How to troubleshoot ViaSat broadband performance problems

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

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

You can find this information by checking a ViaSat broadband bill, your ViaSat contract or by contacting ViaSat.

Likely causes of ViaSat’s slow internet performance

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

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

The speed issue could be due to over-utilisation of your device’s resources e.g Memory/CPU Processor and as opposed to a problem with ViaSat’s broadband connection.

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

On other device, you should try restarting the device which should hopefully shutdown all programs that may be using up system resources.

Re-run the ViaSat Speed test on your personal computer and your mobile to check how the results differ between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should give you more info to work with in terms of if the problem is with your device or the ViaSat broadband connection.

• What exactly does the ViaSat download and upload speed mean?
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Is your wireless the issue?

The root cause of the performance issue may be your wireless and not the ViaSat broadband connection.

You could rule out the wireless network by simply connecting your computer directly into the ViaSat broadband router using a network cable and then run the ViaSat Speedtest again.

If the result is better when you are connected via a network cable, this indicates that the problem may be with your Wi-Fi network.

A few other things to check:

• Are the Wireless channels that you’re using for your Wifi network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbors?
• Is your wireless network signal from the wireless router obstructed?
• Does your speed improve when your are standing directly in-front of the ViaSat internet router?

Who is connected to my Wifi network?

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

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

Here are three apps that you can use to analyse your Wifi network to check who is connected:

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

The above applications analyse your wireless network and show you a list of the everything on your wifi.

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

Should I get a Wi-Fi network booster for my ViaSat broadband?

You may find that there are wireless black spots at your house, a Wifi extender also known as a wireless Booster is the best solution to boost your wireless signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wifi Signal Boosters

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

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

Position it near where your wireless signal is dropping down to less than two signal bars. Walk around your property with a tablet to find where this is.

When did you last upgrade the ViaSat broadband router?

The ViaSat and broadband infrastructure, in general, are frequently updated to support new features and improve reliability as technology evolves.  Always ensure that the ViaSat broadband internet router is running the most up to date software.

Most ViaSat internet routers will allow you to carry out the software upgrade by simply logging on the ViaSat broadband router and simply clicking a button to start the upgrade.

If you can’t do this, get in touch with ViaSat and they will be able to do this for you or alternatively, guide you through the process.

In addition to updating the software, if you have had the same router for a long time, it’s worth speaking to ViaSat to ask for a router upgrade.

Is the cause of the problem outside your property (at the exchange)?

This is probably the most common reason for ViaSat broadband performance issues in your property and is more common with broadband connections that are delivered via copper phone lines.

If you are not sure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact ViaSat who should be able to carry out the appropriate line checks to see if there is a issue on the ViaSat internet line.

Is the issue due to ViaSat Internet congestion?

If you’re finding that the ViaSat internet connection speed in your area is slows down during certain times e.g weekends or evenings, then it may be due to congestion during peak hours.

• What is Broadband Contention Ratio and does ViaSat have contention?

You should contact ViaSat to find out your minimum speed.

Test your ViaSat broadband connection

After the issue has been resolved either by yourself or ViaSat, re-test your internet connection using  at least two separate Speedtests to ensure the issue is fixed:

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