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You may have already run a few tests and found that even though you are paying for, say, an 8 Mb package, you're actual broadband speed test results are much slower.

Firstly, when your Internet Service Provider advertised your, for example, 8 Mb package what they meant was that your optimum speed was 8 Mb. That means that barring any interference between your PC and your router, distance from the exchange, line quality, applications running on your PC, and of course your contention ratio, that you should theoretically get speeds of 8 Mb.

With ADSL broadband an important factor in determining your highest speed is how close you are to your local exchange. Some broadband availability checkers will also have a Show Map section that you can click. This will show you how close you are to the exchange. The further you are, the slower your connection will be. If you have a great quality line this difference may be negligible i.e. you may get 20 Mb speeds rather than 24 Mb speeds but who really needs broadband that fast anyway unless you are a business or an online gaming addict.

On the other hand if you are reasonably close to the exchange but you are still getting slow speeds, another factor to look at is the actual broadband package you are subscribing to. You may have been early to jump on the broadband wagon but now still have a 512 Kbps connection, the common connection a few years ago. However since then we have seen broadband speeds of up to 24Mb. Definitely investigate a package upgrade, as these days you can affordable get double and triple those early speeds.

Another factor is your contention ratio. Between you and the exchange there will be a number of houses connecting to broadband using the same network connection and this number will affect the speeds you receive. So for instance if you have a contention ratio of about 40:1 which is average, this means that 40 people share that bandwidth. Businesses often pay for lower contention rates of 20:1 and 10:1 so that their connection is always as fast as possible. Often your slow speeds are caused by having a high contention ratio.

You can improve your broadband test results by either getting a better package with your service provider, or just by contacting them and asking them to look for any faults in the line. Also make sure that your PC has a decent chunk of memory free. If you are right up to the brim you will find your internet is very slow. Also make sure the path between your router, if wireless, and your PC is as clear as possible, as the more objects between them the more interference there will be with the speed. There is also software available that will help boost your connection like ONSPEED.

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