Troubleshooting Gradwell broadband performance issues

Before you start troubleshooting the speed of your Gradwell internet connection, we suggest that you perform a Gradwell Internet Speed Test to confirm your current connection speed.

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

You can find this information by checking a Gradwell broadband bill, your Gradwell contract or by contacting Gradwell.

Possible causes of Gradwell’s slow broadband speed

Is it the Gradwell internet connection that is slow or is it your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

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

The speed problem could be due to over-utilization of your system resources e.g RAM/CPU and not an issue with Gradwell’s broadband connection.

If you are on a computer then you can use the task manager to check your Processor and RAM utilisation.

On any other device, you should try rebooting the device which hopefully will kill all apps that may have been using up your device resources.

Re-run the Gradwell Speed checker on your personal computer and your mobile phone to see how the results compare between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should give you some info to work with in terms of if the problem lies with your PC/Smartphone or the Gradwell internet connection.

• What does the Gradwell download and upload speed mean?
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• Five tips to improve your Gradwell Internet speed
• Simple DNS hack to improve internet browsing speed on Gradwell

Is your wireless network the issue?

The root cause of the performance issue could be your wireless network as opposed to the Gradwell broadband connection.

You can rule out the wireless by connecting your PC directly to the Gradwell broadband router with a network cable and run the Gradwell Speedtest again.

If the speed test result is better when you’re connected using a network cable, this shows that the issue may be with your Wifi network.

A number of things to check:

• Are the WiFi channels that you are using for your Wifi network network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbours?
• Is the Wifi signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does the performance get better when your are stood directly in-front of the Gradwell wireless router?

Who’s connected to my wireless network?

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

Others could be on your wireless network and eating up all your Gradwell speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos over your Gradwell broadband connection! Worse than that, they may be carrying out illegal activities over your Gradwell broadband connection.

There are three applications to use to analyse your Wi-Fi network to see who is connected:

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

The above apps scan your wireless network and display a list of the connected devices.

• How to check who’s on your Gradwell Wifi network

Should I get a Wifi booster for my Gradwell broadband?

You may find that there are wireless black holes in your property, a wireless extender aka a Wi-Fi Booster is the best fix to increase your wireless signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wireless Signal Extenders

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

Place the Wifi booster/extender near the position where your Wifi network signal from the Gradwell internet router is starting to become weaker.

Position it approximately where your wireless signal drops down to 2 signal bars. Walk around your house with a tablet to try and establish where this is.

When was the last time you upgraded the Gradwell broadband router?

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

The majority of Gradwell broadband routers allow you to perform the software upgrade by simply logging on the Gradwell broadband router and simply clicking on a button to do the upgrade.

If you cannot do this, get in touch with Gradwell and they will do this for you or guide you through the process.

As well as upgrading the software, if you have had router for a long time, it may be worth talking to Gradwell to ask for a hardware upgrade.

Is the issue outside your property (at the exchange)?

This is probably the most likely cause for Gradwell broadband performance problems in your area and it’s more common for internet broadband connections that are delivered via copper phone lines.

If you are not sure if this is applicable to you, contact Gradwell who will be able to run the relevant line tests to check if there is a problem on the Gradwell internet connection.

Is the performance issue due to Gradwell Internet congestion?

If you are finding that the Gradwell internet connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods i.e. over weekends and evenings, then it may be because of congestion during peak times.

• What is Broadband Contention Ratio and does Gradwell have contention?

You should contact Gradwell to find out your guaranteed speed.

Test your Gradwell broadband connection

After the problem has been fixed either by yourself or Gradwell, retest the internet connection using  at least 2 separate Speedtests to ensure the issue is fixed:

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