What is the most annoying thing that can happen to you while streaming your favourite TV series? Exactly, slow broadband connection is the definite answer. Not only is it annoying, but it can be downright frustrating and you might just lose your initial good mood.
When this happens, people usually play the blame game. The one and only party that should be put to blame is obviously the broadband provider, make’s sense right? Wrong! What many of us don’t realize is, sometimes it’s not entirely the provider’s fault. Computer settings, poor wiring, usage of broadband and tons of other things can also have an impact on broadband speeds.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do by yourself without the need to call up the expert or technicians. Here are our favourite tips to help you bring back that speed:
Before you do dive into the tips however, you should test your broadband speed first. This will help you know what your broadband connection speed is really at. You will be able to determine whether your connection is actually running, walking or just crawling like a snail. Afterwards, you can test it again to see whether the tips we’ve suggested really helped with your poor broadband speed.
1. Set a password for your wifi
The first and foremost is of course to secure your network with a password. If your network is not password protected, you are allowing everyone to actually use it for free. Before you even notice it, your broadband speed will drop significantly, unauthorised users will take up your valuable bandwidths.
2. Change your router's position
There are a lot of things can affect the strength and quality of your wireless connection, such as home appliances like cordless phones, baby monitor or barriers like walls and doors. Those are just a few things that can interfere your wireless signal. It’s best if you can avoid all that.
Ideally, your router should be placed up high – at the top of the stairs or on a bookshelf for instance. But whatever you do, try your best to position it in an area where the signal won’t be affected by any obstructions or interference. And to maximise the coverage across the whole house, it’s better if you can place it somewhere in the middle. One thing for sure, do not ever place it in a cupboard.
3. Free up your computer
Applications on your computer use the internet too. And some possibly use the internet without you even noticing it because they run in the background. Other applications that may eat up your broadband speed are the ones that run automatically (like Windows updates or Skype) the moment you log in to your computer. Make sure to set these applications on manual run.
You should also consider deleting your old files, organize your desktop – don’t store too many files on your desktop – and clear your browser history. You will be surprised with the noticeable difference on your connection speed.
4. Avoid high traffic times
Internet traffic jams are pretty similar with the road traffic jams. There are times where there’s more traffic and there are times with lesser traffic. Based on this, we know that traffic jams can greatly affect your connection speeds. When lots of people are trying to access the internet at the same time, there is increased traffic on the physical phone lines and also on each website’s servers. Hence, the jam it created will actually slow down your connection speed.
Survey result stated that the heaviest traffic is usually in the evenings. So, if you want to get the benefit from the fastest speed, you can try to surf the internet when traffic is low, generally very late at night.
5. Consider using a non-wireless internet connection
Literally, yes, you should consider to stop using wireless. Instead, use the ethernet cable. For sure we all know that wireless connection will always be slower than a wired one. A bit of a drop in speed is expected when you set up a wireless network, not a problem though for people with fast connections, but it might not be the best choice for people with slow connections.
What you can do is just try connecting it via ethernet cable and if things are alright, you will likely get better speed. Otherwise, the problem might really be from your broadband provider, not your equipment.
6. Contact your service provider
Give your ISP (Internet Service Provider) a call and have a chat about it. You can always stress out your problem or concern to them. Perhaps, by voicing it out, they can help you to identify the fault on the line and give it a quick fix.
7. Switch to another service provider
Sometimes, things don’t turn out as how we planned it. Same goes with these tips. If, after taking all these measures but your broadband speed isn’t improving, you might want to consider to switch your internet provider. That’s the last, and probably the best thing you can do.
Besides your internet connection, another thing that runwould all the time in your house is electricity. With working from home being the norm, you're probably spending more on your electricity bills now than you did two years ago.
Fortunately, there are some ways you can save on those bills. Take a look at the article below:
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