How to troubleshoot Spitfire internet speed problems

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

You may also want to find out the guaranteed minimum download speed that you on your broadband package from Spitfire.

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

Common causes of Spitfire’s slow broadband performance

Is it the Spitfire broadband that is running slow or could it be your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

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

The speed issue may be due to the over-utilisation of your device’s resources i.e Memory/CPU Processor and as opposed to a problem with Spitfire’s internet connection.

If you are on a laptop then you can use the task manager to see your Processor and Memory usage.

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

Re-run the Spitfire Speedtest on your personal computer and your mobile phone to check how the speed test results differ between the two devices.

This should hopefully give you some info to help determine whether the problem lies with your device or the Spitfire broadband connection.

• What does the Spitfire download and upload speed mean?
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• DNS tip to speed up internet browsing speed on Spitfire

Is the Wi-Fi network the problem?

The root cause of the performance issue may be your Wi-Fi network as opposed to the Spitfire broadband internet connection.

You could rule out the wireless by simply connecting your PC directly to the Spitfire broadband router with a network cable and run the Spitfire Speed test again.

If the speed improves when you’re connected using an ethernet cable, this suggests that the problem could be with the wireless.

A number of things to investigate:

• Are the WiFi channels that you’re using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbors?
• Is your Wi-Fi network signal from the broadband router obstructed?
• Does your speed get better when your are standing directly infront of the Spitfire wireless router?

Who is connected to my Wi-Fi network?

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

Neighbors could be using your wireless network and using up all your Spitfire bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or video over your Spitfire internet connection! Worse still, they may be conducting illegal activities using your Spitfire internet connection.

Here are 3 apps that you can potentially utlise to analyze your Wifi network to check who’s connected:

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

The above apps scan your wireless network and produce a list of the devices connected.

• How to see who is on your Spitfire Wi-Fi network

Do I need a wireless booster for my Spitfire broadband?

If you find that there are Wi-Fi coverage holes at your property, a wireless extender aka a wireless Booster may be the best fix to boost your Wifi signal to cover any black spots.

• Best Wi-Fi Signal Extenders

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

Place the wireless network booster/extender near the position where your Wifi signal from your Spitfire internet router is starting to become weaker.

Place it near where your wireless signal is dropping down to two bars. Walk around your house with a tablet to try and establish where this is.

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

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

The majority of Spitfire internet routers will allow you to carry out the software upgrade by logging on the Spitfire broadband router and simply clicking on a button to do the update.

If you can’t do this, contact Spitfire and they will perform the upgrade for you or alternatively, talk you through the process.

As well as upgrading the software, if you have had the same hardware for a long time, it may be worth speaking to Spitfire to request for a hardware upgrade.

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

This is probably the most likely cause for Spitfire broadband performance issues in your area and it’s more common for internet broadband connections that are delivered using copper phone lines.

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

Is the performance issue due to Spitfire broadband congestion?

If you are finding that the Spitfire internet connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods i.e. over weekends or during the evening, it may be due to congestion during peak hours.

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

You should speak to Spitfire to check your minimum speed.

Find Best Alternatives to Spitfire Broadband

 

Test your Spitfire broadband connection

After the issue has been fixed either by yourself or Spitfire, retest your broadband connection using  at least two independent Speedtests to ensure the issue is fixed:

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