Mobile Broadband Speed In Your Hands

The Broadband market is a battle field. Not the one fought with guns and swords, but, the one which uses mobile broadband speeds and enticing offers. Top broadband suppliers, like O2, Virgin Media, BT, Orange, T Mobile, 3 and Vodafone, fight their way out to woo consumers, with various attractive broadband packages.

The Promise…

Internet access speed has always been a priority factor that influences consumers while they choose a broadband connection. Currently, for meeting the demands of heavy internet users, like business men or even gamers, broadband providers like BT and Vodafone, are rolling out bundles which offer speeds of 8Mbps and 7.2Mbps. On the other hand, for a normal or light user, ISPs like T Mobile, 3 and O2 offer packages with access rates of 4.5Mbps, 3.6Mbps and 1.8Mbps. Moreover, some of these mobile broadband providers also bundle their offers with some exciting free gifts, like a laptop or a dongle.

The Reality…

Leaving the excitement aside, it is frequently observed that the practical internet access speeds are much lower than the advertised speeds. There are various websites which let users run small tests to determine what broadband speeds they are actually receiving. Many consumers end up achieving only about a quarter of the promised speed. However, one must know that it is not always the broadband supplier who is at fault.

Who Is To Blame…?

There are several factors that govern mobile broadband data transfer rates. The number of people using the broadband services in the vicinity, or in the same household at a particular instant of time is an important factor that affects broadband speed. Temperature, various components in the earth’s atmosphere and even the equipment used by the consumer, all in some way or the other influence mobile broadband speed. It is quite surprising, but true, that the software on the computer or laptop of the end user also plays an important role in determining the download rate of web pages.

Making Things Better…

Ensuring that you’ve got the right hardware is the first step toward improving your broadband speed. Modems used for mobile broadband, support different speeds. Make sure that the modem you use can support the speed of the package that you want to subscribe to.

Moreover, hardware companies usually update their software from time to time. Keeping a regular check on these updates could also be helpful.

Signal strength varies within a household itself. When the signal is weak, some modems automatically use the 2G technology for data transfer. On the other hand when the signal is strong, they switch to the faster 3G technology. A simple relocation of your modem within the house to a place where the signal strength is strong, maybe near the window, might just do the trick.

Tweaking your Internet Browser settings or using a faster browser could help as well.

Many users are comfortable with using Windows XP on their computers and laptops. However, this operating system needs to be tuned when using mobile broadband. Newer OS like Windows Vista or other Linux based ones, save you the trouble of tuning.

Sometimes, unwanted software can slow down performance considerably. Some of these software might be configured for automatic start-up during boot-up of the computer. Such programs might also end up eating precious memory, thus causing other applications to be slowed down. In order to check if you’ve really got unwanted applications slowing down your broadband speed, use a different OS on a CD to boot up and run the broadband speed test. If you get higher speeds with the new OS, then you definitely have some cleaning up to do. If you are not sure of which applications you need to get rid of, you can as well get some professional to do it for you.

Presence of other radio-wave devices in the vicinity can affect mobile broadband speed too. Sometimes televisions, mobile phones, internet radios or microwave ovens can make an impact on the broadband speeds. These gadgets use the radio signals in the same range of frequencies as the mobile broadband. Plugging them out or maintaining a considerable distance from them could be helpful. Neighboring WiFi networks can also interfere with internet access rates, especially in urban areas. Tweaking your router settings or changing the channel of your network might be of some use in this case.

Another simple thing you could do to get fast download speeds is using the network during off-peak hours. Early mornings usually do give high broadband speeds. Like they say ‘the early bird gets the worm’.  You can also compare broadband speeds, packages and offers in broadband suppliers website.

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