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My husband loves the MotoGP, so last Christmas I bought him a subscription to the website, allowing him to watch every live second of the events during the racing season.
It’s fantastic, except for when the speed of our internet doesn’t keep up with the motorcycles whizzing around the TV screen.
‘Oh, come on!’ he yells, throwing his arms in the air as the screen pixelates and freezes.
Slow internet can be frustrating, and paying for a faster connection can get pricey.
So I looked into ways to increase internet speed before having to up the cost.
What you should expect from broadband
Bear with me – this is quite technical!
The most popular Broadband Network tiers are NBN 25, 50 and 100. According to competition regulator, the average download speeds achieved between 7pm and 11pm on each tier are 25.5, 49.4 and 98.1 megabits per second (Mbps) respectively.
I’m on an NBN 100 plan, yet the most we achieve is 60 Mbps, much slower than the average.
Check your internet speed
Most trusted internet providers, such as SpinTel, have a speed check you can perform. It’ll tell you your download speed (how fast you can get information from the internet) and upload speeds (how fast you can send information).
You can also go to speedtest.net. Check at different times of the day while you’re doing things like video streaming.
Tips for making your gaming or browsing social media to see how it changes.
Ways to speed up your internet
■ Unplug your modem for a few minutes – a simple reset may help.
■ Place your modem or router up high and in the centre of your home, away from walls and other obstructions. Appliances like fridges and TVs, and even fish tanks, block the signal so keep them clear.
■ Disconnect devices, like printers and gaming consoles, when not in use.
■ Get a booster to send consistent speeds to blackspots in your home.
■ Whenever possible use a wired connection instead of wi-fi – it’ll always be faster.
■ Check if your modem needs to run updates, and try switching from a 2.4 GHz channel to a 5 GHz channel. Your provider, or in my case my clever teenager, can tell you how.
Is your internet still too slow?
If you believe your speeds are still too slow for the plan you’re on, call your provider to troubleshoot.
There’s no use upgrading your plan if the reason for slow speeds still exists, so make sure you understand the problem before agreeing to pay more.
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Who are SpinTel?
SpinTel is one of the largest independent ISPs in Australia, established in 1996 offering both residential and business telecommunication services including congestion-free NBN, wireless Internet, cloud-based PBX, and SIM-only mobile plans at affordable rates. SpinTel’s mobile, mobile broadband and wireless broadband plans are powered by the Optus Mobile Network.
SpinTel is awarded as Australia’s best provider across Mobile, NBN, Internet and Broadband by WhistleOut, Product Review, Canstar Blue, Finder and Money Magazine. SpinTel is one of the most popular Australian ISP’s on ProductReview with a rating of 4.4 from over 9476 reviews.
MoneySaver’s tips are prepared in good faith. that’s life! cannot assure readers that they will be effective in all cases and is not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from following them.
Since 1996, SpinTel has been an award-winning telecommunications provider – serving Australia with the best internet and broadband services.
