5 Ways to Improve Home Broadband Speeds
Unsurprisingly, questions relating to speed, and how this can be improved, are consistently the most popular search terms when it comes to home broadband. With household now containing numerous devices and gadgets that rely on an internet connection – not to mention multiple users draining the data allowance – it only makes sense that we are now all concerned about the speed of our internet connection, and what we can do to improve it.
If you’ve ever found yourself struggling with a painfully slow connection, or the endless wheel of doom while a video buffers, here are 5 ways that you can improve your home broadband speed.
Move Your Router
If like most people you use WiFi in your home, then you will no doubt know that the further away you get from the router in your home the worse the signal, and therefore your internet speed, becomes. The reason for this is that wireless signals are easily blocked by the walls in your house, making it difficult to get the right broadband speed in certain areas of your home. In this case, something as simple as moving your WiFi router could greatly improve your home broadband speed. To do so effectively, ensure that your router is moved to a central location on your home so that you avoid creating any internet blackspots in the house. Next, make sure that your router isn’t placed in a cupboard or blocked in by other objects or decorations as these will also slow down your broadband speed.
Revert Back to Wired Internet
Obviously, nobody is very keen to go back to using internet cables when WiFi has changed our lives so much. However, if your broadband speed is really taking a hit then it’s time to dig out the good old ethernet cable. By going for the wired option you could quickly see a boost in your home broadband speed as a cable can still transfer data at a super rate in comparison to WiFi.
Of course, if you live in a household with multiple users, this might not be the most practical of solutions as everyone will need an ethernet cable in order to benefit from the improved speed.
Invest in a Booster
Should you decide that sticking to the WiFi is your only realistic option but you still find yourself struggling with your internet speed, then a wireless signal booster could be just the thing you’re after. Promisingly to easily do away with black spots where your current router is simply not powerful enough to reach. The one issue that you might find with a boosting device is that it doesn’t actually improve your home broadband speed itself. Rather, it improves the WiFi signal in your house, allowing you to take full advantage of whatever your current broadband speed, as often WiFi signal and not broadband speed itself is the issue for most users.
Check Your PC
You would be surprised to find out just how often your PC itself is the reason why your online experience is painfully slow. Whether it be due to expired antivirus software or a system update you’ve neglected to install, your computer running below its peak performance can easily affect your internet speed, or rather make it seem like your connection is much slower than it actually is.
Switch Providers
The simple truth is that, in some cases, switching providers is all that you can do to improve your home broadband speed. With so many different services to choose from, once your current contract is over it is worth doing some research into different providers and the speeds they can offer in your area.