Fixing Samsung Galaxy S4 That Loads Web Pages Very Slow

One of the reasons why people purchase smartphones is because they could browse the web while on the go. But what if you cannot enjoy it because web pages take forever to load? Believe me, this problem happens all the time even to a smartphone dubbed as the most powerful mobile device in 2013–the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Here is one email we received from our readers related to this issue:

Guys, I’m not a tech-savvy person so I really need your help with my problem. This past couple of weeks, I noticed that when I browse the web through the browser of my Samsung Galaxy S4 as I usually do, the web pages load very, very slow. I don’t have any idea what happened or what the root cause was but there’s one thing I’m sure of: I didn’t mess up any of the settings because the only time I can use the phone is when I make a phone call and browse the web. I don’t play with my phone, I don’t play music or stream videos. Any suggestions would surely be appreciated. Thanks.”

There are different ways to solve this problem and here’s ours:

  • Determine if you have an active / good internet connection.
  • Get rid of corrupt cache and data.
  • Determine whether it is simply a browser issue or not.
  • Observe the time the problem usually happens.
  • Make sure there are no malwares in your phone.
  • Determine whether it is a hardware problem or not.

Now, let’s try to go over the details of this approach:

Determining You Have Good Internet Connection

There are several ways to connect to the internet but the two most common methods available in smartphones are through your service provider’s mobile data network and WiFi. If you are using mobile data when connecting to the internet, make sure you disable WiFi to avoid conflicts. When you turn both on and you are in a place where you can automatically connect to a hotspot, the phone will keep switching between mobile data and WiFi and it will end up not being able to connect to the internet well.

It is recommended you check your APN settings if you often use mobile data. If you are not sure what your APN settings are, consider calling your service provider to make sure.

For owners using WiFi to connect to the internet, always check of the signal strength and how far you are from the hotspot. This connection is often faster than the mobile data that uses 3G but it also depends on the condition of the router / modem that transmits and receives data.

To verify you have a good connection, launch your social networking apps like Twitter and Facebook and observe if pictures and messages are rendered in a timely manner. Then launch your browser and try accessing sites that are heavy to load like YouTube or any other video sites you know.

Get Rid Of Corrupt Data

Well, you don’t have to delete all data in your phone just because web pages load slowly. What you need to do is get rid of data in your web browsers. If you are using the stock browser, or the one that comes with the phone, here’s what you need to do:

  1. Go to the Home screen and choose Apps.
  2. Scroll to the right and choose Settings.
  3. Choose More networks.
  4. Choose Application Manager.
  5. Scroll to the right.
  6. Under All tab, find Browser.
  7. Tap Force Stop button.
  8. Tap Clear Cache button.
  9. Tap Clear Data button.
  10. Return to the Home screen, then choose Apps.
  11. Launch Browser again.

Just by doing this very simple step, you could solve issues of slow browsing and page loads problems. For those who are using the Chrome browser, you just need to follow the steps above but look for Chrome instead of Browser.

Is It Really A Browser Issue?

After checking your phone’s settings and getting rid of cache and cookies and the problem persists, you should start asking yourself if it is really a browser issue or not. Again, you’ll be able to verify it by differentiating the “speed” of the internet when loading web pages and when downloading some big files.

Try to open a website and observe the time spent to load pages. Then launch YouTube app and stream any videos you want to watch. If you can stream videos without experiencing buffers, then the problem is with the browser. However, if it is impossible for you to watch videos because it buffers every second or two, you should consider troubleshooting you connectivity.

For third-party web browsers, try uninstalling and reinstalling them to see if there’s an improvement. If you recently updated them to the recent version, try uninstalling the update to see if there’s also a difference in the load speed.

What Time Does The Problem Happen?

It may be a little illogical to take note of the time when this kind of problem but it does make sense especially if you are using mobile data. There is this thing called “network congestion” and it happens during peak hours of the day; the time when billions of people are using their phones to send text messages, make calls, browse the web and download anything from the web.

If you’re unable to browse the web during a specific time in a day and it recurs more often, then there is a great possibility that you’re in the area where your service provider allocates data bandwidth that could barely cater the needs of its subscribers. If this happens to you, WiFi could be your best friend.

Scan Your Phone For Malware

There are hundreds of free anti-virus apps available in the Play Store. Try downloading one that has good reviews and feedbacks and scan your phone for possible presence of a malware or a virus that helps eat up your phone’s memory and basically interfere with the data download speed of your phone.

If you’ve found one after full system scan and the problem persists, try clearing your browser’s cache and data. If the problem continues after that, perform a factory reset on the phone to bring back everything to default. There could have been some settings that were messed up.

It Could Be A Hardware Problem

There is always a possibility that your phone has a hardware problem. So, after verifying you have a good internet connection, clearing cache and data, and doing a factory reset and the issue remains, you should consider bringing the device back to where you bought it and have it checked by a technician. If you’re phone is under warranty, don’t try to mess up with the hardware because you may end up voiding your warranty.

Tell us your problems

The solutions we provided here are based on reports and testimonies from owners who have encountered these problems. I also ask my XDA developer friends regarding some of the problems. Now if you have other problems or questions with your smartphone that you want answered, don’t hesitate to send us email at [email protected].

We don’t guarantee a reply to all emails because we receive hundreds of them daily, but rest assured your email messages will be read by me. But I urge you to provide as much details as possible so I could easily find references and compare your problems with reports from other owners. If your problem is as common as others, there could already be solutions that exist and I would surely point you to them. Screenshots often help so attach one if you can.

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