Your home network is only as fast as its slowest cable, and most people have at least one bad one

Home network slowdowns are often blamed on routers, ISPs, or Wi-Fi, but a single underperforming Ethernet cable in a central position can bottleneck the entire network. Cables degrade over time and may look fine externally while limiting speeds. For most users with internet plans under 1Gbps, Cat5e cables are sufficient, but local network traffic (e.g., home servers, NAS) can saturate older cables. The fix is straightforward: replace cables at central network points (modem-to-router, router-to-switch) with Cat6, which costs only a few dollars.