What to do when your broadband is slow…

I have heard lots of times from clients and friends that their internet is running slowly and that they cannot do anything about this.

 

Well, there are lots of things you can do, but the easiest is something not many people will mention. It is called a “User Profile Reset” or “IP Reset”.

 

First the “What to do” – Pick up the phone and call your ISP and say “My internet is very slow, it has gotten slower over time please can you do a User Profile Reset”. They will likely say “Why?” and “It won’t make a difference” etc., but if you ask nicely they will likely make the change.

 

What is a “User Profile Reset”? – When you bought your new internet connection your ISP sets the speed of the line to as fast as it will go. IE if you buy 20mbs ADSL it will be set to this or as fast as the line length will allow. The equipment at the cabinet/exchange will try to make your connection as stable as possible and to do this will watch for disconnections or errors on the connection. It will then reduce the speed of the connection until it is stable. You could simulate this by repeatedly turning the router off and on, you will notice each time the connection will get slower and slower. Although I would not suggest doing this as it can upset the router and remote equipment.

 

How do you know this is true? – A client who will remain nameless had a new ADSL installed at a quite poor 4Mbs. Each evening upon leaving work they switched the router off and over a matter of weeks the connection was down to 0.4Mbs. A quick call to the ISP reset the User Profile and “Hey-presto!” – 4Mbs.

 

Caveat: When the User Profile is set, you will be notified that there is a 10 day settling period. This means that the service may drop and reconnect during this learning phase. Although you should see fast speeds during this, any power-offs you make may be recognised as a fault and set the speed slower. So please do not do this if your 20Mbs connection is running at 19mbs. Also if you have to have this run more than a few times, it would suggest there may be a fault on the line, so ask your ISP to check this.

 

If you have ever had your “User Profile Reset” or do give this a try, please let us know the outcome.

 

Please come back soon and check out our website at www.numberite.co.uk