How to troubleshoot ORB broadband speed problems

Before you start troubleshooting the speed of your ORB broadband connection, we recommend that you run a ORB Internet Speed Test to measure your current internet speed.

Also find out the guaranteed minimum download speed you on your broadband package from ORB.

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

Common causes of ORB’s slow broadband performance

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

You may need to consider how many apps are currently running on your device.

The speed issue could be due to over-utilisation of your system resources e.g RAM/memory/CPU Processor and as opposed to a problem with ORB’s broadband connection.

If you are on a computer then you may use the task manager to check your CPU and Memory usage.

On other device, you should try restarting the device which should hopefully kill all applications that may have been using up your device resources.

Run the ORB Speedtest on your personal computer and your mobile to check how the speedtest results differ between the two devices.

This should hopefully give you more info to work with in terms of if the issue is with your device or the ORB broadband connection.

• What does the ORB download and upload speed mean?
• Who’s the best Broadband Service Provider in the UK?
• 5 methods to improve your ORB Internet speed
• Simple DNS hack to improve internet browsing speed on ORB

Is the wireless network the cause of the slowness?

The root cause of the performance problem could be your Wifi network as opposed to the ORB broadband connection.

You could rule out the Wifi by connecting your computer directly into the ORB broadband router using an ethernet cable and then run the ORB Speed test again.

If the speed checker result improves when you are connected by a network cable, this proves that the issue may be with your internal wireless network.

A number of things to check:

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

Who’s connected to my Wifi network?

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

Others could be on your Wifi network and eating up all the ORB speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or video on your ORB internet connection! Worse than that, they could be carrying out illegal activities using your ORB internet connection.

There are three applications that you can use to scan your Wifi network to see who is connected:

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

The above applications analyse your Wi-Fi network and produce a list of the devices connected.

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

Should I get a wireless network booster for my ORB broadband?

If you find that there are wireless coverage holes in your property, a wireless extender aka a Wifi Booster may be the best solution to increase your wireless signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wifi Signal Extenders

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

Place the Wifi booster/extender near where your Wifi signal from your ORB internet router is becoming weaker.

Place it approximately where your wireless signal drops down to less than 2 bars. Walk around your property with a smartphone to try and establish where this is.

When was the last time you upgraded the ORB internet router?

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

Most ORB internet routers allow you to perform the software update by simply logging into the ORB broadband router and simply clicking a button to start the upgrade.

If you cannot do this, get in touch with ORB and they will perform the upgrade for you or guide you through performing the upgrade yourself.

As well as updating the software, if you have had the same router for a long time, it’s probably worth speaking to ORB to request for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most common reason for ORB broadband performance problems in your area and it’s more common for broadband connections that are delivered via phone lines.

If you are unsure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact ORB who will be able to conduct the relevant line checks to see if there is a fault on the ORB broadband line.

Is the performance issue due to ORB Internet congestion?

If you’re finding that the ORB internet connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods i.e. weekends and during the evening, then it may be because of congestion during peak hours.

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

You should contact ORB to find out your minimum speed.

Re-testing your ORB internet connection

After the issue has been fixed either by yourself or ORB, re-test your broadband connection using  at least 2 independent Speedtests to ensure the issue is fixed:

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