Tag Archive for: Internet

Tips To Help Improve Broadband Speed!

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USwitch want to help with solving the UK’s Top Broadband Issue – Slow Speed! USwitch’s own broadband expert Nick Baker decided to share his top tips on how to solve this very issue.  

Thinking ” where are the best Internet providers in my area?”, well we are too.

Tips to Help Improve Broadband Speed

There’s a number of reasons as to why your broadband connection may be slow. One of the reasons could by multiple devices using the same network in your area. Or a large number of devices on your home connection.

See below USwitch’s best tips!

1. Carry out a broadband speed test so you can see just what speeds you’re getting. Also, try doing this at different times during the day and take a screenshot or a note of the result.

2. Check and see if your browser software is up to date. Having the latest version of your browser can really help speed up the way web pages load.

3. Is your router next to any other wireless devices? Anything from a wireless doorbell to fairy lights can have an impact on the speeds you’re getting. So, my tip would be to place your router on a small side table away from any other devices (rather than on the floor) and keep it switched on at all times.

4. Ensure you have a strong password protecting your Wi-Fi network to make sure nobody else is using it. As this is particularly important if you live in a flat or apartment.

5. Is your router firmware up to date? So, your router should update automatically, but you can force a reset (check the back of the device for instructions) and this can help with broadband speed.

Even more tips!

6. Have you tried using a cable? Routers usually have an Ethernet cable socket in the back of the device so you can connect directly to them. Try using this and running the speed test again to see if you get faster results. Again, keep a note of these speeds.

7. Have you checked for interference on your phone line? Purchase some microfilters or get them from your provider. Plug them into every phone socket in your house as they split the broadband and phone signals so they don’t interfere with one another.

8. Are you using a phone line extension cable? These (especially if they are long) can impact the speed of your broadband. If you need to use one, make sure it’s high quality and as short as possible and not tangled up.

9. Plug your router directly into the main phone socket. These sockets usually have a line running across the front of them. Also, make sure your router is connected to this socket then try running the speed test again.

10. Contact your broadband provider.  So, if all else fails and you’re still struggling, then it’s worth getting in touch with your broadband provider. You can share your speed test results and they will work through a series of diagnostic tests to isolate the issue and get you back up to speed in no time.

(USwitch)

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Britain’s Biggest Bandwidth Hogs

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So how has the UK spent lockdown? It seems as though Britain has hit the sofa to stream more content than ever before! Official figures from the ONS highlight how much bandwidth Britain has used in comparison to 2015.

The ONS Study found that the most popular activity was to stream video content. The survey determined that it took up 2 hours and 53 minutes each day. USwitch also discovered that the UK Broadband usage had increased by almost a third overall (29%). That’s A LOT of bandwidth usage!

However, a recent poll by YouGov discovered that 35% of broadband users in the UK have slower than normal speeds during lockdown! So the question is, how much bandwidth is the UK using and how is it affecting the quality of our connections?

Revealing the UK’s Top Broadband Issues

During the lockdown there has been an increase in the usage of UK broadband connections. Which will in effect take up a lot of bandwidth. 1 in 5 households (21%) have suffered with dropped connections. Including buffering or slow connections.

So therefore our friends over at USwitch took to Reddit to research:

  • What the most common complaints were when it comes to broadband connections

  • How often the UK searches Google for a solution to these issues

  • Where in the country suffers the most with internet problems

Technical complaints toppled the list of broadband issues that people had. While Broadband speed was the top issue affecting those in Norwich. Googling for a speedy solution more than anywhere else in the UK. Improving latency was the top issue in Cambridge. As they were fed up with having to wait for their connections to respond.

USwitch discovered a number of customer service related complaints such as Switch Broadband Provider and Cancel Broadband was the most prevalent in Glasgow!

Top 10 Bandwidth Hungry Apps Revealed

Bandwidth is a hot commodity and a lot of your apps take up a lot of it! Netflix even applied restrictions on streaming quality to reduce the amount of bandwidth used in order to help video run smoothly. USwitch discovered that Netflix used around 1GB of bandwidth data at standard definition, per hour!

Furthermore Google Stadia and NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW used LOADS of bandwidth! With Google Stadia raking in 4.5gb of bandwidth per hour!

What is cloud gaming and why does it use so much bandwidth?

Cloud gaming requires gamers to play games which are streamed via the cloud. This is done via a data centre which provides the computing power. Every single thing a gamer does is communicated between them and the data center. Therefore this is why so much bandwidth is required and used during play.

Where do the UK’s Biggest Bandwidth Users Live?

The study by USwitch discovered that Southampton was the location that saw the biggest surge in broadband usage. Jumping 49% to 44 hours 36mins a week during lockdown. While which area in the UK uses the most bandwidth hungry apps?

Our study named Southampton as the UK location experiencing the biggest surge in broadband use – jumping 49% to 44 hours and 36 minutes a week during lockdown, but which area in the UK is using the most bandwidth-hungry apps?

The UK’s Most Used Apps During Lockdown

The average household has 8 devices which connect to the internet. USwitch discovered how much bandwidth do our most used apps eat up per hour?

