{"id":47548,"date":"2015-12-01T12:16:47","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T12:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/?p=47548"},"modified":"2015-12-01T16:23:38","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T16:23:38","slug":"christmas-lights-could-be-slowing-down-your-wi-fi-heres-how-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/12\/christmas-lights-could-be-slowing-down-your-wi-fi-heres-how-to-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas lights could be slowing down your Wi-Fi \u2014 here’s how to fix it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Iphone5-with-screenshot\"Are your Christmas\u00a0lights slowing down your Wi-Fi? It\u2019s quite possible, according to a new Ofcom report that shows more than five million UK homes suffer from reduced broadband speeds, often due to Wi-Fi interference. The Verge<\/em> report that this is often a seasonal affair, with complaints spiking around Christmas thanks to the sudden saturation of fairy\u00a0lights.<\/p>\n

How to improve Wi-Fi reception and broadband speed<\/h3>\n

There are plenty of ways to avoid the interference caused by Christmas lights and other electrical equipment. The most effective is setting your Wi-Fi to use the cleaner 5GHz band instead of the older 2.4GHz frequency \u2014\u00a0although this might necessitate upgrading your router to a newer model. Wi-Fi boosters\u00a0like these from TP-Link<\/a> or Belkin<\/a>\u00a0are another good option.<\/p>\n

You can also switch channels on your Wi-Fi, or just move the offending equipment away from your router. Apart from Christmas lights, common Wi-Fi antagonists are \u201cmicrowave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices\u201d, but pretty much anything that uses a wireless link can cause issues.<\/p>\n

Check your Wi-Fi with an\u00a0app<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019d like to check Wi-Fi performance at your own home or business, you can use Ofcom\u2019s new Wi-Fi Checker app, which was released today on iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a>. As well rating Wi-Fi networks for signal strength and reliability, the app also offers helpful hints on how to improve reception \u2014 so the app is certainly worth checking out. Another good alternative is the Wi-Fi analyzer app<\/a> on Android.<\/p>\n

Of course, Christmas lights and technology don’t always have to clash. For a happier intersection of the two, see\u00a0our recent article on\u00a0controlling your Christmas lights from your smartphone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We hope you found the article helpful and informative \u2014 let us know what you think in the comments below and enjoy the\u00a0holiday season!<\/p>\n

Source: Ofcom<\/a>
\nVia: The Verge<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are your Christmas lights slowing down your Wi-Fi? It\u2019s quite possible, according to a new Ofcom report that shows more than five million UK homes suffer from reduced broadband speeds. The Verge report that this is often a seasonal affair, with complaints spiking around Christmas thanks to the sudden saturation of fairy lights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":47552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,216],"tags":[8225,8226,8229,8228,8227,8224,8223,7783],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47548"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47608,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47548\/revisions\/47608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}