The speed of broadband is a common problem for many, including some of our customers; so what can you do about this frustrating problem?

It’s an issue which can really damage your business and lead to significant employee and customer frustration.

Try a different web browser

Not all browsers are equal, using an out of date browser or even some up to date ones can result in poor performance as well as significant security risks. Try one or two of the many alternatives available, you may notice an immediate improvement when browsing websites.

Check your equipment

Are you using an old router or the free one that came with your broadband? It’s possible it needs updating, if it was provided by the company who provided your broadband several years ago give them a call and see if there is a newer model or at the very least a software update.

Alternatively if it’s a cheaper router it might be worth swapping for a better known brand with more features, especially if you’re reliant on Wi-Fi.

Another thing worth checking is the router’s location (ADSL only) in your home/office. The router should be connected to the phone socket closest to where your phone line enters your home, normally the one by your front door. This can make a significant difference to the speed of your connection, especially in older buildings where the internal wiring could be compromised.

An ‘iPlate’ (ADSL only) filters the bell wire which was used to make older analogue phones ring but is not needed for modern phones. The bell wire can cause interference and the iPlate can in some cases make a significant difference to your broadband speed at a cost of only a few pounds.

Talk to your provider

Your provider should be able to carry out a line test to determine if there are any faults on the line. They should be able to offer advice on anything else which can be done to improve performance.

If you currently have an ADSL connection (over your phone line) then it might be worth looking into a cable connection (e.g. Virgin) as this could offer vastly better performance if available in your area.

Usage restrictions

Some broadband providers restrict your usage if you are using your connection heavily, this might be due to the volume of films/music being downloaded over your connection by someone in your household or because you’re using a residential broadband connection for business use. Discuss it with your provider, you may need to pay more for a more appropriate package.

Manage your usage

Many applications launch when you turn on your computer and will be using the Internet without your knowledge, taking up valuable bandwidth. These include things like anti-virus software, Skype, BBC iPlayer, instant messaging applications and backups.

Use Task Manager (or Activity Monitor on a Mac) to see what programs are running in the background and close those that are unnecessary.

For those that you need like anti-virus and backup software, try tweaking the settings so they only update/backup when you’re not using the Internet (e.g. overnight or while you’re on lunch).

Move house/office

If all else fails you can either wait patiently for promised high speed connections we can all expect in the ‘near’ future or move home/office!

The technology and the principal of ‘Hosted Desktops’ has actually been around for decades under different guises such as Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services. As early as the 1960s many large companies invested in centralised mainframe servers which could be connected to by many dumb terminals (very cheap low powered computers). Although these super-powered mainframes were extremely expensive, they could power tens if not hundreds of terminals, which was fantastically cost effective with the economies of scale and it could all be centrally managed and secured. Up until the late 1980s this WAS the way to do computing and IBM was the standard bearer with over 90% market share. Personal Computers had been around since the late seventies but they were big, extremely expensive and not particularly reliable… so why did it all change?…

As technology improved, computer components became smaller, lighter, faster and cheaper, the PC became affordable and transportable, with a recorded 150 million Personal Computers world-wide by 1993. Before long there was one in every home and they quickly became recreational for learning and gaming. The consequence of this however is that they left ‘connectivity’ behind, the PCs could run their own software with pretty interfaces at top performance, better than what the mainframe could pump through to the ‘dumb terminals’. Mainframes were costly and bulky, there was no chance of having one of these at home or even in a small business so PCs were the new answer to business computing. As well as personal computers, the software industry rocketed, every computer needed the latest software and consequently the demand for IT support went through the roof. These were exciting times, by the end of 80s businesses and consumers could buy PCs running window, portable Laptops and Apple Macs and by the late 90s the internet boomed, giving us dial-up access to email and yahoo. There was new technology for business and new business in technology, everybody had more choice, was more mobile and more productive, exciting times indeed, but they were also very expensive times and had we lost something along the way?…

As a business owner I liked the centralised server, knowing that all the processing was taking place on these powerful mainframes, that all the business information was safe and secure on those servers and not sitting on laptops and home computers all over the world. These centralised servers were expensive but the maintenance costs were predictable, the ‘dumb terminals’ were reliable, didn’t need any setup or maintenance and they lasted forever because all the processing happened on the server. As a business owner my IT was a utility that serviced my business, I could have experts looking after the server and the rest was simple administration…

Over the last decade we have seen immense advancements in internet technology, broadband is more prevalent, faster and more flexible than ever before. With cable, ADSL, Public Wireless and 3G we’re always connected, at speeds that are more than capable of delivering high performance connectivity to centralised servers half way across the world. So has this development had an impact on all these problems we’ve seen with the emergence of personal (de-centralised) computing?…

The answer is yes, in at least two ways. The emergence of broadband has had technology innovators clambering over themselves to take the onus away from software and information running on the PC. Probably the most obvious development is web based software, sometimes described as Software as a Service or Cloud Computing. The aim here is to drive the software from centralised web servers, delivering it securely over the internet to users via a simple web browser. This fantastic way of delivering applications is not without its drawbacks, not least because it is an entirely different way of working than what most people are used to. However I’m not going in to that here, I’m more interested in the other development which is the ‘Hosted Desktop’. Now this technology is not new as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, but where previously it was a nice to have alternative to VPN when you were out the office and a handy administrative tool for an IT professional, now it can be the basis of your entire IT Infrastructure – If you want a picture painted based on a real life scenario check out my other post: The business case for Hosted Desktop.

There are many reasons to opt for a hosted Desktop architecture which I’ll cover in more detail in my next post but for a taster here’s a preview:

1.) Save money because there is no need for
     a. Onsite servers
     b. IT Support contracts
     c. Redundant hardware
     d. Backup systems
     e. Anti-virus
2.) Monthly licensing for all your IT
3.) Scalable per/user pricing
4.) Predictable budgeting for your business IT and support
5.) Increased security on your data
6.) In-build Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

For more information on the Hosted Desktop services SpiderGroup provide take a look at our website on:

Hosted Desktop – Access your Office Anywhere

Last week Google performed a song and dance about IPv6, whilst the rest of the IT industry remains generally unfazed…

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