There’s not many situations more annoying than sitting down for the evening to watch your chosen streaming service, to be met with spinning wheel of death while it buffers a few frames. Sometimes you feel completely useless and end up finding something else to do instead of wasting your time. However, in most cases it’s worth seeing if you do find ways to increase your bandwidth and in turn improve your connection. To get your internet up to speed, try using these 5 simple tips.

1. Make sure you have a strong wireless connection

It might sound simple, but you need a strong wifi connection to benefit from fast internet. Placing the wireless router in a part of the house where the connection has to pass through as few walls as possible will certainly help. Storing it higher up also helps, so that it’s closer to the people upstairs. The router’s signal can also experience interference if placed near household appliances, so try keeping it away from these. A little bit of trial and error and if you’re still experiencing issues after, try the next tip.

2. Install antivirus software

We’re in 2017, so I’m sure you’re well aware how important to keep your computer and personal files protected from prying eyes on the internet. If you are victim of a malicious program installed onto your system without you knowing, then it very well could be uploading all of your information to a remote server, which would use up bandwidth and slow your computer and internet down. There is plenty of antivirus software that offers standard protection for free, so it’s certainly worth having some installed just to be on the safe side. A quick scan will soon tell you if your computer is in a world of trouble, which will tell you if this is the cause of your slow internet.

3. Is there something wrong with the equipment?

It could be that the hardware itself is at fault. If there’s an issue with the router or cables, then this could slow down your internet. The best way to find out if this is the case is to swap out different parts to get to the bottom of the issues. For example, try plugging an Ethernet cable into your computer. If after performing a speed test, your connection now seems perfectly fine, then you know that there’s an issue with your set up. Swapping out cables and using another router may then solve the issue. Again, it’s a little bit of trial and error, but it’s worth it.

4. Stop your family hogging the bandwidth

Although it’s tempting to assume it’s a technical fault beyond your control, sometimes it can be as simple as ensuring that there’s not too many devices on one network. If you imagine on one network there can sometimes be multiple phones, tablets, consoles, Smart TVs and computers all watching playing and updating content all at one time, there’s no one wonder your internet connection has ground to a halt. Try agreeing with everyone in your household to turn off the wifi connectivity on their devices to solve this issue.

5. Talk to your Internet Service Provider

Finally, attempt to contact your Internet Service Provider. It could well be the case that there is something highly technical wrong with your connection on their end. If that is the case, it’s possible that the issue is affecting other customers too and they should be able to tell you the ongoing plan to solve it. The reason why this tip is saved for last is that ISP’s are often reluctant to send out an engineer to troubleshoot. Luckily though, they normally have quite a useful help desk that you can ring to talk through the issue, much like we’ve done here. If you’re completely at your wits end with the speed of your internet, then keep pestering your Service Provider until they offer the assistance you’re satisfied with. At the end of the day, you’re paying for a service and they’re obliged to provide it.