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An Easy Way to Increase Your Internet Speed

We all want faster Internet speed. No matter how much ‘bandwidth’ we have, we want more. In fact we need more as we download more songs, photos and videos than we ever imagined we would.

Lucky for us there is a little known fact that can increase many people's broadband speed significantly without breaking the bank - the cost is £0 to £10. You see, back in the old days before phones had their own power, in order for them to ring, a small amount of electricity was sent down one wire (the bell wire) in the telephone line. That line, although not required today, acts as a large antenna and creates disturbances on the telephone line by picking up interference that mess up your broadband speed.

The solution is very easy, simply neutralise the bell wire on your telephone line.

You can do this by either buying this BT product for £10 and swapping it for your main phone plug (the plug where the phone comes into your house from outside). No degree required to do this either, simply a Philips screwdriver. Or go commando and simply snip the wire yourself - although we are not necessarily recommending that you do this as BT says only a trained engineer should do it.

Check Your Internet Speed

Many of us feel that we should be achieving higher broadband speeds than we are receiving. Something just can’t be right because it’s just not fast enough. Some of us check and often find out that yes, we’re not going as fast as we think we should be. That’s when you find out that the service you bought doesn’t necessarily do what it says on the tin. You see, there are all these factors that affect the maximum broadband speed you can expect. Things like how far you are from you local telephone exchange, the bell wire (mentioned above) or if it’s raining – as well as the provider themselves naturally.

Here are a few things you can do to find out where you stand:

You can test yourcurrent Internet line speed and see if you're running at the speed you think you should be or check the maximum line speed possible on your line. And this is a nice little gizmo that will tell you how much bandwidth you are actually using as you use it

If you're thinking of moving and want to see your options, or just curious, you can find out here or here what your Internet options are.

Short of moving house, there’s usually not much you can do about how far you are from the exchange but you can switch providers, check here for the latest reviews.

PS Word of advice, DO NOT make your decision of which provider to go with based on price alone. First look at how good a service they offer, then look at the prices the good companies are offering. This is often a case of penny wise, pound foolish.