Troubleshooting SmallWorld broadband speed issues

Before starting to troubleshoot the speed of your SmallWorld internet connection, we suggest that you perform a SmallWorld Broadband Speedtest to benchmark your current connection speed.

It is also a good idea confirm the minimum download speed you are paying for from SmallWorld.

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

Possible causes of SmallWorld’s slow internet speed

Is it your SmallWorld internet connection that is running slow or could it be your device (laptop/smartphone/PC)?

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

The performance issue could be due to the over-utilisation of your device’s resources e.g RAM/memory/CPU Processor and not an issue with SmallWorld’s internet connection.

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

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

Run the SmallWorld Speedtest on your PC and your mobile phone to check how the speed test results compare between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should provide you with some info to help determine if the issue lies with your PC/Smartphone or the SmallWorld internet connection.

• What does the SmallWorld download and upload speed mean?
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• 5 methods to speed up your SmallWorld broadband speed
• Simple DNS hack to improve internet browsing speed on SmallWorld

Is your Wi-Fi network the reason for the issues?

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

You could rule out the Wi-Fi network by connecting your computer directly into the SmallWorld broadband router using a network cable and then run the SmallWorld Speedtest again.

If the speed improves when you’re connected using an ethernet cable, this suggests that the issue may be with the Wifi network.

Possible things to look further into:

• Are the WiFi channels that you are using for your Wifi network network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbours?
• Is the Wi-Fi network signal from the broadband router obstructed?
• Does your speed get better when your are stood right in-front of the SmallWorld wireless router?

Who’s connected to my wireless network?

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

Neighbours could be on your Wifi network and eating up all your SmallWorld bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos over your SmallWorld internet connection! Worse than that, they may be conducting illegal activities over your SmallWorld broadband connection.

Here are 3 applications to use to analyze your Wifi network to check who’s connected:

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

The above software will scan your wireless network and show you a list of the devices connected.

• How to check who is on your SmallWorld Wifi network

Do I need a wireless booster for my SmallWorld broadband?

You may discover that you have wireless black spots in your home, a Wifi extender aka a Wi-Fi Booster is the best solution to strengthen your Wi-Fi signal to cover any black holes.

• Best Wifi Signal Extenders

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

Place the Wifi network extender near where your wireless signal from your SmallWorld internet router is becoming weaker.

Place it approximately where your Wifi network signal is dropping down to two bars. Walk around your property with a mobile phone to find where this location is.

When did you last upgrade the SmallWorld broadband router?

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

The majority of SmallWorld broadband routers will allow you to perform the software upgrade by logging on the SmallWorld broadband router and simply clicking on a button to start the update.

If you can’t do this, get in touch with SmallWorld and they will perform the upgrade 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 probably worth speaking to SmallWorld to ask for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most common cause for SmallWorld broadband performance issues in your home and it’s more common with broadband connections that are delivered using copper phone lines.

If you’re unsure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact SmallWorld who should be able to conduct the appropriate line tests to check if there is a problem on the SmallWorld broadband connection.

Is the issue because of SmallWorld broadband congestion?

If you are finding that the SmallWorld broadband connection speed in your area is slows down during certain periods e.g over weekends and evenings, then it may be because of congestion during peak hours.

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

You should speak to SmallWorld to find out your guaranteed speed.

Re-testing your SmallWorld internet connection

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

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