How to troubleshoot On-Communications internet performance problems

Before starting to troubleshoot the speed of your On-Communications internet connection, we suggest that you perform a On-Communications Broadband Speedtest to measure your current broadband speed.

It is also a good idea confirm the guaranteed minimum download speed that you have subscribed to from On-Communications.

You can get this info by checking your On-Communications broadband bill, your On-Communications contract or by contacting On-Communications.

Probable causes of On-Communications’s slow internet speed

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

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

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

If you’re on a computer then you can use the task manager to see your CPU and RAM usage.

On any other device, you should try restarting the device which hopefully will shut down all programs that may have been hogging your systems resources.

Run the On-Communications Speedtest on your computer and your phone to check how the speed test results differ between the two devices.

This should hopefully provide you with some info to help determine if the issue lies with your PC/Smartphone or the On-Communications internet connection.

• What does the On-Communications download and upload speed mean?
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• Simple DNS hack to improve internet browsing speed on On-Communications

Is your Wifi network the cause of the issue?

The root cause of the performance issue could be your internal Wifi network as opposed to the On-Communications internet connection.

You could rule out the Wifi by simply connecting your computer directly to the On-Communications broadband router with an ethernet cable and then run the On-Communications Speed checker again.

If the result is better when you’re connected using an ethernet cable, this indicates that the problem could be with the Wifi network.

A number of things to investigate:

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

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 Wifi network? How strong is your wireless network password? It could be time to update it.

Neighbors could be on your Wi-Fi network and using up all your On-Communications bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos on your On-Communications internet connection! Worse still, they could be carrying out illegal activities using your On-Communications internet connection.

Here are three apps to utlise to analyse your Wifi network to see who is connected:

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

The above applications will scan your Wifi network and show you a list of the everything on your wifi.

• How to see who is on your On-Communications Wifi network

Do I need a wireless network booster for my On-Communications broadband?

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

• Cheapest Wi-Fi Signal Boosters

The Wifi booster simply picks up your existing Wi-Fi network signal as it is starting to become weaker and re-transmits the Wifi network signal to extend it’s coverage.

Place the wireless booster near where your wireless signal from the On-Communications internet router is becoming weaker.

Place it approximately where your wireless signal drops down to less than 2 signal bars. Walk around your house with a mobile phone to determine where this is.

When was the last time you upgraded the On-Communications broadband router?

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

Most On-Communications internet routers will allow you to perform the software update by simply logging on the On-Communications broadband router and simply clicking a button to perform the update.

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

In addition to updating the software, if you have had router for a long time, it’s worth talking to On-Communications to request for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most common reason for On-Communications broadband performance problems in your property and is more common for internet broadband connections that are delivered using copper phone lines.

If you’re not sure if this is relevant in your case, contact On-Communications who will be able to carry out the appropriate connection checks to see if there is a problem on the On-Communications internet connection.

Is it because of On-Communications broadband congestion?

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

• What’s Broadband Contention Ratio and does On-Communications have contention?

You should speak to On-Communications to check your guaranteed speed.

Find Best Alternatives to On-Communications Broadband

 

Re-testing your On-Communications broadband connection

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

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