WiFi and fibre coverage: how to improve your Internet speed

Are you experiencing slowness on your Internet connection? Here's what you need to know to get faster Internet:

1. Understanding the most common flow problems

Most of the time, when you suffer from slowness on your home Internet network, you run into these problems:

1. Wifi doesn't go fast enough
2. Internet fibre via Ethernet cable is too slow

There are generally three types of problem that can affect the quality of your Internet connection...

A problem on the Internet network

In their commercial offers, Internet providers advertise a maximum theoretical upload and download speeds. Unfortunately, these theoretical flow rates are rarely achieved in practice.

A closer look at the conditions of sale reveals that certain suppliers undertake to provide speeds of 50%, 70% or 90% of the theoretical maximum speed depending on the time of day.

• Off-peak hours (in the morning and in the afternoon), your throughput is normal. For example, it can reach 800 Mbit/sec if you have a wired fibre connection.
• At peak times (early morning and evening), throughput may be reduced, due to the large number of simultaneous connections on the network. In this case, your fibre speed may drop to 500 Mbit/s or even 300 Mbit/s. However, this is normalThese speeds are still more than sufficient for normal consumption (watching Netflix series, making video calls or playing video games).

The slowdowns caused by the Internet network are therefore completely normal: they simply depend on the number of people using the network at the same time.

In the event of a complete Internet blackout : Occasionally, certain suppliers or certain parts of the network may experience localised outages. In this case, wait a few minutes to an hour. Check the status of the network on a site such as DownDetector. If the problem is still unresolved, don't hesitate to call your supplier's customer service to find out what's causing the problem.

A problem with your modem

Are you experiencing slow Internet speeds on your computer or mobile phone? If so, the problem could be with your equipment. First check :

1. Your connection type: are you connected by Ethernet cable or WiFi?
   1. If you have a cable connection and the Internet is very slow : check whether other devices in your home are using too much bandwidth (downloading large files, for example). If this is not the case, it may be a simple network slowdown that should be resolved shortly. If the connection is completely interrupted, check your connections and call your provider's customer service once you've tried everything: it could be a problem with the fibre cabinet in your building.
   2. If you are on Wifi: there may be interference. Your neighbours' WiFi networks can cause disruption to your own home Internet network. Certain devices transmitting in the same frequency bands can also exacerbate this interference.
2. Your equipment: have you chosen a standard or top-of-the-range modem? In Luxembourg, suppliers offer different types of modem (including the Fritzbox brand). The more expensive the rental, the better your modem will perform, especially in Wifi.

A WiFi problem in your home

Wifi is made up of electromagnetic waves that carry information between the modem and your computer or telephone. The further away you are from the modem, the lower your bandwidth will be. But that's not the only factor: any additional obstacle will reduce the strength of your Wifi signal.

Your Wifi connection could be slowed down by :

• Walls and partitions : especially large load-bearing walls, which considerably reduce signal strength!
• Doors : you can sometimes see a difference when a door is open or closed
• Other devices emitting a Wifi signal : your neighbours' networks could affect the power of yours, particularly if you are transmitting on the same frequency band

So pay close attention to the layout of your home: the room you use to surf the Internet matters! If you're at the other end of your flat, it's normal to have a low bandwidth.

2. How to improve your connection to make it faster

To improve Wifi Internet speed

Here are a few tips to improve the strength of your WiFi signal:

1. Check that there isn't too much competition on your frequency band. Modems emit WiFi waves on specific frequency bands. There are a dozen of them. If too many neighbours use the same frequency band, there can be conflicts and major slowdowns. To solve this problem :
   1. Download an app on your mobile toanalyse the Wifi frequency bands around you. Locate frequencies that are free or little used.
   2. Go to your modem's settings interface (from your computer) to change the frequency bands. The URL for the modem's administration site is normally found in the original brochure. You should also be aware that some modems automatically set the frequency bands according to the number of competing networks.
   3. If you don't know how, contact your Internet provider He'll be able to tell you what procedure to follow. Once you're sure that the problem isn't with the frequency bands, you can move on to the next step...
2. Make sure your home is fully covered: make a flow test in different parts of your flat, then identify the rooms where the Internet is particularly slow. This will give you an idea of the Wi-Fi coverage in your home.
3. Increase the range of the WiFi signal : to boost the strength of your signal, there's nothing like a Wifi repeater installed in a strategic location. This will increase the coverage of the WiFi signal and therefore the speed of your Internet connection. However, there are many repeaters available, and you need to know how to position them correctly. To help you, France's leading consumer association has put together a list of the best repeaters. a comparison of repeaters available on the market.
4. Change your equipment: if you have determined that the slow connection is partly due to your model, contact your provider to explain the problem. If there are no technical problems, find out about the higher-end modems available for hire. This will give you a more powerful WiFi connection.
5. Change your Internet provider if your slowness or connection problems persist despite your requests to Customer Services.

To improve your PC Internet connection

If your computer is connected to your modem by an Ethernet cable and you are still experiencing slowness, here are a few tips:

If, despite all your efforts, the problem persists, consider changing your Internet provider. You can probably find a better offer on this comparison.

Make a flow test to identify the problem. If the values are abnormal in relation to the conditions of your Internet subscription, proceed to the next step. However, bear in mind that the speeds advertised on your commercial package are only theoretical: in practice, download and upload speeds are lower.

Make sure there are no problems with your Ethernet cable Try replacing it with another one, then re-test your connection speed.

If the problem persists, try restarting your modem.. If it still doesn't work, try unplugging it, leaving it for a few minutes, then plugging it back in.

If the problem persists, contact your supplier: customer service will certainly be able to help you.