In this article updated for 2021, we tackle one of the biggest issues facing broadband users today, known as ‘bufferbloat’. The good news is that you can fix it, and we’ll show you how. Affordable routers are now available that can handle all broadband connections up to the very fastest ‘gigabit’ connections. While the term … Read more
If you want to make the broadband connection to your PS4 or PS5 quicker and more reliable, here’s how to manually change the DNS server settings to the best and fastest DNS servers available in your location. Amazingly, there can be 10,000 or more DNS look-ups taking place on a home network every day and … Read more
In this guide, we help you identify whether it worth upgrading to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (or 10 GbE for short) and the best way of doing so. Currently, Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) is the most widely deployed Ethernet standard in modern electronic devices currently on sale. However, 10 GbE offers the prospect of increasing transmission speeds by a factor of … Read more
Despite Sky Q boxes being equipped with Ethernet ports, many Sky engineers set boxes up to use Wi-Fi even when Ethernet is available. Using Wi-Fi to transport bandwidth-intensive media to fixed devices makes absolutely no sense. Your Sky Q boxes can interfere with your own Wi-Fi network or take away valuable spectrum that your Wi-Fi … Read more
Wi-Fi, and not the broadband connection, is often the weakest link in a home network. When our local community was migrated from conventional ADSL broadband services (delivering download speeds of between 0.5 and 4 Mbps) to fibre broadband (with speeds up to 80 Mbps), we were surprised by the number of people reporting problems after migration, … Read more
We’ve lost count of the number of people that have told us that their broadband connection is not working properly because an online speed test has reported low or highly variable speeds. We identify the best and worst online speed tests. You need to be very cautious with online speed tests. In most cases, because … Read more
Updated February 2021. DNS or Domain Name System look-ups play a huge role in defining how fast your broadband connection really is with ‘real world’ applications such as browsing. In this article, we’ll be show you how to speed up DNS look-ups easily and for free by choosing the best and fastest DNS server(s) for your … Read more
‘Fibre broadband’, or Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) as it is more formally known, is the technology that delivers the vast majority of superfast broadband connections in the UK currently. Often, the term ‘VDSL2’ is also used. The technology has two major weaknesses – by using the copper wires between you and the street cabinet, speeds diminish the further … Read more
Updated February 2021. While ISPs often advertise ADSL2+ and ADSL services as having maximum downlink connection speeds of 24 Mbps and 8 Mbps, respectively, very few broadband users can expect to achieve such speeds. As shown in the figure below, a broadband signal generally has to travel considerable distances along the copper cable from the … Read more
Our favourite modem routers – the Billion 8800NL and the enhanced Billion 8800AXL – provide superb performance and represent great upgrades for broadband users using either conventional ADSL broadband or fibre broadband. For fibre broadband users, they are also fully compatible with G.INP, which is an enhancement implemented on BT’s fibre network to improve error … Read more
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 cables for FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) on Demand and FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) equipment in residential and business premises. … Read more
Updated: February 2021. While ISPs used to advertise ADSL2+ and ADSL services as having maximum downlink connection speeds of 24 Mbps and 8 Mbps, respectively, few broadband users achieve such speeds. Broadband signals from the exchange suffer attenuation as they travels along the cable from the exchange to your broadband modem, reducing the speeds that … Read more
Updated February 2021. Before spending any money, here is a quick, painless and completely free method to determine if a filtered faceplate will improve your broadband connection. It works for standard broadband (ADSL/ADSL2+) and fibre broadband (Fibre-to-the-Cabinet – FTTC) connections. First, you should baseline your broadband connection, and determine the connection speed of your link. … Read more