Troubleshooting InvicTel broadband performance issues

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

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

You can find this info by checking a InvicTel broadband bill, your InvicTel contract or by contacting InvicTel.

Likely causes of InvicTel’s slow broadband performance

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

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

The performance issue could be due to the over-utilisation of your system resources e.g RAM/memory/CPU Processor and as opposed to an issue with InvicTel’s broadband connection.

If you’re on a computer then you can use the task manager to check your Processor and Memory usage.

On any other device, you should try rebooting the device which hopefully should shut down all apps that may be hogging your device resources.

Run the InvicTel Speedtest on your PC and your mobile phone to check how the results compare between the two devices.

Hopefully this should give you more information to work with in terms of if the issue is with your PC/Smartphone or the InvicTel internet connection.

• What exactly does the InvicTel download and upload speed mean?
• Who is the best Internet Service Provider in the UK?
• 5 methods to speed up your InvicTel Internet performance
• Simple DNS hack to speed up internet browsing speed on InvicTel

Is your wireless network the issue?

The cause of the performance issue could be your internal Wifi network and not the InvicTel internet connection.

You can rule out the Wi-Fi network by connecting your computer directly to the InvicTel broadband router with an ethernet cable and run the InvicTel Speed checker again.

If the speed checker result is better when you’re connected by an ethernet cable, this proves that the issue may be with the Wifi.

Possible things to look further into:

• Are the Wireless channels that you are using for your Wifi network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbours?
• Is your Wi-Fi network signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does the speed improve when you’re stood directly in-front of the InvicTel wireless router?

Who is connected to my Wifi network?

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

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

There are 3 apps that you can use to scan your wireless network to see who’s connected:

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

The above applications will scan your Wifi network and produce a list of the devices connected.

• How to see who is on your InvicTel Wi-Fi network

Should I get a wireless booster for my InvicTel broadband?

You may discover that there are wireless coverage gaps at your house, a wireless extender also known as a wireless Booster may be the best solution to boost your Wi-Fi signal to cover any black spots.

• Best Wifi Signal Boosters

The Wifi network booster simply picks up the existing wireless signal just as it is becoming weaker and re-transmits the Wifi signal to extend it’s reach.

Place the wireless extender near where your Wifi network signal from the InvicTel internet router is starting to become weaker.

Position it near where your wireless signal is dropping down to two signal bars. Walk around your property with a tablet to determine where this is.

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

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

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

If you can’t do this, get in touch with InvicTel and they will perform the upgrade for you or guide you through the process.

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

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

This is probably the most likely cause for InvicTel broadband performance problems in your property and it’s more common with broadband connections that are delivered via phone lines.

If you’re not sure if this is applicable to you, you should contact InvicTel who should be able to run the appropriate connection checks to check if there is a fault on the InvicTel internet line.

Is the issue because of InvicTel broadband congestion?

If you’re finding that the InvicTel 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 InvicTel have contention?

You should speak to InvicTel to find out your minimum speed.

Test your InvicTel internet connection

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

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