How to troubleshoot ionNet broadband speed problems

Before starting to troubleshoot the speed of your ionNet internet connection, we suggest that you run a ionNet Internet Speed Test to confirm your current connection speed.

You may also want to confirm the minimum download speed you have subscribed to from ionNet.

You can get this info by checking your ionNet broadband bill, your ionNet contract or by contacting ionNet.

Probable causes of ionNet’s slow internet speed

Is it your ionNet internet connection that is running slow or could it be your device (laptop/smartphone/PC)?

You may need to check how many apps are currently running on your device.

The speed problem may be due to over-utilisation of your device’s resources e.g RAM/CPU and not an issue with ionNet’s internet connection.

If you’re on a laptop then you may use the task manager to see your Processor and RAM utilization.

On any other device, you could try rebooting the device which should hopefully terminate all apps that may be using up your device resources.

Re-run the ionNet Speed test on your PC and your mobile to see how the speed test results compare between the two devices.

Hopefully this should give you more info to help determine whether the problem is with your device or the ionNet broadband connection.

• What does the ionNet download and upload speed mean?
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• 5 tips to improve your ionNet Internet performance
• Simple DNS tip to improve internet browsing speed on ionNet

Is your Wifi network the issue?

The cause of the performance problem could be your internal Wifi network as opposed to the ionNet broadband internet connection.

You could rule out the Wifi by simply connecting your PC directly to the ionNet broadband router with a network cable and run the ionNet Speed checker again.

If the speed checker result is better when you’re connected via a network cable, this proves that the problem may be with the Wi-Fi network.

Possible things to look further into:

• Are the Wireless channels that you’re using for your wireless network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbours?
• Is the Wi-Fi network signal from the broadband router obstructed?
• Does the performance get better when you’re stood right in-front of the ionNet broadband router?

Who’s connected to my Wifi network?

Have you checked that your wireless network password has not been hacked? Do you have an open Wifi network? How complex is your Wi-Fi network password? It may be time to change it.

Neighbours could be on your Wi-Fi network and eating up all the ionNet speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or video on your ionNet broadband connection! Worse still, they could be conducting illegal activities over your ionNet internet connection.

Here are three apps that you can use to analyse your Wifi network to check who’s connected:

• Microsoft users can use Wireless network watcher
• MAC users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)
• WiFi scanning application WiFi Analyzer

The above software analyse your Wifi network and display a list of the everything on your wifi.

• How to see who’s on your ionNet wireless network

Do I need a wireless network booster for my ionNet broadband?

If you discover that you have wireless coverage gaps in your home, a Wi-Fi network extender aka a Wi-Fi Booster is the best solution to strengthen your wireless signal to cover any black holes.

• Best Wireless Signal Extenders

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

Place the wireless booster where your Wifi signal from the ionNet internet router is starting to become weaker.

Place it approximately where your Wifi network signal drops down to two bars. Walk around your home with a mobile phone to find where this location is.

When did you last upgrade the ionNet internet router?

The ionNet and broadband infrastructure, in general, are frequently updated to provide new features and improve reliability as technology evolves.  Always ensure that your ionNet broadband internet router is running the most up to date software.

Most ionNet internet routers will allow you to perform the software update by simply logging on the ionNet broadband router and simply clicking a button to perform the update.

If you can’t do this, contact ionNet and they will be able to perform the upgrade for you or alternatively, guide you through the process.

In addition to updating the software, if you have had router for a long period, it’s probably worth speaking to ionNet to request for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most likely reason for ionNet broadband performance problems in your home and is more common for internet broadband connections that are delivered through copper phone lines.

If you’re unsure if this is relevant in your case, contact ionNet who will be able to conduct the appropriate connection checks to see if there is a problem on the ionNet broadband connection.

Is the issue due to ionNet Internet congestion?

If you are finding that the ionNet broadband connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods i.e. weekends and during the evening, then it may be due to congestion during peak times.

• What’s Broadband Contention Ratio and does ionNet have contention?

You should contact ionNet to check your guaranteed speed.

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Test your ionNet internet connection

After the problem has been resolved either by yourself or ionNet, retest your broadband connection using  at least two independent Speedtests to ensure the problem is resolved:

• • Use the ookla internet broadband speed test to test your ionNet broadband
  • Check your ionNet connection speed using Ookla Offical Speed Test
  • Test your ionNet broadbandspeed using fast.com speed test
  • Check My Broadband Speed Checker ionNet internet speed checker
  • • 0845UK Internet Speed test and troubleshooting