Our award winning customer support team help thousands of people who rely on our products and services, and so respond to questions on a daily basis. We thought it would be useful to pick out the top 5 most frequently asked questions to answer on our blog.

The three questions below are regarding broadband. Watch out for our next blog will cover the other two remaining FAQ’s regarding email.

My internet connection isn’t working. What should I do?

We always advise our customers to run through some on site checks. More often than not a simple reboot of your equipment can fix the issue! Please see our full on site checklist guide below:

1. Make sure the router is powered on.

2. Make sure the router is connected to the master phone socket and not an extension. Extension sockets can sometimes cause issues as more internal wiring is used to connect from the master socket to the extension. Internal wiring can degrade over time so we recommend this if possible.

3. Make sure the router is isolated and not shared with a fax machine (for example). Ideally, you want to keep your broadband connection isolated to avoid any interference from any other devices.

4. Run a quiet line test; plug an analogue phone into the same phone socket where the router is connected and dial 17070 and select option 2. Listen out for 30 to 60 seconds to make sure it is silent. If noise is present, please report this to Fastnet. Phone lines are susceptible to noise which can cause your internet connection to drop entirely. Your phone line provider can fix this for you if noise is present. If we provide the phone line please contact Fastnet, if not please contact your provider to resolve the issue.

5. Turn the router off for 15 minutes and then back on. This will release the established sync session from your router to the local exchange and force the router to connect to another port. Standard 10 second restarts tend to keep the same link open when it reconnects.

6. Replace the DSL cable and filter. Over time these essential pieces of equipment will degrade and if you’re encountering intermittent problems we advise these should be replaced.

7. As the router should be connected to the master socket, there will be a test port located behind the faceplate. Please remove the 2 screws and carefully disconnect the faceplate from the socket. Plug the filter into the test port located on the right hand side. This will bypass the internal wiring. Make sure you let Fastnet know if this connects OK, as the socket will need to be looked at by a PSTN engineer. If we provide the phone line we will schedule this, if not we will advise you to contact your phone line provider to arrange.

8. If none of the above checks rectify your broadband issues, the next step would be to replace the router. Please contact Fastnet, because you may be eligible for a free router if you have purchased one from us in the past.

Why is my internet connection running slower than normal?

There are many reasons why you might be experiencing slower internet speeds, such as: local engineering works at the exchange or your local DP, internal network usage, viruses located on computers within the network. There are a few checks you can run to determine where the problem may lie. We hope the below checks can help.

1. Is the problem with wireless devices only, or also with cabled machines? If the problem is with the wireless only, it could be that the wireless channel the router is configured to emit is used a lot in the local area and is experiencing interference. If Fastnet have provided you with the router please contact us so we can modify the settings.

2. If you’re experiencing problems with both wired & wireless connections we would advise that you disable wireless, have one machine connected directly to the router via an Ethernet cable and run a speed test. If the reading is higher than what you previously recorded then the issue lies somewhere within the internal network. To rectify this please speak to your internal network support department / company. If the speeds are still slower than expected please do report your findings to Fastnet for further analysis.

3. Turn the router off for 15 minutes and then back on. You could be connected to a problematic port at the exchange. As previously stated this will kill that particular session and a new port will be assigned once powered back on.

4. Run a quiet line test; plug an analogue phone into the phone socket, dial 17070 and select option 2. Listen out for 30 to 60 seconds to make sure it is silent. If the noise is present, please report this to Fastnet. Any interference on the line can cause intermittent broadband service and slow speeds.

5. As the router should be connected to the master socket, there will be a test port located behind the faceplate. Please remove the 2 screws and carefully disconnect the faceplate from the socket. Plug the filter into the test port located on the right hand side. This will bypass the internal wiring. Internal wiring can always degrade overtime and thus create a situation where your connection speeds are affected. If it is working better through the test port please do let us know.

Why does my wireless keep dropping out?

The cause of this may be due to wireless interference which is often due to an area being particularly busy with wireless devices. Wireless routers are common place now so you may find that other users are emitting a wireless channel that conflicts with your own. We would recommend the following:

1. Restart the router and then see if all wireless devices are having the same problem. If it is only one in particular we advise that you restart that device to see if it resolves the issue and then contact the supplier of the device to see if it requires any attention. If all devices are having a problem and Fastnet supplied the wireless device please contact us as we can then remote on to your router to diagnose further.

We hope you found this blog post helpful and interesting. Of course, we are here to speak to you on the phone and always recommend that you call us if you are experiencing any issues. You can email us at hello@fastnet.co.uk, call us on 01273 688088 or contact us here.

Our next blog will cover two FAQs regarding email.

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