Revealed: The Winners and Losers of Lockdown Entertainment

Video Calls Winner — Zoom

Video calling has a had a HUGE surge in popularity. 2/3’s of consumers 68% have said that they used the tech since the lockdown began. With Zoom being the biggest app with the highest search increase in the UK.

Plus it only uses 0.54gb’s per hour. Making it one of the least bandwidth hungry video calling apps. With Google Hangouts using the most at 0.70gb’s

Films and Box Sets Winner — Hulu

Suprisingly Hulu is the most popular video streaming service. 49% of searches for it since the lockdown. While Hulu isn’t available in the UK yet, it seems many could still access the content. Apple TV was a close second with 44% of people tuning in. Suprisingly Disney+ and Netflix were much further down the list! As they only had a third more searches than usual.

Amazon Prime hits bottom spot with 0.1% increase in searches. Maybe this is because many of us have those services anyway? Or maybe we’ve watched everything and are looking for new sources.

Catch-up TV Winner — My5

My5 tops the list when it comes to streaming catch up tv! With 100% more people searching for the service than before lockdown. Coming in 2nd was All4 with 46% more searches and BBC iPlayer had 19% more.

Music Streaming Winner — Apple Music

Apple Music had a 40% more increase in searches. The streaming quality could have knocked Spotify off the top spot. Streaming Spotify has 0.04gbs of data per hour of usage. With Apple Music uses 1gb of data as it’s a higher standard.

(USwitch)

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Are we ready for 5G? A look at 4G

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While many of us are enjoying the speeds of 4G and soon to be 5G there is many parts of the UK that don’t even have access to 4G. If they do have access to 4G it’ll be incredibly slow too. Analysis that has been undertaken by comparemymobile.com, a mobile comparison and recycling website have revealed that Yorkshire and Humber have the lowest download speeds. However, it is still one of the best perfoming regions for 4G availability!

Their research has discovered that Yorkshire and Humber have an average 4G download speed of 20.28Mbps. Furthermore the region comes 3rd on the leaderboard for how often users can access 4G. With an availability rate of 86%. This is according to data reports by OpenSignal. While no regions, at present, even meet the recommended download speeds of 25Mbps for watching 4K content on Netflix!

Each regions averages are based on the 4 big network providers in the UK. That’s EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three. There has been some improvements in the download speed of 4G networks, as the North West of the UK has an average of 23.05Mpbs. Yet this is still below Netflix’s recommended speeds of 25Mbps for 4K viewing content.

Futhermore there’s been little improvement on the availability of 4G. 95% 4G mobile coverage target in the UK was set by the government for Ofcom by the end of 2022. The region closest to this target is 87.09% is London. While many rural communities struggle to get a good connection at home or at work.

Connectivity Quality

Please see a table below of the best/worst performing regions:

Best Performing Worst Performing
North West (23.05 Mbps) Northern Ireland (19.13 Mbps)
London (22.89 Mbps) Yorkshire and Humber (20.28 Mbps)
West Midlands (21.87 Mbps) South East (20.54 Mbps)

When looking at availability the best and worst performing regions are:

Best Performing Worst Performing
London (87.09%) South West (79.06%)
North East (86.99%) Wales (80.17%)
Yorkshire and Humber (86.01%) Eastern (81.42%)

Availability wise,Yorkshire and Humber are doing really well. Yet they sit at the bottom of the table for download speeds. Which indicates there is a long way to go before everyone can get the best connection available.

Now 5G on the way

With plans to roll out 5G later this year, it’s unsurprising that many rural areas are growing frustrated at the lack of 4G signal in their area, let alone the promise of a faster network. Despite this, the UK does remain one of the leading countries in the world for 4G adoption. This is largely due to there being such fierce competition between the four big network providers, EE, O2, Three and Vodafone as well as heavy private investment.

However, there is still a long way to go to ensure that people in rural areas have good access to 4G networks, both in terms of high download speeds and availability. Ofcom’s plans to sell new mobile airwaves in 2020, with coverage obligations attached in its bid to achieve 95% 4G coverage in the UK by 2022 is promising, but it does mean that those with little or no coverage still have a while to wait until they have reliable 4G network access.” Rob Baillie, Mobile Expert at Compare My Mobile 

More information available here. 

The analysis uses Opensignal’s data to compare 4G download speeds and availability in each UK region

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SpyOFF VPN

SpyOFF VPN

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What is a VPN?

First things first: The Internet

So you know what a VPN can do but what actually is a VPN? Well SpyOff VPN have done a detailed breakdown of what a VPN is here. Here is a smaller breakdown of what a VPN is:

The internet isn’t based around www.’s and names of websites. Websites have their own unique URL as does our internet connection. Google may be dislpayed as ‘www.google.com’ on your web browser, but behind that piece of text is a set of numbers. When you type google.com into your web browser, your browser looks for the IP address which is associated to google.com on a DNS server. It finds it and then presents that page to you.

VPN’s

A VPN is a “Virtual Private Network. This technology establishes an encrypted connection between different endpoints. From an internet enabled device to the internet. Depending on the protocol used, this is more or less secure. The information between the two connections is encrypted and no one access it from the outside. Hence the term ‘private’ network.

