How does this WOW! speedtest work?

This WOW! speed checker starts by determining your WOW! connection and then selects a speedtest server closest to your location.

When you click the GO button it’ll send packets of information from the speed test server to your device.

The WOW! speed test checker is powered by Ookla and calculates the ping (latency), download speed & upload speed between your device and the selected test server.

The total that it takes this packet to go to and return from the server establishes your WOW! internet speed.

How accurate is the WOW! internet speedtest?

This WOW! speed checker is powered by Ookla which one of the most popular broadband connection speedtest and provides accurate and consistent testing experience and results.

By automatically choosing a speedtest server closest to you, this will eliminate latency and bottlenecks that can distort performance results.

Ookla has a worldwide network of over ten thousand speedtest servers in more than 190 countries.

Source: How are Ookla speed test reliable

To increase accuracy of your speed test, we would recommend that you run the WOW! speed tester from a device connected directly to the WOW! gateway modem or router.

This will help give a more precise reflection on the performance of your WOW! internet connection and help elimate the Wifi related issues.

If you are unable to connect your device directly into your WOW! modem or router, make sure that the device you are running this test is as close the modem or router as possible. Also run the speedtest at least twice and from two separate devices to ensure that the fault is not on the device.

Exactly what do the speed test results from my WOW! speedtest mean?

What’s the Ping result mean?

Ping is sometimes referred to as latency which in internet connectivity terms means the time (or delay) it takes for information to traverse from one device to another. In this case, from your device using the WOW! internet connection to the closest Ookla server.

Ping sends data to another computer (in this case, the Ookla speed test server) and measures in milliseconds (ms) the total time it takes to get a reply back.

If the server is far away or the network is busy it will take longer to receive a response and the ping value in ms will be high.

The WOW! speed test will automatically choose a speed test server nearest to your location which will eliminate latency and bottlenecks which can distort performance results.

A quick ping (low ms value) means a faster WOW! broadband connection.

What is a good ping result?

A typical ping rate to a device in the same city should be lower than 20ms. An average ping rate between cities you’d expect to see ping values between the values of 30-60ms, and between continents the figure can be over 200ms.

The speedtest above will show you the location of the test server so that you may determine whether your ping result is good or not.

What’s Jitter?

All data (for example an email, image, video, voice call, etc) is transmitted over the internet as a series of packets. These packets typically move at a regular rate and are put back together at the destination device.

Jitter is the rate of delay during the transmission of the packets.

Try to think of it like running a tap and then increasing or decreasing the flow rate of the running water coming out. When the flow becomes abnormal (due to the increasing and decreasing), the Jitter value goes up – which is not a good thing.

You do not ordinarily notice jitter as networking devices can smooth it out but you will be aware of jitter during a video and voice calls because the connection will momentarily stutter or break-up.

WOW! Download and Upload speed results explained

Read More:What does the Download and Upload speed results on my WOW! speedtest mean?

Possible causes of WOW! slow internet connection performance

There may be several possible reasons why the WOW! internet connection is not performing. Whilst we cannot tackle each and every possible cause, we have listed a number of likely possibilities.

Based on your WOW! broadband setup, some of the recommendations may not be relevant in your case. We hope that they may trigger possible reasons or get you heading in the right direction to fix the issue.

Is it the WOW! broadband internet that is slow or could it be your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

You may need to check how many applications are currently open on your device that may be using your system resources (mainly RAM memory and CPU) and your WOW! broadband internet bandwidth.

If you are on a laptop, you may use the task manager to see the processor and memory utilisation.

On other devices you should try rebooting the device which should hopefully shutdown all applications that may have been running in the background.

Run the WOW! speed test on the computer and your smart phone to see how the speedtest results compare between the 2 devices.

This should hopefully provide you with some info to work with in terms of if the issue lies with your device or the WOW! broadband internet connection.

• What exactly does the WOW! download and upload speed actually mean?
• 5 Ways to Speed Up Your WOW! internet connection Speed
• DNS hack to speed up internet browsing on your WOW! internet connection

Is the Wi-Fi network connection the problem?

