Don’t put up with slow, unreliable internet. Wayne Williams explains how you can identify the causes of a weak connection and quickly get back up to speed
Recent research by Ofcom (bit.ly/ofcom415) found that the average download speed for home broadband in the UK is now an impressive 37Mbps (although some rural areas struggle to get 2Mbps). But that doesn’t mean everyone enjoys superfast speeds all the time.
Running a test using a tool such as Ookla Speedtest (www.speedtest.net) may confirm that your connection isn’t as fast as it should be, but it won’t tell you how to fix the problem. In this feature, we explain the most common reasons for slow internet and reveal the secret tweaks that unlock extra speed.
Over the following six pages, we look at which hardware upgrades are worth the money, the router settings you should be using and the main causes of weak Wi-Fi and common network problems. We also explain how you can test your connection speed, so you can find out exactly where the dead spots are in your home and what improvements your changes have made.
HACK YOUR ROUTER SETTINGS
Don’t share a channel with neighbours
Wireless routers can transmit on a choice of channels. If you and your neighbours are broadcasting on the same wireless channel, it can result in a weakened Wi-Fi signal. Checking which channels are being used by households in your vicinity and switching to an alternative channel could make a big difference to your internet speed.
Acrylic Wi-Fi Home (www.acrylicwifi.com) is a handy free scanner that lists all the wireless networks within range and shows you their SSID, MAC address, channel, 802.11 standard, security type, router manufacturer and other information. Select any network to see a star rating for its channel quality, signal quality, signal-to-noise ratio, network security, transmission speed and 802.11 standards coverage. Acrylic also rates each network for overall quality, so you can see any available options that provide a better connection.
You can sort the list of networks by their channel to make it easier to pick one that isn’t currently being used (or isn’t being used in close proximity to your network, at least). To change the channel, open the web page for your router’s settings – this is usually at 192.168.1.1 or similar, and provided in a label on your router – and look for the Channels option there. See our Mini Workshop to learn more about using Acrylic Wi-Fi Home.
Choose the correct Wi-Fi band
Many modern 802.11n routers, and all 802.11ac models, offer simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi. This means that two networks run concurrently – one on the 2.4GHz band and one on the 5GHz band. The router creates separate SSIDs (wireless-network names) for each band, usually with ‘2’ (or ‘2.4’) and ‘5’ in the name, to make it easy to select the one you want to connect your devices to. Putting some thought into which band you use for which equipment can make a big difference to your Wi-Fi speed and coverage.
Ideally, you should use the 2.4GHz band for older equipment, with newer devices – especially anything streaming video – assigned to the less congested 5GHz band. Some routers, such as the standard Virgin Media SuperHub, offer ‘selectable’ dual-band, rather than ‘simultaneous’, which means you can only use one of the two bands. If possible, switch to the 5GHz band because this will give you the best results – it’s less prone to interference, and there’s more room. If you have older devices that can’t connect to the 5GHz band, you have three choices: you can use the 2.4GHz band for everything; upgrade your older devices so they can connect to the 5GHz network; or upgrade your router to a simultaneous dual-band model.
Change your router’s security settings
Your router offers a choice of encryption standards, such as WPA Auto, WPA2-PSK [AES] and WPA-PSK [TKIP]. When setting it up, you probably went with whatever the default setting was, but choose incorrectly and you could end up with a less secure and slower network.
TKIP is considered insecure and should be avoided, and WPA or TKIP encryption will slow a faster Wi-Fi router to 54Mbps. If your router offers WPA2-PSK (AES), select this because it’s the most secure option. AES support has been mandatory in all devices manufactured after 2006, so everything you own (unless it’s very old) should work fine. If you find certain devices can’t connect to your Wi-Fi once you’ve switched to a faster, more secure option, then you may need to switch back to the original setting. It usually takes around a minute for the change to take effect.
FIND AND FIX NETWORK ERRORS
Change to a different DNS server
DNS (Domain Name System) is used to translate site names into IP addresses so that they can be understood by web servers and internet routers. When you enter a web address into your browser, there will be a small delay while the browser asks your DNS server for the IP address of the site before it starts to load it. Most people tend to stick with the DNS server provided by their ISP, but it may not be the fastest and switching to a different one could speed up the lookup time. Even if you decide to stick with the DNS server provided by your ISP, it’s worth running a check to see how it compares with other servers.
DNS Jumper (bit.ly/dnsjump415) is a fantastic free program that lets you quickly switch to an alternative DNS sever without having to enter the details manually in Windows. All you have to do is run it (no installation is required) and click the Fastest DNS button. It will list numerous DNS servers and you can test them all, or narrow the results by ticking the ones you want and unticking those you don’t. Click Start DNS Test and the program will benchmark each server. Every server gets tested twice, and the list is reordered according to the results.
To switch to the fastest result, click the Apply DNS Server button. You can also right-click any other result in the list and apply that instead. Before making any changes, it’s worth running the test several times during the day, just to make sure the results remain constant.
