What affects your broadband speed

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Whenever you do anything online — whether that's sending an email or updating your social media — data is sent over your broadband connection. The rate at which this data is sent it down to your broadband speed, which can be affected by many different factors.
 

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Full Fibre Support Hub

For more information about what can cause slow Wi-Fi speeds, choose an option below.

Router setup

Here's how an incorrect setup can cause slow speeds.

Your home

Here's what can cause slow speeds within your home.

Your area

Here's what can cause slow speeds outside of your home.

Your devices

Here's how your router and devices can cause slow speeds.

 Router setup

Setting up your router incorrectly or using the wrong equipment will likely cause slow broadband speeds. Here are some common setup errors to avoid.

YOUR MAIN PHONE SOCKET

Make sure your router is connected to your main phone socket rather than an extension socket. Your main phone socket is where your phone line enters your home, usually near the front of the house. Extension sockets are connected to your main phone socket with wiring that isn't built for transmitting broadband signals, so they're not ideal for connecting your router to.

MICROFILTERS

If you have a standard main phone socket, you should plug a microfilter into every socket you're using in your home. Microfilters stop your phone signal from interfering with your broadband signal. If you don't use them, your Wi-Fi connection may start dropping or feel slow.

EXTENSION CABLES

If your router is far away from your main phone socket and connected with an extension cable, make sure you aren’t using a standard telephone cable. These aren’t designed to carry broadband signals and will likely cause slow speeds. We recommend using a longer Ethernet cable or ADSL extension cable instead.

 Your home

Here are some of the most common causes for slow broadband speeds within the home. 

FURNITURE AND APPLIANCES

Some household objects can cause slow speeds. Electrical and Bluetooth appliances transmit signals which can interfere with Wi-Fi, whereas mirrors and radiators can stop Wi-Fi signals from passing through walls by reflecting them back into the room. Anything containing large amounts of water, like a fish tank or a boiler, can absorb Wi-Fi signals too.

SHARING YOUR CONNECTION

Your broadband speed is shared amongst all connected devices. If everyone in your household is using the internet at the same time, you may get slower speeds. Downloading, streaming, gaming and other online activities that use a lot of bandwidth may also take a toll on your speed if you're doing them all at the same time.

YOUR BUILDING

Wi-Fi can pass through most obstacles easily. However, materials like brick, plaster, cement, stone, metal and double-glazed glass can block some of the signals. Some newer homes may even have plasterboard walls that are backed with aluminium foil, which can act as a barrier to Wi-Fi.

 Your area

Here are some of the most common causes for slow broadband speeds outside of the home. These are usually factors that are beyond our control.

THE STABILISATION PERIOD

When you join TalkTalk or upgrade to Fibre, your line will go through a stabilisation period where we monitor and tweak your speed to make sure you get a stable broadband connection in the long term. This usually lasts for around 10 days after your go-live date and it's normal to experience varying speeds and occasional drops in your connection during this time.

DISTANCE FROM THE EXCHANGE

Your broadband is sent from the telephone exchange to your house via your local green cabinet. If you live far away from the exchange or local cabinet, your broadband has to travel further to reach you which means you might get slower speeds once it reaches your home.

NETWORK DAMAGE

Things like bad weather and roadworks can damage network cables, including your phone line. Cable damage can cause problems with your phone and broadband connection, such as slow speeds, a crackly phone line or no dial tone.

PEAK TIMES

When lots of people are online at the same time – usually between 6pm and 9pm – your broadband may feel slower because of the congestion on the network. The same applies if a particular website is getting a lot of traffic at a certain time. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do about this except recommend that you try again later.

 Devices and software

The devices you use play an important part in how much speed you can achieve. Here's how your devices and software can contribute to slow Wi-Fi speeds.

YOUR ROUTER

Routers that are older or have outdated software might struggle to keep up, even if you're getting high speeds through your phone line. If your router is very old, you might want to consider upgrading to a newer model. Our newer routers automatically update their own software to ensure the best possible connection.

OLDER DEVICES

Older devices have less capacity for high broadband speeds than newer ones. This can make your Wi-Fi feel slow regardless of the speed your router is giving out.

VIRUSES AND SPYWARE

Spyware slows your computer down by consuming its resources and viruses eat up your connection by performing repetitive tasks, leaving little computing power for much else. Installing a good security suite can help protect you against attacks and clean your computer if it becomes infected.

