So, you’ve been told to ‘Work from home’ and things seem to be OK. Here are a few IT things to keep an eye on…
My wireless internet says full strength, but my internet is slow…
The strength of your wireless signal is nothing more than an indication of how physically close you are to your wireless broadband router (or if you are bit of a geek, how close you are to a wireless access point).
The internet is slow when my children are watching three different films at the same time.
Service providers, such as Netflix, have reduced the streaming quality of its content to reduce data usage so many people can continue to enjoy their content but at a slightly reduced quality. If you are still experiencing poor quality from streaming, video download the films you are interested in overnight and watch the downloaded ‘off line’ version.
My Team’s video conference is jittery or people can’t understand what I’m saying…
Consider switching to audio only as this will deliver a better experience.
Looking at the questions above the common theme is ‘it just feels slow’ or ‘it’s much quicker in the office’
There are some practical things that you can do to improve your broadband experience at home when working. These are OfCom suggestions, but they are practical suggestions that are worth following:
1. Try and make sure that your broadband is plugged directly into your master telephone socket and not via an extender cable.
2. Make sure every other phone socket has a micro filter plugged in to it.
3. Keep your broadband router away from sources of electrical interference; halogen lamps, dimmer switches, stereo or computer speakers, fairy lights, TVs and monitors, AC power cords, any other equipment that could emit a wireless signal such as cordless phones or baby monitors. All these things can cause interference.
4. Keep your broadband router on a table or a shelf, rather than the floor, always keep your router switched on. Don’t switch it off at night when you go to bed.
5. The best way to connect to your broadband is by an ethernet cable rather than wireless.
6. If the wireless signal from your office pc / laptop is weak and you can’t plug a cable directly in to your broadband router, consider using a powerline adapter. These work by delivering local network connectivity over your internal mains power supply. You plug one into a power socket next to your broadband router and connect a network cable from the powerline adapter in to your broadband router. You then plug another adapter in to a power socket next to your office pc / laptop and connect a network cable from the powerline adapter into the network card on your office pc / laptop. If you have a modern Apple Mac laptop you will need a separate adaptor as modern Mac laptops don’t have networks ports built in.
Trunk Networks is your local ISP and Cloud Services Provider. Based in Uckfield, we provide intelligent business solutions to businesses throughout the UK. If anyone has any questions in relation to the above, please do not hesitate to contact Darren or Drew at Trunk Networks at info@trunknetworks.com