The cause of the issue could be the Wifi network connection and not the WOW! internet connection.

You could eliminate the Wi-Fi network network being the cause of the problem by connecting your PC directly into the WOW! internet modem or router using a cable and run the WOW! speed test again.

If speed is better when you are connected via an ethernet cable then this proves that the problem could be with your wireless network.

Other things to check are:

• Are the WiFi channels you’re using for your wireless network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbors?
• Is your WiFi frequency congested? You should consider switching to 5Ghz?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the modem or router obstructed?
• Does your performance improve when you’re standing directly infront of the WOW! Wifi modem/router?

The amount of devices connected to your home network

All devices that are connected to your internal network or Wifi is using the same WOW! internet connection.

If you have several devices on the internet, streaming films, streaming music, downloading or uploading files, video conferencing, etc, they may have an impact on the performance on your WOW! internet connection because the bandwidth is being split between all the devices.

Do you know how many devices are connected to your WOW! internet connection? Do not forget about all the smart home gadgets, security cameras, door cameras, Alexa/Google hub or other similar devices that are continually connected.

Who’s connected to my wireless network?

• Have you checked that your Wi-Fi network password has not been compromised?
• Do you have an unsecured Guest Wi-Fi network?

Neighbours may be on your wirelessi network and using up all the WOW! internet bandwidth downloading, uploading, streaming or running peer-to-peer file sharing over your WOW! internet connection. Worse still, they could be carrying out unlawful activities.

There are two applications that you may use to scan your Wi-Fi network to see who is connected:

• MS Windows users can use Wireless network watcher
• Apple MAC users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)

Both apps will scan your Wi-Fi network and display a list of the connected devices.

As an alternative, you can log into your WOW! wireless router to find out who is logged in to your Wi-Fi network.

Have a look at this guide on how to use these Apps

Wifi signal strength

If your device is not picking up a strong signal it will affect on the throughput, speed and internet performance irrespective of how fast your WOW! internet connection is.

Situations that may affect the wireless signal are;

• Walls, doors or floors between the device and the WOW! internet modem or router
• Household appliances like baby monitors and microwaves
• Overlapping Wifi signal from your next-door neighbours
• General distance between the device and the WOW! broadband internet modem or router.

Do I need a wireless signal booster for my WOW! internet?

If you find that you have wireless black spot in your property, a Wi-Fi signal extender aka a wireless booster is the fix to boost your signal strength across your house.

The Wifi booster simply picks up your existing Wi-Fi network signal as it is starting to become weak and then re-transmits the Wifi signal at a more stronger rate to boost its reach.

Locate the wireless booster/extender where the Wifi network signal from the WOW! broadband internet router or model is becoming weak. Approximately where the wireless network signal drops below two bars. You could use your phone to determine where this is.

Health of your End device

Viruses or malware may slow down your device and consequently the performance of your device. Viruses or malware could be working quietly and hidden in the background download and uploading information and thus slowing the performance of the whole internal network down.

When is the last time you ran a full Virus and Malware check on the device?

When’s the last time the WOW! broadband modem or router was rebooted?

In the same way as other Internet Service Providers, WOW!’s broadband infrastructure is continually being updated to support new features and changes in technology. Likewise, the broadband internet routers or modem at your home will also occasionally require an update to support changes in the WOW! broadband internet infrastructure.

The update could be in the form of a software update or an upgrade of the physical WOW! modem/router hardware to a newer version.

You may be able to perform the software update by logging in to the WOW! modem/router. If you are unable do this or are not confident doing this, get in contact with WOW! and they are able to either do this for you or talk you through it.

The type and age of the device

The latest computers, smart phones and other internet enabled devices are generally faster than older devices due to developments in networking technology and protocols.

Are you seeing the same problems or newer devices?

Is the problem external to your property?

This is one of the most common reasons for WOW! internet issues. There are miles of cabling involved to bring the WOW! broadband internet connection to your home.

The issue may be with the physical connection that comes into your property and terminates into the modem or router in your property.

You should get in touch with WOW! who should be able to carry out the appropriate connection checks to see if there is a issue on the WOW! internet line.