We’ve all been there: progress bar’s stuck at 0%, the browser taking an age to load a page and Netflix videos looking like the jittery picture was constructed from Duplo blocks. Slow broadband is a pain when you’re relaxing and it is doubly unwelcome if, like as most of us, you’re trying to work from home. As you read on, we’ll look at some simple steps we can all follow to make your home broadband work more efficiently. None alone is a silver bullet. Rather, think of them as marginal gains: small and simple steps which, if taken in concert, will combine to give you a good aggregate speed boost.
1. Do a speed test
If your work laptop is feeling slow or your Netflix movies are juddering, you’ll get a better understanding of the problem not from your feelings of angst, but on taking a long hard look at the numbers. There are lots of online broadband speed testing services. Ofcom’s speed test site is impartial and it won’t try and sell you anything after the test. Try running this test in different rooms.
2. Place your router carefully
Where and how you position your router can have a profound influence on the data transfer speeds you receive as you work and play.
Ugly as it can be, your WiFi router should be visible. Don’t be tempted to hide it away and don’t put it on the floor. Keep the router raise up and away from walls. This will ensure that it can broadcast clearly to all your devices.
It’s also a good idea to keep electrical devices like lights, televisions and stereos away from your router. In short, place your router as you would a bunch of flowers - visibly, proudly and unobscured from view. It’ll thank you.
3. Beware of blackspots
Unlike rain on a summer’s day, WiFi doesn’t saturate everything equally. Rather, some rooms and corners of your home might, because of their shape and location, be sheltered. This means your iPad or laptop might struggle in one room and fly in another.
Thankfully, this problem might be cured by moving your router (point two) and leaving all doors between your router and your office open.
You can get a better understanding of where black spots might be by running speed tests (from point one) in different rooms. Possibly, you might need to think about moving where you work, if you can’t move your router.
Sometimes however there’s no easy solution - maybe your house is just too big and the walls too thick. If this is the case, think about investing in a powerline networking kit. These use your home’s internal electrical wiring and can push fast broadband out of specially designed plug adapters.
4. Are you running 4G or WiFi?
It might feel like your mobile phone is always on and always connected and, in may ways, it always is. But it’s also working hard to find the best and fastest broadband. As you move around outside (while being socially distant) your phone might shift invisibly between different mobile data systems. Commonly these are 3G, the oldest and slowest, and 4G. If you’re very lucky you might use 5G.
When you get home, your phone should automatically detect your home WiFi system and connect to it. The point is, your phone is always assessing its connection options.
Sometimes, when you get home, your phone might remain connected to 3G or 4G. Or, if the signal is weak in your house, it might disregard your home broadband and try and use the mobile networks. Alternatively, it might just get confused and stick with 3G and 4G. This can cost you cash and download performance.
The easiest cure is to briefly put your phone into ‘airplane’ mode and then return it to ‘normal’. This will force it to reset, reconsider its connection options and hopefully embrace your faster home WiFi.
