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Maybe try it a few times. I suspect that aeroplane mode makes the phone join whatever available connection is available at that time. I had something similar, maybe on the weekend, when I restarted my router, and the connection speed suddenly jumped.Roadtravelled wrote: Thu 16-Apr-2026 10:22 am Tried the airplane mode today and it’s back to the usual pace of 20 plus seconds.
Switching a phone to aeroplane mode and back—often called "cycling" or "toggling" aeroplane mode—improves site loading speed by acting as a "soft reset" for your phone’s connectivity. It forces the device to drop slow or weak connections and establish new, stronger ones without requiring a full phone restart.
Here is why this trick works:
- Forced Reconnection to a Better Tower: Your phone often stays "locked" to a specific cell tower even when you move farther away, resulting in a weak, slow signal. Toggling airplane mode forces your phone to scan for, and connect to, the closest and strongest available tower.
- Resets the Radio Hardware: It toggles your device's cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth radios off and then back on, which clears minor glitches and software bugs that may be hindering network performance.
- Fixes Congestion: In crowded areas (stadiums, city centres), your phone might be fighting for bandwidth on a loaded tower. Toggling forces a reconnect, which can land you a more stable or less congested network path.
This method is especially effective when your data seems "stuck," when you have moved to a new location, or when your phone is displaying "SOS Only" or weak reception bars.
- Clears IP Address Stalls: While switching towers or refreshing the connection, your phone is often assigned a new IP address, which resets its connection with the server you are trying to reach.
Pro Tips for Better Speed
The 10-Second Rule: To ensure the hardware fully shuts down and resets its cache, keep aeroplane mode on for at least 10 seconds before switching it back off.
Refresh Your Network Settings: If toggling aeroplane mode doesn't work, you can perform a more thorough reset through your phone's settings menu (e.g., Reset Network Settings on iPhone/Android).
Check for Carrier Updates: Sometimes, slow speeds are due to outdated network instructions. Go to Settings > About on your phone to see if a carrier settings update is available.
Same tick seems to work with Wi-Fi too (either that or a heck of a coincidence in timing). I had a slow connection, so I just tried turning off the WiFi on Windows and then turning it back on after a minute. Same network, but the speed was suddenly fast.Roadtravelled wrote: Wed 15-Apr-2026 3:40 pm Sonabitch, putting it into airplane mode worked like a charm for me too!
Yes, you could try rebooting the modem; that did work for me once, too. If you're out somewhere, you might try another Wifi network, which has worked for me too. I just had a case right now where it was slow on my phone but fast on desktop (both using the same Wi-Fi); other people have the opposite. Sorry, I don't have a good answer right now.Roadtravelled wrote: Wed 22-Apr-2026 10:51 pm I usually view the site from my iPad, and even with the airplane mode and restarting, and any other trick I can think of, it’s still working at a 20 - 25 second pace. Just for fun, I decided to try using a MacBook only to get the same dilemma. Turned the wifi connection off and waited, nothing changed. Not sure if I reboot the modem would help but that’s where I’m personally at now.