Troubleshooting Origin Broadband broadband performance problems

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

You may also want to confirm the guaranteed minimum download speed that you are paying for from Origin Broadband.

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

Potential causes of Origin Broadband’s slow internet speed

Is it the Origin Broadband internet connection that is running slow or is it your device (laptop/smartphone/PC)?

You may need to check how many applications are currently running on your device.

The speed issue may be due to the over-utilisation of your device’s resources e.g RAM/memory/CPU and not a problem with Origin Broadband’s broadband connection.

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

On any other device, you should try restarting the device which hopefully will kill all apps that may be hogging system resources.

Re-run the Origin Broadband Speed checker on your computer and your phone to check how the results differ between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should provide you with some information to help determine whether the problem lies with your device or the Origin Broadband internet connection.

• What exactly does the Origin Broadband download and upload speed mean?
• Who’s the best Broadband Service Provider in the UK?
• Five methods to speed up your Origin Broadband Internet performance
• DNS tip to improve internet browsing speed on Origin Broadband

Is the wireless the reason for the issues?

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

You can rule out the Wifi network by simply connecting your PC directly into the Origin Broadband broadband router using a network cable and run the Origin Broadband Speed test again.

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

A few other things to investigate:

• Are the Wireless channels that you are using for your wireless network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbours?
• Is your wireless network signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does your performance get better when your are stood directly in-front of the Origin Broadband wireless router?

Who’s connected to my Wi-Fi network?

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

Neighbors could be using your Wi-Fi network and eating up all your Origin Broadband bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos over your Origin Broadband internet connection! Worse than that, they may be conducting illegal activities on your Origin Broadband broadband connection.

There are 3 applications that you can potentially use to scan your Wi-Fi network to check who’s connected:

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

The above apps analyse your Wifi network and display a list of the devices connected.

• How to check who’s on your Origin Broadband Wifi network

Should I get a Wifi network booster for my Origin Broadband broadband?

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

• Best Wifi Signal Extenders

The Wifi extender simply picks up your existing wireless network signal just as it is becoming weaker and re-transmits the wireless network signal to extend it’s reach.

Position the Wi-Fi network booster/extender where your Wifi signal from the Origin Broadband broadband router is becoming weaker.

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

When did you last upgrade the Origin Broadband internet router?

The Origin Broadband and broadband infrastructure, in general, are constantly updated to support new features and improve reliability as technology evolves.  Always ensure that the Origin Broadband internet router is running on the latest software.

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

If you can’t do this, get in touch with Origin Broadband and they will be able to perform the upgrade for you or talk you through performing the upgrade yourself.

As well as updating the software, if you have had router for a long period, it’s worth talking to Origin Broadband to ask for a router upgrade.

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

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

If you are unsure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact Origin Broadband who will be able to conduct the appropriate line tests to check if there is a issue on the Origin Broadband broadband line.

Is it due to Origin Broadband broadband congestion?

If you’re finding that the Origin Broadband broadband connection speed in your area is slows down during certain periods e.g weekends and evenings, then it may be because of congestion during peak times.

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

You should contact Origin Broadband to check your minimum speed.

Re-testing your Origin Broadband broadband connection

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

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