrees around it.
7. Obstacles
And talking about pesky radiowaves, they very badly travel through obstacles, especially if they have anything made of metals inside of them.
Reinforced concrete walls, other types of walls, furniture, and anything besides empty space creates sort of shaded areas.
If there are enough obstacles lined together, you can have dead spots in your home, where you have no Wi-Fi signal.
8. Interferences
If you have problems with Wi-Fi signal strength on your Suddenlink services, one of the problems could be the other devices located near your router.
Many devices emit radiowaves and microwaves that are harmless to people but can interfere with Wi-Fi signals.
Microwave ovens, baby monitors, radio equipment of any kind, etc. should be kept at least 20 feet away from your Wi-Fi router.
9. Number of users
You could be a subscriber to a gigabit connection, but if 4-5 people are trying to stream 4K content at the same time, there could be some serious quality problems.
Stuttering, choppy stream, too often buffering, and so on. All users split the maximum bandwidth of the connection between them.
If there are too many users, taxing the connection too much, they will all have problems.
10. Old devices
Older devices when connected to Suddenlink’s internet connection could be unable to use its full potential. Support for the highest tier subscriptions depends on the support for newer communication standards and protocols.
It is not unusual that your 5-year-old laptop does not support the highest Wi-Fi speeds possible on your subscription plan.
While you might think that there are some problems with the service, actually the problem is the age of your device.
11. Cashing errors
People often are unaware of how important cashing of various data is important for the proper function of routers and other internet devices.
But errors can and do happen, especially because many configuration values are often written and rewritten in the cash of your router. The longer it is kept turned on, the more chances for error grow.
This can be easily prevented by restarting the router every few days, or at least once a week.
12. VPN connection
VPN connections are the bane of internet speeds. Your connection can be slowed down by some 80-90% when you are using VPN services.
And if you forget that you have them active, it can confuse you into thinking that there are problems with your internet connection.
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Conclusion
Why is Suddenlink internet so bad is not a question with an easy or simple answer. As you have seen above, their services often are not very good, and many of their customers report problems, for which the company has been reluctant to take action and ended up getting fined by regulators.
But in some cases, the internet can be bad due to other reasons.