About this Site

Mark Heath“The coronavirus pandemic has brought home more than ever that broadband is becoming more and more important in our lives and work. Broadband is becoming the main way we do so many things, including shopping and watching TV. However, the vast majority are not getting the broadband speeds and performance they could, for many different reasons. We aim to provide the most comprehensive and unbiased guides to get the most from your broadband connection.” 

This independent Increase Broadband Speed website was instigated by Dr Mark Heath, who has worked in research and development roles in the telecommunications industry for many years. Living in rural Cambridgeshire and suffering from poor broadband speeds, he successfully applied a number of techniques to improve broadband speeds. Starting on his village website, Mark shared his tips online and, now, through this dedicated website, his guides are now used by million of people.

This site is dedicated to all broadband users who want to get the very best from their broadband service. It will help you not only increase speeds but also improve quality. For many services, latency (delay) is actually more important than speed.

Sadly, hype, confusion and poor customer service are rife within the industry. We aim to cut through this with clear and concise guides, which are based upon rigorous measurement and technical understanding.

While the availability of higher-speed superfast and ultrafast broadband services is increasing, with download speeds of 30 Mbps or more now available to 95% of UK homes and businesses, we realise that many people continue to suffer with poor speeds. We hope we have something for everyone, with the site covering a range of broadband technologies, from basic ADSL broadband through to ultra-high-speed FTTP.

You can contact Mark by emailing info@increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk.

 

Why so many broadband problems still?

Several years ago, we naïvely assumed that, with higher speeds offered by the widespread of broadband technologies such as fibre broadband, the broadband problems suffered by so many people would gradually diminish. This certainly has not happened, for a number of reasons, including:

  • There are significant flaws in ‘superfast’ broadband technology. Fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology that is so widespread in the UK has two major flaws due to its dependence on using copper wires; speeds diminish the further away from the street cabinet you are and other broadband signals can interference with your own broadband signal (crosstalk).
  • Many people are still reliant on basic broadband technology. While many people can access higher-speed services, many people still cannot. While there’s a diminishing percentage, it’s still a lot of people and businesses.
  • The take-up of superfast and ultrafast broadband services significantly lag behind their availability.
  • Broadband performance is critically dependent on what and how broadband equipment is deployed in the home (or office) and, in general, this is far from optimum.
  • WiFi has become the ‘weakest link’ in many households due to its overuse and poor set-up and configuration, with major interference and range issues.
  • Rapid take-up of bandwidth-intensive services (such as streamed TV) is causing profound and widespread performance issues (bufferbloat) to delay-sensitive applications (e.g. online gaming, browsing and voice and video telephony).
  • Broadband speed requirements are a moving target (upwards), as expectations, behaviours and technologies change – causing strain in all parts of the broadband ‘chain’. For example, a 40 Mbps download speed is now recommended by the BBC to watch a single live stream of Ultra HD content via its iPlayer.
  • Broadband is being used for an increasing proportion of our leisure and work activities.
  • More and more devices in our homes and offices are being ‘connected’ and are having to share the available bandwidth of our broadband connection.
  • Broadband and related aspects are technical in nature and complex. Broadband really cannot be considered like utilities such as water and electricity.

 

For these reasons, we are committed to maintaining and developing this website. Thank you for your support!

 

Other pages you may be interested in:

Increase Broadband Speed Guide  |  Blog