SOFTWARE AND APPS

Running large applications and complex software on your devices can slow down all other tasks it performs, including those that use the Internet.

CONNECTION TYPE

Although it's not always convenient, a wired connection is faster and more stable than Wi-Fi. If you want faster speeds, trying connecting your device to your router with an Ethernet cable.

Got Full Fibre? Get help with your services over at our 

Full Fibre Support Hub

For more information about what can cause slow Wi-Fi speeds, choose an option below.

Router setup

Here's how an incorrect setup can cause slow speeds.

Your home

Here's what can cause slow speeds within your home.

Your area

Here's what can cause slow speeds outside of your home.

your devices

Here's how your router and devices can cause slow speeds.

 Router setup

Setting up your router incorrectly or using the wrong equipment will likely cause slow broadband speeds. Here are some common setup errors to avoid.

YOUR FIBRE CONNECTION BOX

Make sure your Wi-Fi Hub is connected to your Fibre Connection Box rather than your main socket or an extension socket. Your Fibre Connection Box on the wall (your engineer might call this the Optical Network Terminator or ONT) is where your Full Fibre connection enters your home. Your main socket is the entry point for your phone line and extension sockets are connected to your main socket with wiring that isn't built for transmitting broadband signals.

 Your home

Here are some of the most common causes for slow broadband speeds within the home. 

FURNITURE AND APPLIANCES

Some household objects can cause slow speeds. Electrical and Bluetooth appliances transmit signals which can interfere with Wi-Fi, whereas mirrors and radiators can stop Wi-Fi signals from passing through walls by reflecting them back into the room. Anything containing large amounts of water, like a fish tank or a boiler, can absorb Wi-Fi signals too.

SHARING YOUR CONNECTION

Your broadband speed is shared amongst all connected devices. If everyone in your household is using the internet at the same time, you may get slower speeds. Downloading, streaming, gaming and other online activities that use a lot of bandwidth may also take a toll on your speed if you're doing them all at the same time.

YOUR BUILDING

Wi-Fi can pass through most obstacles easily. However, materials like brick, plaster, cement, stone, metal and double-glazed glass can block some of the signals. Some newer homes may even have plasterboard walls that are backed with aluminium foil, which can act as a barrier to Wi-Fi.

HOUSE SIZE

The larger your house, the less likely it is that you’ll get a strong Wi-Fi signal in every room. If you need more eeros, we recommend using Total Home Wi-Fi to boost your signal in any rooms that have Wi-Fi weak spots.

 Your area

Here are some of the most common causes for slow broadband speeds outside of the home. These are usually factors that are beyond our control.

THE STABILISATION PERIOD

When you join TalkTalk or upgrade to Fibre, your line will go through a stabilisation period where we monitor and tweak your speed to make sure you get a stable broadband connection in the long term. This usually lasts for around 10 days after your go-live date and it's normal to experience varying speeds and occasional drops in your connection during this time.

DISTANCE FROM THE EXCHANGE

Your broadband is sent from the telephone exchange to your house via your local green cabinet. If you live far away from the exchange or local cabinet, your broadband has to travel further to reach you which means you might get slower speeds once it reaches your home.

NETWORK DAMAGE

Things like bad weather and roadworks can damage network cables, including your phone line. Cable damage can cause problems with your phone and broadband connection, such as slow speeds, a crackly phone line or no dial tone.

PEAK TIMES

When lots of people are online at the same time – usually between 6pm and 9pm – your broadband may feel slower because of the congestion on the network. The same applies if a particular website is getting a lot of traffic at a certain time. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do about this except recommend that you try again later.

 Devices and software

The devices you use play an important part in how much speed you can achieve. Here's how your devices and software can contribute to slow Wi-Fi speeds.

OLDER DEVICES

Older devices have less capacity for high broadband speeds than newer ones. This can make your Wi-Fi feel slow regardless of the speed your router is giving out.

VIRUSES AND SPYWARE

Spyware slows your computer down by consuming its resources and viruses eat up your connection by performing repetitive tasks, leaving little computing power for much else. Installing a good security suite can help protect you against attacks and clean your computer if it becomes infected.

SOFTWARE AND APPS

Running large applications and complex software on your devices can slow down all other tasks it performs, including those that use the Internet.

CONNECTION TYPE

Although it's not always convenient, a wired connection is faster and more stable than Wi-Fi. If you want faster speeds, trying connecting your device to your router with an Ethernet cable.

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