A Few Quick Tips To Help You Improve Your Broadband Experience

  • Added:
    Oct 09, 2013
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Broadband internet access in Hotel.
Broadband internet access in Hotel.
Photo by MIKI Yoshihito (´・ω・)

If you’re trying to improve your broadband speed, the tips and tricks you find online can often be complicated-sounding and ineffective. Before you go into some of the more complex ways to boost your broadband speed, try these simple ideas first.


Raise the number of connections your browser makes
When you type a web address into your browser, it tries to speed up your load time by opening several simultaneous connections to the webpage. For some reason, many browsers only use a small number of simultaneous connections by default. You could find that raising this number helps you load your pages more quickly.


While Chrome doesn’t allow you to change the default number of connections, Firefox and Internet Explorer do. On Firefox, you type about:config into your address bar. Right away, you get a humorously worded warning that monkeying with these kinds of settings could void your warranty. You need to go past it and look for the setting called network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server. You can try changing the default value to something like 128.


Using a different DNS server
In reality, website addresses are in numeric IP address form. Since long numbers are hard for anyone to remember, the Internet is designed to allow websites to use easy-to-remember names on the front end. When a user types in a memorable name like website.com, the ISP turns that into the IP address number behind it through using a service called a DNS server. If your ISP’s DNS server is slow, your user experience can be somewhat slow, too.


You don’t have to use your ISP’s DNS. You can use any one of several alternatives. Changing your DNS server is easy. If you’re on Windows 7, you need to go to Change adapter settings in Network and sharing center. When you see the name of your adapter, right-click on it and pick Properties under Internet Protocol TCP/IP and click on Use the following DNS server address. Here, you need to type in the number of your DNS server. Google Public DNS, for instance, goes by the number 8.8.8.8.


Ordering a BT broadband accelerator
If yours is an ADSL connection, chances are that radiofrequency interference in your area gets into your line and slows your speeds down. BT gives all its customers a free new faceplate called a Broadband Accelerator for their master socket to help filter any interference. If you get your ADSL connection from another ISP, you can buy the Broadband Accelerator from the BT store for about 9 quid. Whether this works for you or not depends on how much interference you have in your house. If you have a serious interference problem, a new faceplate could even double your broadband speed.


Shutting down your Quality of Service setting
Some PC enthusiasts feel that the Quality of Service feature in Windows sets aside up to a fifth of a computer’s broadband bandwidth for traffic that it considers important. If you have any real time applications going – like Skype or online gaming – QoS is supposed to make your experience smoother. Microsoft states that the 20% reservation rule doesn’t exist. In fact, Microsoft recommends leaving the QoS turned on so as to not slow down your gaming or video chatting. You could try turning it off to see if it does something for you.
Using short cables


If yours is an ADSL connection, it’s always a good idea to plug your modem/router directly into your master socket rather than into an extension point elsewhere in the house. This ensures that you get the cleanest signal to your modem.

Author's Profile

Sam Jones the author advises readers wanting more info about broadband without phone line to visit http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/broadband_no_landline/ a comparison site with all the latest offers and helpful information.


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