Blog | Increase Broadband Speed

Welcome to the Increase Broadband Speed Blog

25 March 2020 by Mark Heath

Welcome to the Increase Broadband Speed Blog, in which we bring you independent tips and advice to increase your broadband speed and save you money. We also help communities across the UK to improve their broadband connectivity.

Browse our blog posts or go straight to our most popular guides:
Increase Broadband Speed Guide
More tips to improve broadband speed

One of the most important ways to maximise your speeds is to ensure that you subscribe to the fastest broadband services available in your area. To check availability (and the best deals in your area) use the postcode checker on our Broadband Deals page.

Test your speed with our speed test

Review of Disney Plus in the UK: shame about the picture and sound quality

25 March 2020 by Mark Heath

After launching in the USA in November 2019, Disney Plus has finally arrived in the UK at one of the most challenging periods for the UK and the world. Disney has scaled back bit rates, which means that the promised Ultra HD 4k content - which is … [Continue reading]

Amazon’s Music HD Service Spells New Era for CD-Quality Music Streaming

5 February 2020 by Mark Heath

Amazon's launch of its new Music HD service comes at an opportune moment, at a time when superfast broadband (with download speeds in excess of 30 Mbps) is available to 95% of UK homes. Say goodbye to compressed music streaming. At a relatively … [Continue reading]

Bufferbloat: Why it is Harming Your Broadband and How to Easily Fix It

16 January 2020 by Mark Heath

In this article, we tackle one of the biggest issues facing broadband users today, known as 'bufferbloat'. While this term will be rather meaningless to most people, its devastating effects are very widely noticeable. With bufferfloat, other devices … [Continue reading]

Review of Apple TV+: Apple’s Streamed Service Leads the Pack in Picture Quality

10 January 2020 by Mark Heath

Apple launched its new TV streaming service in the UK on 1st November 2019, to compete with rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Pricing is certainly aggressive. Apple TV+ currently costs £4.99 per month although there is a cheaper way to subscribe … [Continue reading]

BBC iPlayer Ultra HD (4k) Demonstrates Amazing Picture Quality

6 January 2020 by Mark Heath

What a pleasure it was this Christmas and New Year period being able to watch the complete series of 'Seven Worlds, One Planet' and 'Dracula' on BBC iPlayer in Ultra HD 4k quality. They looked absolutely amazing. Once you see the incredible detail, … [Continue reading]

Superfast Broadband Fuels Streamed Video-on-Demand Services

6 January 2020 by Mark Heath

We enjoyed a fantastic Christmas period making the most of the large amount of Ultra HD 4k content that is now available across the streaming platforms in the UK, including 'Seven Worlds, One Planet' from the BBC (shown above). High-speed broadband … [Continue reading]

Save Money Now by Broadband Switching or Re-contracting

11 December 2019 by Mark Heath

Apologies if this post sounds a bit like a Martin Lewis TV rant, but if you are outside your broadband contract - and some 41% of broadband users are, according to Ofcom - then you can save money by switching broadband providers or re-contracting … [Continue reading]

Why Does the Take-Up of Superfast Broadband Lag Its Widespread Availability?

10 December 2019 by Mark Heath

In its 2018 Connected Nations report, Ofcom found that "people do not always sign up to faster broadband packages when they are available". Although at the time 94% of premises had access to superfast broadband packages (30 Mbps+), only 45% had … [Continue reading]

Price Decreases in FTTP on Demand May Fuel FTTP Adoption

21 November 2017 by Mark Heath

There have been promising developments that may stimulate the adoption of Fibre to the Premises (FTTP). Openreach has recently announced significant price decreases in its FTTP on Demand product from February 2018, which (with the help of a … [Continue reading]

Fibre Broadband VDSL2 Vectoring Finally Arrives

13 November 2017 by Mark Heath

Vectoring has just been switched on on my street cabinet and, in this blog, I discuss the substantial speed increase that has been achieved. I also show you how you can determine whether vectoring has been enabled on your own fibre broadband … [Continue reading]

Review of Synology RT2600ac Wireless Router

20 April 2017 by Mark Heath

Our new recommended wireless router for conventional ADSL and fibre broadband Our new recommended wireless router is the Synology RT2600ac, which is a state-of-the-art wireless router that provides the capabilities we believe are necessary to get … [Continue reading]

