Index Previous Next

Homechoice: Optimising the connection

It's not as fast as I'd like - is there a problem with my connection?

Shortly after the 1Mbit service went live some users were reporting speeds about 20-30% slower than this. They fixed it as follows:

Using Internet Explorer, visit http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/autofix.asp?file=IntSpeed.hta

Run the auto-fix from that location, select the "Low Latency" button, and you should be in business.

Having a firewall may knock a couple of points off your download speed, but hardly anything.

To test what speed you are getting, the best way is to do a long download from a local server and time it. However, there are a number of easier but less accurate ways to do it, including:

http://msn.zdnet.com/partners/msn/bandwidth/speedtest50.htm

Remember that your speed is dependent on the server you're downloading from - try a few before reaching a conclusion. Some people have also suggested that speeds could be lower if you're a long way from the local BT exchange.