Troubleshooting MyFreeISP broadband speed problems

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

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

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

Potential causes of MyFreeISP’s slow broadband performance

Is it your MyFreeISP broadband that is slow or could it be your device (laptop/smartphone/PC)?

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

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

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

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

Re-run the MyFreeISP Speedtest on your PC and your phone to see how the speedtest results compare between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should give you some information to work with in terms of whether the problem lies with your PC/Smartphone or the MyFreeISP internet connection.

• What does the MyFreeISP download and upload speed mean?
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• Five tips to speed up your MyFreeISP broadband performance
• Simple DNS tip to speed up internet browsing speed on MyFreeISP

Is the Wi-Fi network the problem?

The root cause of the performance problem may be your wireless and not the MyFreeISP broadband connection.

You can rule out the Wifi by connecting your PC directly into the MyFreeISP broadband router using an ethernet cable and then run the MyFreeISP Speed checker again.

If the speed checker result is better when you are connected by an ethernet cable, this suggests that the issue could be with the Wifi network.

A number of things to investigate:

• Are the WiFi channels that you’re using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbors?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the broadband router obstructed?
• Does your speed improve when your are stood directly in-front of the MyFreeISP broadband router?

Exactly who’s connected to my Wi-Fi 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 wireless network password? It may be time to change it.

Neighbors could be using your Wifi network and eating up all your MyFreeISP bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or video over your MyFreeISP broadband connection! Worse than that, they may be carrying out illegal activities on your MyFreeISP broadband connection.

Here are 3 applications that you can use to analyse your wireless network to check who is connected:

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

The above applications will scan your wireless network and display a list of the everything on your wifi.

• How to check who’s on your MyFreeISP Wi-Fi network

Should I get a Wifi network booster for my MyFreeISP broadband?

You may discover that there are wireless black spots in your house, a Wifi network extender also known as a wireless Booster is the best fix to boost your Wi-Fi signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wireless Signal Extenders

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

Position the wireless booster where your wireless signal from your MyFreeISP internet router is starting to become weaker.

Place it approximately where your Wi-Fi network signal drops down to less than two bars. Walk around your home with a smartphone to try and establish where this is.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=V0axJstY9RY

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

The MyFreeISP and broadband infrastructure, in general, are frequently updated to provide new features and improve reliability as technology evolves.  Always ensure that the MyFreeISP broadband router is running on the latest software.

Most MyFreeISP broadband routers allow you to carry out the software update by simply logging into the MyFreeISP broadband router and simply clicking on a button to perform the upgrade.

If you cannot do this, contact MyFreeISP and they will be able to do this for you or talk you through the process.

In addition to upgrading the software, if you have had the same router for a long time, it is worth talking to MyFreeISP to request for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most common reason for MyFreeISP broadband performance issues in your area 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, you should contact MyFreeISP who will be able to carry out the relevant connection tests to check if there is a fault on the MyFreeISP internet connection.

Is the performance issue due to MyFreeISP Internet congestion?

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

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

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

Test your MyFreeISP broadband connection

After the issue has been resolved either by yourself or MyFreeISP, re-test your broadband connection using  at least two independent Speedtests to ensure the fault is resolved:

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