If you want to make sure you’re always using the fastest DNS server, there’s an option to have the program start alongside Windows, check for the fastest DNS server and switch to it automatically.
We’ll be providing more advice on taking control of your DNS in next issue’s Weekend Project.
Stop your ISP throttling your traffic
ISPs often used to throttle certain types of traffic – BitTorrent downloads in particular – to stop heavy internet users consuming all the available bandwidth. This kind of traffic shaping is much less common these days, although it does still happen with some ISPs and at certain times – usually evenings and weekends when the internet is at its busiest. If you suspect your ISP is throttling your downloads, check the terms and conditions to see what it says about traffic management. Remember, if you’re downloading or browsing at peak time, then things will automatically be slower due to congestion. If you use BitTorrent, try scheduling downloads for after 1am. Use Wi-Fi when downloading or streaming on your phone to avoid the risk of throttling.
Speed up your 3G connection
This may come as a surprise, but we’ve found that using a mobile data connection can occasionally be faster than using public Wi-Fi. For example, O2’s free Wi-Fi – which can be found in places such as Costa and McDonalds – is often dreadful.
The general rule is that 4G connections are very fast; 3G should be decent; and anything else will be hit and miss. However, 3G speeds can often be improved. Opera Max for Android (bit.ly/opmax415) can speed up browsing on both a wireless and mobile network. It compresses content before it reaches your phone, so you download less data.
For speedier browsing, you could turn off images in your browser (so it just loads text) and also try clearing the cache in any apps that are having problems. In Android, go to Settings, Applications, select the app you want, and tap Clear Cache.
PREVENT PHYSICAL WI-FI PROBLEMS
Avoid interference from objects
Where you place your router can have a big impact on the quality of your wireless signal. If you place it near an exterior wall, some of the signal will extend outside your property; and locating it under a desk or in a cupboard will reduce the power of the signal. Ideally, you should position your router somewhere central – on top of a desk, rather than under it – and away from any other electrical items or cables. As a rule, the higher up you place the router, the better the signal.
If the router has adjustable aerials, make sure they point into the room. It’s worth having them perpendicular in relation to each other – so one is horizontal and the other vertical – because this will spread the signal around and hopefully improve it. You can use reflective surfaces to bounce the wireless signal around any particularly troublesome objects, although your living space may end up looking like a hall of mirrors!
Stop your neighbours piggybacking
If you suspect that someone outside your home might be using your wireless connection, you can check by logging into your router. Open your web browser and go to the router address (this will probably be printed on a label attached to your router), then enter your router’s username and password. Look for a Device Connection Status screen (or similar) and browse the list of wired and wireless devices connected to your network. It will show you a device’s name and how long it has been connected for. Look for anything you don’t recognise.
Keep away from household appliances
Electrical devices around the home – specifically ones with motors, such as blenders – can cause interference and degrade the quality of your Wi-Fi. Cordless phones (if you still have a landline), baby monitors and microwaves can also have an impact. If you don’t have much of a signal in your kitchen as it is, you’ll find it drops even more when the microwave is on. The signal will improve the further you move from the source of the interference.
Bearing this in mind, you need to make sure your router is as far away as possible from any potentially problematic electrical devices, and steer clear of them when you use your phone or tablet to go online.
Locate dead spots on a heat map
It’s possible that the wireless-network coverage in your home is a little patchy. If you can identify the weak areas, then you can work on improving the Wi-Fi there – perhaps by moving the router or using range extenders. The free tool NetSpot (www.netspotapp.com) can create a colour-coded ‘heat map’ of your home that shows where the wireless signal is strongest and weakest. You can create heat maps for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, which will let you see which network works best in each room.
To record the results so that NetSpot can build a map, you have to move around each location in your property, so installing the program on your laptop is the ideal solution.
Diagnose network-adapter problems
Your wireless network can be slowed down by all kinds of elements, and identifying the root of the problem can be tricky. KC Softwares offers a Wi-Fi troubleshooting tool called dot11Expert (bit.ly/dot11expert415) that provides detailed technical information about your adapters, network and access points.
It displays three panels filled with information, and double-clicking an item displays additional details to help you pinpoint the cause of problems. There aren’t many settings to play around with, but dot11Expert could come in handy for identifying hitherto undiagnosed problems.
Make sure you download the free version rather than clicking the link for the paid-for Pro edition.
UPGRADE YOUR OLD HARDWARE
Replace your ageing router
If your router is more than a few years old, it’s likely that you’ll be getting slower and weaker Wi-Fi than you used to, and certainly nowhere near the optimum speed of your current internet package. The first 802.11 WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) standard was created in 1997 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and, since then, there have been numerous revisions, with each updated standard offering faster speeds and greater coverage.
