Internet Speed in Libya – Why It’s Slow and How to Fix It

According to Speedtest, Libya ranks 161 out of 179 countries for internet broadband speeds. The fastest internet in Libya offers speeds of 8.64 Mbps down and 6.25 Mbps up. If you live in Libya or are planning to travel there, you might get annoyed by these speeds. Almost 9 Mbps can be a stretch for streaming high quality videos. And this is the fastest internet available, chances are you won’t get anywhere near this speed. 

“It’s not uncommon for people to spend minutes refreshing the same page over and over again. Many people even try to browse without pictures” says Libyan resident Muaad Elsharif on his blog. In a scenario like this you can forget about Twitch and YouTube. Speaking of YouTube, LTT (State owned internet service provider in Libya) has recently “seemingly” implemented forced restrictions on YouTube videos. According to this article, these restrictions block viewers from seeing videos flagged by the community as inappropriate.

Sadly, slow internet in Libya is not the only issue. As we can read in this report from Freedom House, it is not uncommon for the government to censor and block certain websites and social media. This is not only an issue for those seeking entertainment. It also affects people looking for information, news, or companies and individuals trying to work and communicate online.

A VPN is an obvious fix to bypass these restrictions, right? Actually, that’s only partially true! Although a VPN (Virtual Private Network) could solve this problem of censorship, in terms of slow internet in Libya it would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. VPNs allow you to bypass censorship as they use strong encryption and forward your traffic to a VPN server before sending it to the internet. This level of security can add latency and decrease the speed. If you have a 100 Mbps connection, a little drop in speed might not be significant. But if your speeds are already as low as 2-5 Mbps (as such in Libya), connecting to a VPN will result in significant speed drops. Thankfully not all VPNs are the same.

First, you can’t change your internet provider, the state owned provider (LTT) is holding a monopoly in Libya. But here’s what you can do:

• Switch to a different DNS server. Depending on which DNS server you choose, you could increase the speed as explained by PCMag in this article.
• Optimize your wireless signal reception. Take a look at some suggestions provided by Gizmodo here. This would minimize wireless interference giving you a better signal and in turn better speeds.
• Disable the pictures on websites to make them load faster, but where’s the fun in that?

You can also give Speedify a try. As someone living in Libya, you’re limited in your internet connectivity because of slow speeds and government censorship. Speedify can fix both these problems.

Speedify is a bonding VPN app that brings in multiple benefits:

• As a VPN, it encrypts your internet traffic and gives you complete online privacy.
• As a channel bonding service, it can combine multiple networks to provide more stable and faster internet.

You will be able to access any website or service, even if it is blocked by the government. And if you just want to have a stable connection for streaming, Speedify will help you there too. It can combine multiple internet connections into one “super” pipe, increasing the speed and reliability.

And that, folks, is how Speedify helps you solve the problem of slow internet in Libya. Next step for you is to get Speedify on your smartphone or computer and start using it!