Amazon Ultra HD Launch of The Grand Tour Represents Major Milestone

24 November 2016 by Mark Heath

Car enthusiasts have warmly greeted Amazon's spectacular launch of its The Grand Tour series, starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May (who originally presented the BBC's Top Gear). According to Amazon, the first episode of The Grand … [Continue reading]

BT Trials Long Reach VDSL (LR-VDSL)

21 November 2016 by Mark Heath

A major weakness of the Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology that BT is currently deploying for superfast broadband is that speeds are dependent upon the distance of the copper cable that runs between the street cabinet and business premises and … [Continue reading]

Review of Sky Q Ultra HD

14 November 2016 by Mark Heath

Last year, we reviewed the BT Ultra HD (4k) TV service on its launch. We were very impressed with the image quality achieved with BT's flagship Ultra HD football content. We now review Sky's own Ultra HD service, which is delivered using Sky's new … [Continue reading]

Review of Boosty: Bonding ADSL Broadband with 4G or 3G Mobile

24 May 2016 by Mark Heath

With all the press interest in superfast and ultrafast broadband technologies, it is easy to understand the frustrations for consumers and businesses that only have access to basic ADSL services with low speeds. Despite the rapid roll-out of … [Continue reading]

BT Increases its Ultrafast Broadband Target to 12 Million Premises by 2020

5 May 2016 by Mark Heath

BT has announced an ambition to roll out ultrafast broadband to 12 million UK premises by 2020 - two million more than previously announced. Two technologies will be used to achieve this: Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and G.fast. BT's FTTP plans … [Continue reading]

What is G.fast?

2 May 2016 by Mark Heath

While it's still relatively early days in the roll-out of Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) fibre broadband technology in the UK, a new technology is around the corner that will offer significantly higher download and upload speeds. This new technology - … [Continue reading]

BT Increases the Top Speed of its BT Infinity 1 Service to 52 Mbps

16 April 2016 by Mark Heath

Reflecting the availability of a new (so called "55/10") VDSL2 speed profile on BT's fibre broadband network, BT has increased the maximum download throughput offered on its BT Infinity service to about 52 Mbps. New! You can upgrade to this on our BT … [Continue reading]

Speed Up DNS Look-ups For Faster Web Browsing

25 September 2015 by Mark Heath

Web browsing remains one of the most popular uses of a broadband connection, and many broadband users judge the performance of their broadband connection by the responsiveness and speed of browsing. Many people assume that web browsing performance is … [Continue reading]

BT Launches BT Sport Ultra HD

2 August 2015 by Mark Heath

At 2.45pm on Sunday 2nd August 2015, BT made history by launching the first broadcast channel in Ultra HD format in the UK. On its new BT Sport Ultra HD channel, delivered by fibre broadband, BT screened the 2015 FA Community Shield - a live football … [Continue reading]

Review of BT Ultra HD (4k) TV Service

1 August 2015 by Mark Heath

Don't forget to view our Review of Sky Q Ultra HD As described in our previous article HD and 4k Delivered by Fibre Broadband, Ultra HD content is developing nicely and BT has now arrived on the scene! BT has made a very promising start with the … [Continue reading]

Setting Up the Billion 8800NL and 8800AXL For BT TV (Multicast)

31 July 2015 by Mark Heath

New! For the best BT deals in your area, visit our BT Broadband Deals page. Our favourite modem routers - the Billion 8800NL and the enhanced Billion 8800AXL - provide superb performance and represent great upgrades for broadband users using … [Continue reading]

HD and 4k TV Delivered by Fibre Broadband

26 July 2015 by Mark Heath

Read our latest article: Superfast Broadband Fuels Streamed Video-on-Demand Services (Jan 2020) In this blog, we look at the delivery of TV services, including the very latest Ultra HD (sometimes termed '4k') services from Netflix, Amazon and BT. … [Continue reading]

Online Speed Tests: how to use them and which are the best

20 April 2015 by Mark Heath

I’ve lost count of the number of people that have told me that their broadband connection is not working properly because an online speed test has reported low or highly variable speeds. You need to be very cautious with online speed tests as they … [Continue reading]

G.INP, the New Fibre Broadband Enhancement Arrives

17 March 2015 by Mark Heath

A major enhancement called G.INP has been introduced to my fibre broadband FTTC connection, as part of BT's rollout of a new technology aimed at improving fibre broadband speeds and reducing errors. In this article, I look at G.INP and its benefits, … [Continue reading]

No Signs Yet of Successful Demand Stimulation For Fibre Broadband in BT’s Latest Results

