Troubleshooting ViaSat broadband speed issues

Before you start troubleshooting the speed of your ViaSat broadband connection, we suggest that you run a ViaSat Internet Speed Test to measure your current internet speed.

It is a good idea to also confirm the minimum download speed you have subscribed to from ViaSat.

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

Possible causes of ViaSat’s slow broadband speed

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

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

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

If you’re on a computer then you can use the task manager to see your Processor and RAM utilization.

On any other device, you could try restarting the device which should hopefully kill all applications that may have been using up your device resources.

Re-run the ViaSat Speed checker on your PC and your mobile phone to see how the speedtest results differ between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should provide you with some information to help determine whether the problem lies with your PC/Smartphone or the ViaSat internet connection.

• What does the ViaSat download and upload speed mean?
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• Simple DNS tip to improve internet browsing speed on ViaSat

Is your Wifi network the problem?

The cause of the performance problem could be your Wifi network as opposed to the ViaSat broadband connection.

You can rule out the wireless network by connecting your PC directly into the ViaSat broadband router with an ethernet cable and then run the ViaSat Speedtest again.

If the performance is better when you are connected by a network cable, this shows that the problem may be with your wireless.

A few other things to investigate:

• Are the WiFi channels that you’re using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbours?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the internet router obstructed?
• Does your speed get better when you’re standing right infront of the ViaSat wireless router?

Who’s connected to my wireless network?

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

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

Here are three apps to utlise to scan your Wifi network to see who’s connected:

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

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

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

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

You may discover that there are wireless coverage gaps at your house, a Wi-Fi network extender aka a Wi-Fi Booster is the best fix to increase your wireless signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wireless Signal Extenders

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

Place the Wi-Fi network booster near the position where your wireless network signal from the ViaSat internet router is starting to become weaker.

Place it approximately where your wireless network signal drops down to less than 2 signal bars. Walk around your home with a smartphone to try and establish where this is.

When did you last upgrade the ViaSat broadband router?

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

Most ViaSat broadband routers allow you to perform the software update by simply logging into the ViaSat broadband router and simply clicking a button to do the update.

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

As well as updating the software, if you have had the same hardware for a long period, it is worth talking to ViaSat to ask for a hardware upgrade.

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

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

If you’re not sure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact ViaSat who should be able to conduct the relevant connection checks to check if there is a problem on the ViaSat internet line.

Is it because of ViaSat broadband congestion?

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

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

You should contact ViaSat to check your minimum speed.

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Test your ViaSat broadband connection

After the fault has been resolved either by yourself or ViaSat, re-test your internet connection using  at least 2 separate Speedtests to ensure the issue is resolved:

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