Speed up your broadband!
John Fitzsimons looks at what you can do to get better value for money from your broadband package
John Fitzsimons looks at what you can do to get better value for money from your broadband package
There can be few things more frustrating than an iffy broadband service. My own connection has a mind of its own – it will regularly disconnect for absolutely no reason, and even when it does connect, half the time the pages take forever to load.
So how can you maximise the performance of your broadband, and get what you’re paying for!
Don’t expect the world
The first thing to remember is that while your package may advertise speeds of up to 20meg, it simply won’t be possible for everyone to enjoy that speed.
One factor that will affect the speed is how far you live from your broadband exchange – I live about as far away from mine as it’s possible to be, hence why mine is so slow.
So make sure you know exactly what to expect from your connection – one great site to have a look at is Samknows.com. Put in your phone number and postcode and it can tell you what speeds are actually realistic for where you live.
Pick your moments!
It’s all about timing. If you are trying to download and surf at the same time, obviously your speeds will be affected. Trying to connect at the same time as everyone else in your area will also affect your speeds.
If you need to do some downloading, try to schedule it when nobody else will be online, so either overnight or when you’re at work, and everything should go a lot quicker.
Plug it in!
And finally, if you are determined to get the absolute max out of your connection, it might help to plug the computer into the modem itself rather than relying on wireless. While this isn’t likely to make a huge difference, every little helps!
Of course there are plenty more ways to help improve your connection speed, so if you have any tips that are perhaps a bit more technical, be sure to share them with other lovemoney.com readers!
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Comments
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20MB is a joke for anyone depending on copper overhead telephone lines and some distance from their exchange, they will be lucky to get 1MB . Friends in the States only pay for what they can get. Here we pay for 20 whatever the final result at home. This is totally wrong, surely with todays technology it should be possible to pay for what you get. How many other commercial providers would get away with this daylight robbery.
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Usefull advice, thanks.
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Why no practical advice? BT sell something called an i-plate or "broadband accelerator". It is simple to fit (assuming you have a standard master socket) and it's cheap. It cuts out any interference that may be affecting your line. A lot of people have tried it now and are singing its praises. Another thing you can do is replace your master socket (just the front part, you're allowed to do that) with a master socket with the broadband splitter built in. Then plug your router directly in to the master socket (using a quality extension cable if necessary). The rest of your house will no longer need ADSL filters.
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13 February 2012