How to troubleshoot C4L internet performance issues

Before starting to troubleshoot the speed of your C4L internet connection, we suggest that you perform a C4L Internet Speedtest to measure your current connection speed.

You may also want to find out the minimum download speed you on your broadband package from C4L.

You can get this info by checking a C4L broadband bill, your C4L contract or by contacting C4L.

Common causes of C4L’s slow internet performance

Is it the C4L broadband that is slow or is it your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

You need to consider the number of applications are running on your device.

The performance problem may be due to over-utilization of your system resources i.e RAM/memory/CPU and not a problem with C4L’s broadband connection.

If you are on a PC then you can use the task manager to see your CPU and Memory utilisation.

On any other device, you could try restarting the device which hopefully will terminate all apps that may be hogging your device resources.

Run the C4L Speed checker on your computer and your mobile phone to see how the speed test results differ between the 2 devices.

This should hopefully provide you with more information to help determine if the issue is with your PC/Smartphone or the C4L internet connection.

• What exactly does the C4L download and upload speed mean?
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• 5 ways to improve your C4L Internet performance
• DNS hack to speed up internet browsing speed on C4L

Is the wireless network the reason for the issues?

The cause of the performance issue could be your internal Wifi network as opposed to the C4L internet connection.

You could rule out the Wifi by simply connecting your PC directly into the C4L broadband router with an ethernet cable and then run the C4L Speed checker again.

If the performance is better when you are connected by a network cable, this indicates that the issue could be with your wireless.

A number of things to investigate:

• Are the Wireless channels that you are using for your Wi-Fi network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbors?
• Is the wireless network signal from the wireless router obstructed?
• Does the speed improve when your are standing directly in-front of the C4L wireless router?

Exactly who’s connected to my Wifi network?

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

Neighbours could be on your wireless network and eating up all your C4L bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or video over your C4L internet connection! Worse still, they may be conducting illegal activities using your C4L broadband connection.

Here are three apps that you can use to analyse your Wi-Fi network to see who’s connected:

• Microsoft users can use Wireless network watcher
• IOS users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)
• wifi network troubleshooting tool WiFi Analyzer

The above software will scan your Wifi network and display a list of the connected devices.

• How to see who’s on your C4L Wifi network

Should I get a wireless booster for my C4L broadband?

You may find that you have wireless black spots in your home, a Wi-Fi network extender also known as a Wi-Fi Booster is the best fix to increase your Wi-Fi signal to cover any black spots.

• Cheapest Wi-Fi Signal Boosters

The Wifi extender picks up your existing Wifi signal just as it is starting to become weaker and re-transmits the Wifi signal to extend it’s reach.

Place the Wi-Fi network extender near where your Wi-Fi network signal from the C4L broadband router is becoming weaker.

Place it approximately where your Wi-Fi network signal drops down to two bars. Walk around your home with a tablet to determine where this is.

When did you last upgrade the C4L broadband router?

The C4L and broadband infrastructure, in general, are constantly updated to support new features and improve performance as technology evolves.  Always ensure that your C4L internet router is running the most up-to-date software.

Most C4L broadband routers allow you to perform the software upgrade by logging on the C4L broadband router and simply clicking a button to perform the upgrade.

If you can’t do this, get in touch with C4L and they will perform the upgrade for you or alternatively, guide you through performing the upgrade yourself.

As well as updating the software, if you have had the same hardware for a long period, it’s worth speaking to C4L to ask for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most likely reason for C4L broadband performance issues in your area and is more common for internet broadband connections that are delivered via copper phone lines.

If you’re unsure if this is applicable to you, contact C4L who should be able to run the appropriate connection checks to see if there is a problem on the C4L internet connection.

Is it because of C4L broadband congestion?

If you’re finding that the C4L internet connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods e.g weekends or evenings, it may be due to congestion during peak hours.

• What’s Broadband Contention Ratio and does C4L have contention?

You should speak to C4L to find out your guaranteed speed.

Find Best Alternatives to C4L Broadband

 

Re-testing your C4L broadband connection

After the problem has been resolved either by yourself or C4L, re-test the broadband connection using  at least 2 separate Speedtests to ensure the fault is resolved:

• • How to the ookla internet broadband speed test to test your C4L broadband
  • Check your C4L internet speed using Ookla Offical Speed Test
  • Test your C4L broadbandspeed using fast.com speed test
  • Check My Broadband Speed Checker C4L internet speed checker
  • • 0845UK Broadband Speedtest and troubleshooting