Troubleshooting Tesco internet performance problems

Before starting to troubleshoot the speed of your Tesco internet connection, we suggest that you perform a Tesco Broadband Speed Test to measure your current broadband speed.

You may also want to find out the minimum download speed you are paying for from Tesco.

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

Likely causes of Tesco’s slow broadband speed

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

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

The performance problem could be due to the over-utilization of your system resources i.e RAM/CPU and not an issue with Tesco’s internet connection.

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

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

Re-run the Tesco Speed test on your computer and your mobile to see how the speedtest results differ between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should provide you with some information to help determine whether the issue is with your device or the Tesco internet connection.

• What exactly does the Tesco download and upload speed mean?
• Who is the best Internet Service Provider in the UK?
• Five ways to speed up your Tesco Internet speed
• Simple DNS hack to speed up internet browsing speed on Tesco

Is your Wi-Fi network the problem?

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

You could rule out the Wifi by connecting your computer directly into the Tesco broadband router with an ethernet cable and run the Tesco Speedtest again.

If the speed improves when you are connected via a network cable, this suggests that the issue could be with the wireless network.

Possible things to look further into:

• Are the Wireless channels that you’re using for your Wifi network network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbours?
• Is your Wifi network signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does your performance improve when your are standing right infront of the Tesco broadband router?

Who is connected to my wireless network?

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

Neighbors could be on your wireless network and eating up all your Tesco speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos over your Tesco broadband connection! Worse than that, they may be conducting illegal activities using your Tesco broadband connection.

Here are three applications that you can potentially use to analyze your Wi-Fi network to see who’s connected:

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

The above applications will scan your Wi-Fi network and display a list of the everything on your wifi.

• How to check who’s on your Tesco wireless network

Do I need a wireless network booster for my Tesco broadband?

You may find that you have Wi-Fi coverage holes in your home, a wireless network extender also known as a Wifi Booster may be the best fix to boost your wireless signal to cover any coverage holes.

• Best Wireless Signal Boosters

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

Position the Wifi network booster/extender where your wireless signal from your Tesco internet router is becoming weaker.

Place it approximately where your Wi-Fi network signal drops down to less than two signal bars. Walk around your home with a tablet to find where this location is.

When did you last upgrade the Tesco internet router?

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

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

If you cannot do this, get in touch with Tesco and they will do this for you or talk you through the process.

As well as upgrading the software, if you have had router for a long period, it’s worth speaking to Tesco to ask for a hardware upgrade.

Is the cause of the problem external to your home (at the exchange)?

This is probably the most common cause for Tesco broadband performance problems in your home and is more common for broadband connections that are delivered through phone lines.

If you’re not sure if this is applicable to you, you should contact Tesco who should be able to conduct the relevant line tests to see if there is a issue on the Tesco internet line.

Is it due to Tesco broadband congestion?

If you’re finding that the Tesco broadband connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods e.g weekends and during the evening, it may be due to congestion during peak times.

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

You should contact Tesco to find out your guaranteed speed.

Test your Tesco internet connection

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

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