How to troubleshoot ionNet internet speed problems

Before you begin troubleshooting the speed of your ionNet internet connection, we recommend that you perform a ionNet Broadband Speed Test to measure your current internet speed.

Also confirm the guaranteed minimum download speed you have subscribed to from ionNet.

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

Likely causes of ionNet’s slow broadband speed

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

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

The performance issue could be due to over-utilisation of your device’s resources i.e RAM/CPU Processor and not a problem with ionNet’s broadband connection.

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

On any other device, you could try restarting the device which should hopefully shut down all programs that may be using up your systems resources.

Re-run the ionNet Speed test on your computer and your phone to see how the results differ between the two devices.

This should hopefully give you some info to help determine if the issue lies with your PC/Smartphone or the ionNet broadband connection.

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Is your Wifi the cause of the issue?

The cause of the performance issue may be your wireless as opposed to the ionNet internet connection.

You can rule out the Wi-Fi network by connecting your PC directly into the ionNet broadband router with a network cable and run the ionNet Speed checker again.

If the speed improves when you’re connected via a network cable, this suggests that the issue may be with the wireless network.

Possible things to investigate:

• Are the WiFi channels that you’re using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbours?
• Is your Wi-Fi network signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does the performance get better when your are standing right infront of the ionNet wireless router?

Who’s connected to my wireless network?

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

Others could be using your wireless network and using up all your ionNet speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or video on your ionNet internet connection! Worse still, they may be conducting illegal activities using your ionNet internet connection.

Here are 3 apps that you can potentially use to analyse your wireless network to see who is connected:

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

The above software will scan your wireless network and show you a list of the connected devices.

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

Do I need a Wifi booster for my ionNet broadband?

If you find that there are Wifi black spots in your house, a wireless extender also known as a wireless Booster may be the best fix to strengthen your Wifi signal to cover any coverage holes.

• Best Wi-Fi Signal Boosters

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

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

Position it approximately where your Wi-Fi network signal drops down to 2 bars. Walk around your house with a mobile phone to determine where this is.

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

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

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

If you cannot do this, get in touch with ionNet and they will do this for you or alternatively, talk you through performing the upgrade yourself.

As well as upgrading the software, if you have had the same router for a long period, it may be worth talking to ionNet to request for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most likely cause for ionNet broadband performance issues in your property and it’s more common with internet broadband connections that are delivered through copper phone lines.

If you are unsure if this is applicable to you, contact ionNet who will be able to run the appropriate line tests to check if there is a problem on the ionNet internet connection.

Is the issue because of ionNet Internet congestion?

If you are finding that the ionNet internet connection speed in your area is slows down during certain times e.g over weekends and during the evening, then it may be because of congestion during peak hours.

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

You should contact ionNet to check your guaranteed speed.

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Re-testing your ionNet internet connection

After the issue has been resolved either by yourself or ionNet, re-test your internet connection using  at least 2 separate Speedtests to ensure the issue is resolved:

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