How to troubleshoot ORB internet speed issues

Before you begin troubleshooting the performance of your ORB broadband connection, we suggest that you run a ORB Internet Speed Test to measure your current broadband speed.

It is a good idea to also confirm the minimum download speed that you have subscribed to from ORB.

You can get this information by checking a ORB broadband bill, your ORB contract or by contacting ORB.

Potential causes of ORB’s slow broadband speed

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

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

The speed issue could be due to the over-utilisation of your system resources e.g Memory/CPU and as opposed to an issue with ORB’s broadband connection.

If you’re on a laptop then you can use the task manager to see your Processor and Memory utilization.

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

Re-run the ORB Speed checker on your computer and your phone to check how the results differ between the two devices.

Hopefully this should give you more information to help determine if the issue lies with your PC/Smartphone or the ORB broadband connection.

• What exactly does the ORB download and upload speed mean?
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Is the Wifi network the reason for the issues?

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

You can rule out the wireless network by connecting your PC directly to the ORB broadband router using an ethernet cable and then run the ORB Speed test again.

If the speed is better when you’re connected by an ethernet cable, this indicates that the problem could be with your Wi-Fi network.

Possible things to investigate:

• Are the Wireless channels that you’re using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbours?
• Is your Wi-Fi network signal from the wireless router obstructed?
• Does the performance improve when you’re stood right infront of the ORB internet router?

Who’s connected to my Wifi network?

Have you checked that your wireless network password has not been shared? Do you have an open Wifi network? How secure is your wireless network password? It may be time to change it.

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

Here are 3 applications that you can potentially use to analyse your Wifi network to check who’s connected:

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

The above software analyse your wireless network and display a list of the everything on your wifi.

• How to see who is on your ORB Wifi network

Do I need a wireless booster for my ORB broadband?

If you find that there are Wi-Fi black holes in your property, a wireless network extender also known as a Wifi Booster may be the best fix to boost your Wi-Fi signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wireless Signal Extenders

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

Position the Wifi booster/extender where your Wi-Fi network signal from your ORB broadband router is starting to become weaker.

Position it approximately where your Wi-Fi network signal is dropping down to two signal bars. Walk around your house with a smartphone to try and establish where this is.

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

The ORB and broadband infrastructure, in general, are frequently updated to support new features and improve reliability as technology evolves.  Ensure that your ORB broadband internet router is running the latest software.

The majority of ORB broadband routers will allow you to perform the software update by logging into the ORB broadband router and simply clicking on a button to do the update.

If you can’t do this, contact ORB and they will do this for you or alternatively, guide you through the process.

In addition to upgrading the software, if you have had router for a long time, it’s probably worth talking to ORB 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 cause for ORB broadband performance issues in your property and it’s more common with internet broadband connections that are delivered via phone lines.

If you are not sure if this is relevant in your case, contact ORB who should be able to conduct the appropriate line checks to check if there is a issue on the ORB broadband line.

Is it because of ORB broadband congestion?

If you’re finding that the ORB broadband connection speed in your area is slows down during certain times i.e. over weekends and evenings, then it may be due to congestion during peak hours.

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

You should speak to ORB to check your guaranteed speed.

Find Best Alternatives to ORB Broadband

 

Test your ORB internet connection

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

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