30 January 2015 by Mark Heath

The last time I reported on the growth in BT’s fibre broadband take-up was in July 2014. Then, the take-up statistics showed absolutely no sign of an increasing upward trend and pointed to the failure of BT and ISPs to successfully get the positive … [Continue reading]

WiFi Optimisation Guide – how to improve your WiFi connection and speeds

7 November 2014 by Mark Heath

Within the last four months, most households in my local community have migrated from conventional broadband services (delivering download speeds of between 0.5 and 4 Mbps) to fibre broadband. While feedback about fibre broadband has generally … [Continue reading]

Award from the UK Prime Minister

23 October 2014 by Mark Heath

This month, I was honoured to receive a national volunteering award from Prime Minister David Cameron. This is in recognition of my volunteering work on broadband, including support to Connecting Cambridgeshire and helping residents in my local … [Continue reading]

BT Fibre Broadband Take-up Creeps Up to 15%

31 July 2014 by Mark Heath

On the 31st July 2014, BT announced its financial results for the quarter ending June 2014. It announced that its fibre broadband network covered about 20 million premises, and that about 3 million of these had signed up, making take-up about 15% of … [Continue reading]

Early Deployment of Vectoring is Essential to Avoid a Crosstalk Crisis with FTTC Fibre Broadband

22 July 2014 by Mark Heath

Latest! Read our most recent article: Fibre Broadband VDSL2 Vectoring Arrives (Nov 2017) We have just been connected to FTTC fibre broadband, giving us the opportunity to observe the adverse effects of crosstalk interference on speeds and … [Continue reading]

Review and Guide For the Billion 8800NL

20 June 2014 by Mark Heath

New! The Billion 8800NL has been upgraded to the 8800NL V2, and now incorporates two external antennas to improve wireless range. We are really excited to bring you our review and optimisation guide for the new Billion BiPAC 8800NL wireless modem … [Continue reading]

Bonded DSL: Bonding Three and Four ADSL Lines (Part 2)

1 June 2014 by Mark Heath

This is the second part of our independent review of bonded broadband solutions from UK-based Evolving Networks. In our first review, we tested the bonding of two DSL connections. In this article, we present the results from bonding three and four … [Continue reading]

Sluggish Take-up of Superfast Broadband Emphasises the Need For Demand Stimulation

14 May 2014 by Mark Heath

As an enthusiast for superfast broadband, widespread availability of superfast broadband services across the UK cannot come too soon! With BT's commercial fibre broadband roll-out coming to end with the provision of fibre broadband to around two … [Continue reading]

Review of Bonded ADSL From Evolving Networks

16 April 2014 by Mark Heath

ADSL bonding is significantly cheaper than a leased line and provides businesses with resilience. Since there is so little published independent information on the real performance of bonded ADSL solutions, we are delighted that we have been able to … [Continue reading]

Raising the Awareness of ADSL Bonding Through an Extended Trial With Evolving Networks

13 March 2014 by Mark Heath

New! Before considering bonding, please check the availability of superfast and ultrafast broadband in your area using our postcode checker on our Broadband Deals page. Broadband users struggling with low speeds from an individual ADSL or ADSL2+ … [Continue reading]

Fibre Broadband (FTTC) Self Install and the Risks to Broadband Speeds Without a VDSL Faceplate Filter

2 February 2014 by Mark Heath

The accountants seem to have been actively working in BT recently, with a number interesting, financially-motivated decisions taken. These revolve around optimising BT's services to better reflect the practical costs of installation of fibre-optic … [Continue reading]

BT’s Fibre Broadband Penetration is Still Under 14%

1 February 2014 by Mark Heath

BT has just announced its results for the third quarter to the end of December 2013, and they show continued progress in the roll-out of superfast fibre broadband, as shown in the figure, below. New! You can check the availability of superfast or … [Continue reading]

TV and Video Driving the Demand For Superfast Fibre Broadband

31 January 2014 by Mark Heath

When we try to explain to people why they should subscribe to a fibre broadband service if fibre is available, the discussion tends to move quickly to TV and video services. One of the reasons is that many people using conventional ADSL and ADSL2+ … [Continue reading]

Latest Pricing Positions FTTP as a Niche Product

28 January 2014 by Mark Heath

BT's Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) on Demand service has been surrounded by a great deal of mystery. While some critics have pointed to Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology adopted for BT's mainstream roll-out as not providing the best long-term, … [Continue reading]

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