Your computer will encrypt the data before sending it. Your destination will decrypt the data, create a response to it and encrypt it all before sending it back. This is apparent for all webpages, be that a online game, a shop or a YouTube video. The use of a VPN is very secure because of this.

What is SpyOff VPN

SpyOff VPN is a programme that allows users to view Netflix, but not just any Netflix, another countries Netflix. But there are more benefits to a VPN that you will know about, it’s not all about viewing cool stuff from another country! Although we all know that that’s the main reason why you may want a VPN 😉

Advantages of a VPN

A VPN provides:

SpyOFF VPN

No monitoring by your internet service provider

Internet Service Providers monitor what you do an in the US, they can make certain websites load faster than others. They can even throttle (make slower) your whole internet if you go over your agreed limit! With SpyOFF VPN you can surf the web independently and anonymously!

No surveillance by the stateSpyOFF VPN

Your home country can monitor and know what you do, including your entire traffic:

  • Which pages you visit
  • Movies you are watching
  • Messages you read

With the use of a VPN, you can surf the web privately!

SpyOFF VPNNo geoblocking

Geoblocking is a technical term for content that is only viewable in the country that it was intended. For example, if you go away on holiday watching BBC iPlayer and you’re halfway through an Eastenders binge. You get to your destination and you cannot watch it! That’s because the BBC have prevented your holiday destination from viewing it. This may down to licensing or simply the BBC don’t want it viewable outside the UK.

However with a VPN you can change your location to UK and continue watching your favourite soap!

No CensorshipSpyOFF VPN

In some countries such as North Korea or Iran the internet is filtered and censored from the people. Less well known that this happens in nearly every country, not just in restrictive regimes. With a VPN you can surf the web with complete freedom and not be filtered away from content.

SpyOFF VPNLow Cost Offers

Whilst away, you see a cheap flight offer. You return home and it is more expensive! This is due to ‘Dynamic Pricing’ and means that the ticket is sold for the maximum price possible at you current location. For example, people who live in higher income countries are priced higher than those from lower income countries. With a VPN you can change location and save money!

Safe Surfing in PublicSpyOFF VPN

Public WIFI is great, however, it can be a risky thing as you never know who is on the network with you, snooping at your data, activity and passwords! With a VPN you can encrypt your communication and surf the public WIFI securely!

 

(SpyOff)

SpyOFF VPN is a subscription based service and pricing can be found here!

Read more in-depth information about SpyOFF VPN by clicking here and reading about their killer features by clicking here!

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2017’s Most Famous Meme

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The years most famous meme, you know the one with the disapproving girlfriend scoulding her boyfriend for checking out another woman. No one is more suprised that it’s been memefied so to speak than the photographer that took it. Antonio Guillem a 45 year old photographer from Barcelona.

He usually takes stock photos and most of his porfolio consists of exaclty what we see in the meme, a man and two women in a situation that provokes a reacitve pose in one of the models.

Speaking to Wired.com Guillem said that he wanted to step away from what he usually does and produce some imagery that represents ‘infidelity concept in relationships in a fun and playful way”

Thus the years most famous meme was born! “Disloyal man walking with his girlfriend and looking amazed at another seductive girl” became to be famous for the reason that not what it was intended for but we all love it anyway.

 

Slowing internet!

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In the next few months there could be a major shake up on the internet, a US government body is looking to ban net neutrality.

Net Neutrality: The basic right internet users have to access websites equally.

However giants such as Amazon and Reddit have spoken out against the move. Scrapping net neutrality would mean Internet Service Providers would make lots of money, whilst websites themselves wouldn’t benefit whatsoever. Directly affecting their business.

There’s currently an international protest against these proposed changes, as they could have an effect on internet freedom around the world.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Facebook delivering internet

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Internet has become a human right and something that we need – like air.

To help save lives in times of natural disasters, Facebook have designed a “Tether – Antenna” A small unmanned helicopter that hooks onto undamaged fiber and power lines (when cellular infrastructure was damaged but fiber lines in the area still work) and then hover “a few hundred feet from the ground,”  to provide internet and when complete will be able to offer internet, sometimes at up to months at a time!

The tech is still early in terms of development but, like the company’s plans for blanketing the developing world with a limited form of internet connectivity alongside Terragraph, (a gigabit wifi system that bolsters signals in dense urban environments) and Aquila, (Facebooks internet delivering drones) – it highlights that Facebook want to do a lot more than just put augmented masks on your face.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Episode 220 Garage Band

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Internet Lemonade!

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Researchers have found an ingenious way to send the taste of lemonade through the internet! It looks like lemonade too! The researchers first used sensors to get the characteristics of lemonade which was then sent to a smart tumbler of water where LEDs replicated colour. Electrodes in the tumblr then reproduced the sourness by stimulating a users (drinkers?) tastebuds.

Whilst it isn’t really sending lemonade through the internet as testers have said that the taste wasn’t as sour as the real thing it goes a long way to sending drinks across the web. Researchers have even said that they’re working on developing a cock tail that would even mimic the smell of a drink.

 

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

 

Episode 191 – Anchor.FM / Temple of the Mask

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