Maximising the speed of your Internet connection
We’re living in the age of internet – it has become an essential part of our lives, and few of us can go without it for long. It’s got to the point where it’s expected that kinds have internet if they are to do their homework, where we are constantly encouraged to go online by all sorts of advertisers, and companies even hope for us to pay our bills online! Also, when was he last time you chose to call someone instead of e-mailing them? Yep, the internet is becoming essential, so it’s important that we’re all getting the best speeds possible, I mean, how else are you going to watch all those cat videos?
Luckily there are loads of simple ways to increase your internet speed, before you have to consider the possibility of changing provider.
First things first, you need to know what you’re working with – the speed your internet provider says you’re getting is actually a maximum, and you’re likely getting a lot less. We recommend testing your upload and download speed with Speed Test firstly:
The average speed obtained by most “High-speed” internet users is around 10Mbps, or 10 Megabytes per second, if you’re lower than this, but you expect high-speed internet, then you might want to try out the following tips!
1. Perform some PC Maintenance.
This will include the following things:
- A virus scan, which you can run simply using a free program like AVG
- A Disk Defrag, a simple program like Defraggler (http://www.piriform.com/defraggler) is a great tool that basically ‘cleans up’ and organises your computer.
- A malware scan, most anti-virus programs will deal with this, but just Google about to find a free tool!
- A Recycle bin emptying, which is so easy to do, just right click your recycle bin and click empty!
2. Reboot it All and Replace Old Equipment
You might be surprised how much of a different simply rebooting everything will have. Start with your computer, especially if you’re in the habit of leaving it in “sleep” mode. Next head over to your wireless router, and turn it off and unplug it. Leave it for a minute before setting everything up again. A simple refresh like this can really boost speed.
Faulty connections, knackered routers and wires that have been under heavy useage are also some of the most common culprits of slow internet problems. Make sure you regularly check then entire course of your connection, right from phone line to computer for any flaws.
3. Sort out your Cache and Temporary Internet Files
Files that are stored in your internet browsers Cache are there to improve performace, they make it so you don’t need to download the same file over and over again. You can optimise how all these files are stored, and you can control how often they are refreshed. Generally you want to be looking for automatic options, and you also want to make sure that temporary files are never set to take up more than 2% of your total hard drive space.
4. Check there is no conflict with your wireless router
You thought the days of your phone ruining your internet connection were long gone right? Wrong. If you have a wireless phone it might be interfering with your wireless connection when in use. Check the back of your router, and see if it says whether it is 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz
If your phone is on the same Ghz as your router, then it will likely cause your internet connection to slow when the phone is being used.
5. Upgrade it All
Upgrade your computer and upgrade your router, there is no point running fast internet on a very old machine, as it’s unlikely to ever perform as well.
Of course, if all these little checks don’t lead to better internet, the problem may be due to your area; go to USwitch and check out their broadband speed test; it compares your speeds to your neighbours, so you can make sure you are always with the fastest provider in your area.
This guest post was contributed by Holly Powell on behalf of Flow Optics, suppliers of compatible optical transceivers.
