How to troubleshoot The Phone Co-op internet performance problems

Before you begin troubleshooting the performance of your The Phone Co-op internet connection, we recommend that you perform a The Phone Co-op Broadband Speedtest to confirm your current broadband speed.

It is a good idea to also confirm the guaranteed minimum download speed that you have subscribed to from The Phone Co-op.

You can get this info by checking a The Phone Co-op broadband bill, your The Phone Co-op contract or by contacting The Phone Co-op.

Potential causes of The Phone Co-op’s slow broadband performance

Is it your The Phone Co-op internet connection that is running slow or could it be your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

You need to check the number of apps are running on your device.

The performance issue could be due to the over-utilization of your system resources e.g RAM/CPU Processor and not an issue with The Phone Co-op’s broadband connection.

If you are on a laptop then you may use the task manager to check your Processor and RAM utilization.

On other device, you could try rebooting the device which should hopefully shutdown all programs that may have been using up your systems resources.

Run the The Phone Co-op Speed checker on your personal computer and your phone to check how the speedtest results differ between the 2 devices.

This should hopefully give you more info to help determine if the problem is with your PC/Smartphone or the The Phone Co-op broadband connection.

• What exactly does the The Phone Co-op download and upload speed mean?
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Is the Wifi the cause of the slowness?

The cause of the performance issue could be your wireless as opposed to the The Phone Co-op internet connection.

You could rule out the wireless network by simply connecting your PC directly into the The Phone Co-op broadband router using an ethernet cable and then run the The Phone Co-op Speedtest again.

If the result improves when you are connected by an ethernet cable, this shows that the problem may be with the wireless.

A number of things to look further into:

• Are the WiFi channels that you’re using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbors?
• Is your Wi-Fi network signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does your speed get better when your are standing right in-front of the The Phone Co-op broadband router?

Exactly who’s connected to my Wi-Fi network?

Have you checked that your Wi-Fi network password has not been compromised? Do you have an un-secured Wifi network? How strong is your Wifi network password? It may be time to change it.

Neighbours could be using your Wi-Fi network and eating up all the The Phone Co-op speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos on your The Phone Co-op broadband connection! Worse than that, they may be carrying out illegal activities over your The Phone Co-op internet connection.

Here are 3 applications that you can utlise to analyse your Wifi network to check who’s connected:

• Windows users can use Wireless network watcher
• IOS users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)
• Wireless troubleshooting application WiFi Analyzer

The above software scan your wireless network and produce a list of the devices connected.

• How to check who’s on your The Phone Co-op wireless network

Do I need a Wi-Fi network booster for my The Phone Co-op broadband?

If you find that there are wireless black spots in your property, a wireless extender also known as a Wifi Booster is the best fix to increase your Wi-Fi signal to cover any coverage holes.

• Cheapest Wifi Signal Boosters

The Wi-Fi network booster simply picks up the existing Wi-Fi network signal just as it is becoming weaker and re-transmits the wireless signal to increase it’s coverage.

Place the Wi-Fi network booster/extender near the position where your Wifi network signal from the The Phone Co-op internet router is becoming weaker.

Position it near where your Wifi network signal drops down to less than two signal bars. Walk around your house with a tablet to determine where this is.

When did you last upgrade the The Phone Co-op broadband router?

The The Phone Co-op and broadband infrastructure, in general, are constantly upgraded to support new features and improve performance as technology evolves.  Ensure that your The Phone Co-op broadband router is running the most up-to-date software.

The majority of The Phone Co-op internet routers allow you to carry out the software update by logging into the The Phone Co-op broadband router and simply clicking on a button to do the update.

If you can’t do this, get in touch with The Phone Co-op and they will be able to do this for you or alternatively, guide you through performing the upgrade yourself.

As well as updating the software, if you have had hardware for a long time, it’s probably worth talking to The Phone Co-op to request for a router upgrade.

Is the issue external to your home (at the exchange)?

This is probably the most common reason for The Phone Co-op broadband performance issues in your area and it’s more common for broadband connections that are delivered via phone lines.

If you are not sure if this is relevant in your case, contact The Phone Co-op who should be able to conduct the appropriate line checks to see if there is a problem on the The Phone Co-op internet connection.

Is the issue because of The Phone Co-op Internet congestion?

If you are finding that the The Phone Co-op internet connection speed in your area is slows down during certain times i.e. weekends or evenings, then it may be because of congestion during peak times.

• What’s Broadband Contention Ratio and does The Phone Co-op have contention?

You should speak to The Phone Co-op to find out your guaranteed speed.

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Test your The Phone Co-op internet connection

After the issue has been fixed either by yourself or The Phone Co-op, retest the broadband connection using  at least two separate Speedtests to ensure the problem is fixed:

• • How to the ookla internet broadband speed checker to test your The Phone Co-op broadband
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  • • 0845UK Broadband Speedtest and troubleshooting