There are many other standards, too, including 802.11ad, 802.11ax and 802.11ay, but you don’t need to worry about those for the moment because they’re not yet widely available. The data rates listed in our table don’t exist outside of laboratory conditions, so in the real world you’d experience much lower speeds, but they do provide an indication of how much better each of the major standards is in comparison to its predecessors.
If your router is particularly old, it probably offers 802.11g, in which case you should definitely upgrade it. If it offers 802.11n, you’ll get a reasonable speed but, in all honesty, upgrading to a 802.11ac router will pay dividends and is well worth doing – especially if you frequently stream music, TV shows and films over your network.
There is a caveat, which is that to get the most from an 802.11ac router, you need to be using 802.11ac devices; anything that doesn’t support the new standard will only receive speeds comparable to 802.11n. The good news is that most newer mobile devices, including iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7, do support this latest standard.
Even if you don’t currently have any 802.11ac equipment, a modern router using that standard will result in better and stronger signals over a wider area. For example, we recently swapped an 802.11n Virgin Media SuperHub for the newer 802.11ac model, and the difference in coverage was immediately noticeable, with dropped connections no longer a problem.
If you don’t want to replace your router just yet, it’s worth checking the manufacturer’s or supplier’s website to see if there’s a firmware update you can apply. This should give your Wi-Fi a performance boost while improving its security.
Invest in a wireless extender
You can improve the coverage of your wireless connection using an extender, which takes your existing Wi-Fi signal and repeats it via a plug-in unit. You can add multiple units to your home to extend the Wi-Fi to places it doesn’t usually reach. However, we’ve found that the results can be hit and miss depending on which model you buy.
In our test of Wi-Fi extenders, we found the TP-Link RE450 delivered the strongest Wi-Fi signal, especially on the 5GHz frequency, covering dead spots that similar devices couldn’t reach. TP-Link claims it can achieve speeds of 1,750Mbps, although it’s unlikely you’ll get near that figure. The extender costs £45 from Amazon (bit.ly/tpl414) and is very easy to set up, with three adjustable antennae for achieving optimal coverage.
Alternatively, you could use HomePlugs to boost your connection. The excellent Devolo dLAN Wi-Fi adapters (bit.ly/dlanwifi415) extend your internet to any room using your home’s electrical wiring, without any signal loss, and act as a reliable and unobtrusive Wi-Fi extender. The dLAN 1200+ WiFi ac Starter Kit Powerline (bit.ly/dlanwc415) costs £160 and includes one standard unit and one Wi-Fi AC adapter.
Upgrade to a mesh network
If you want to be certain of having rock-solid wireless coverage throughout your entire home, then buying a mesh router system is the perfect solution. Rather than a single router, a mesh network is a modular Wi-Fi system with multiple access points that work together to ensure great coverage without lag or buffering. Each node increases wireless coverage by around 2,000 square feet, and you can add as many as you like. A mesh network uses a single name and password.
Linksys recently launched the Velop Whole-Home Mesh network with Dynamic Tri-Band technology (bit.ly/velop415), which will eliminate dead spots throughout your home – even in difficult-to-reach places such as your loft or garden. However, it’s not cheap: a single unit costs £199.99, a twin pack is £349.99 and a triple pack is £499.99. On the plus side, it works with Amazon’s Alexa technology so you can use voice commands such as “turn on guest access to Wi-Fi”.
Monitor your Wi-Fi using Acrylic Wi-Fi Home
1 Download and run Acrylic Wi-Fi Home (www.acrylicwifi.com) and you’ll be presented with a comprehensive list of wireless networks within range. You can sort the list by SSID, Channel, 802.11 standard and encryption type. The Max Speed column shows how much faster the 5GHz band is.
2 The Signal Strength tab shows a colour-coded graph which lets you see the quality of each network signal over time. The higher up the line, the better the signal. You can stop and start monitoring at any point using the button in the top-right corner.
3 Click the Network Quality tab and select one of the networks above to get a star rating for various categories. The overall network quality is given a rating out of 10. You can see how the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels compare by selecting either of those tabs.
TEST YOUR CONNECTION USING OOKLA
If you suspect that your internet speed is slower than it should be, you can find out for sure using Ookla Speedtest (www.speedtest.net). There are two website versions – the main one, which uses Flash, and the beta version (beta.speedtest.net), which doesn’t. There’s also a Chrome extension (bit.ly/speed415).
The test measures ‘ping time’ – that is, the length of time it takes for a site to receive an incoming connection and reply – as well as your download and upload speeds. You should run it several times a day to get an average. To see how your wireless network connection affects speeds, run the test on a laptop in different areas of the house.
There’s also a mobile version for iOS, Android and Windows 10 (speedtest.net/mobile), which you can use to get a good idea of signal strength and connection speed anywhere around your home. Use this whenever you think there could be a problem with your internet performance.
It’s worth running a test before and after rebooting your router, to see what sort of difference that makes. Also, try running a test next to a working microwave or blender to get an idea of how such appliances can affect your wireless connection. You’ll be surprised!