Film, Media & TV0 min ago
Bandwidth Problem
6 Answers
I have recently moved house. Now when I try to open BBC iPlayer, I am told that I do not have sufficient bandwidth. Please can anyone suggest how I can solve this problem without moving house again?
Many thanks in advance as always.
Many thanks in advance as always.
Answers
1 to 6 of 6
Make sure that (for the purposes of this test) your PC or laptop is connected to your router with an Ethernet cable (i.e. NOT wirelessly). Also ensure that nothing else is connected to your router, either with a cable or wirelessly. Lastly, make sure that your router is connected directly to the phone socket and NOT via an extension cable. Go to this website...
17:05 Sun 18th Nov 2018
Make sure that (for the purposes of this test) your PC or laptop is connected to your router with an Ethernet cable (i.e. NOT wirelessly). Also ensure that nothing else is connected to your router, either with a cable or wirelessly. Lastly, make sure that your router is connected directly to the phone socket and NOT via an extension cable.
Go to this website
http://
and click 'Go'.
Allow the test to complete and take a look at your download speed. In theory you can use iPlayer with a speed of only 2 Mbps but, in practice, around 5 Mbps is probably what you should be aiming for.
Compare that speed with what your ISP promises at your address. (A traditional copper-cabled connection, using the older ADSL Max standard, might only offer no more than 5 Mbps but most copper-cabled connections now use ADSL 2+, typically providing around 10 Mbps. A 'budget' fibre-optic connection might provide around 30 Mbps, with a 'full' fibre-optic service providing perhaps 80 Mbps).
If, say, you're only getting 1 Mbps or less then there's a fault with your broadband connection, which you need to contact your ISP about. (That assumes that you've not moved to one of the few remaining isolated locations in the countryside where there's hardly any usable broadband access at all).
If you're getting a reasonably decent speed with your PC/laptop connected to your router with an Ethernet cable then there should be no problem accessing iPlayer with that device. However you might still experience problems using a device that's connected wirelessly to the router if
(a) it's too far way from the router ;
(b) the signal needs to pass through walls that are particularly thick ; or
(c) there's radio interference on the channel being used by the router.
To fix (a) & (b) above you'd need to install a means of extending the signal strength/range. (There are two ways of doing that but I won't bore you with the details until we know what broadband speed you're getting via an Ethernet cable). To fix (c) above you'd need to go into your router's settings and change the channel it transmits on. (Again, I'll leave out the details until we know if they're needed).
All of the foregoing assumes, of course, that you're actually trying to access iPlayer with a device connected to your router. If, say, you're using a mobile device the problem might be related to the phone signal at your new address. (It also occurs to me that if, say, you're using a mobile phone to view iPlayer, it might have been automatically connecting to the wi-fi at your old address but you've not told it how to do that at your new address. If so, your phone would be connecting to the internet via a mobile phone signal, which might not be good enough to use iPlayer).
So we really need some more information here:
What type of device are you using? (PC? Laptop? Android tablet? iPhone?)
How is connected to the internet? (Ethernet cable to your router? Wi-fi to your router? Mobile phone network?)
Go to this website
http://
and click 'Go'.
Allow the test to complete and take a look at your download speed. In theory you can use iPlayer with a speed of only 2 Mbps but, in practice, around 5 Mbps is probably what you should be aiming for.
Compare that speed with what your ISP promises at your address. (A traditional copper-cabled connection, using the older ADSL Max standard, might only offer no more than 5 Mbps but most copper-cabled connections now use ADSL 2+, typically providing around 10 Mbps. A 'budget' fibre-optic connection might provide around 30 Mbps, with a 'full' fibre-optic service providing perhaps 80 Mbps).
If, say, you're only getting 1 Mbps or less then there's a fault with your broadband connection, which you need to contact your ISP about. (That assumes that you've not moved to one of the few remaining isolated locations in the countryside where there's hardly any usable broadband access at all).
If you're getting a reasonably decent speed with your PC/laptop connected to your router with an Ethernet cable then there should be no problem accessing iPlayer with that device. However you might still experience problems using a device that's connected wirelessly to the router if
(a) it's too far way from the router ;
(b) the signal needs to pass through walls that are particularly thick ; or
(c) there's radio interference on the channel being used by the router.
To fix (a) & (b) above you'd need to install a means of extending the signal strength/range. (There are two ways of doing that but I won't bore you with the details until we know what broadband speed you're getting via an Ethernet cable). To fix (c) above you'd need to go into your router's settings and change the channel it transmits on. (Again, I'll leave out the details until we know if they're needed).
All of the foregoing assumes, of course, that you're actually trying to access iPlayer with a device connected to your router. If, say, you're using a mobile device the problem might be related to the phone signal at your new address. (It also occurs to me that if, say, you're using a mobile phone to view iPlayer, it might have been automatically connecting to the wi-fi at your old address but you've not told it how to do that at your new address. If so, your phone would be connecting to the internet via a mobile phone signal, which might not be good enough to use iPlayer).
So we really need some more information here:
What type of device are you using? (PC? Laptop? Android tablet? iPhone?)
How is connected to the internet? (Ethernet cable to your router? Wi-fi to your router? Mobile phone network?)
Thanks for you reply.
As long as you're happy to stick with a wired connection that's fine. Otherwise (if you want to try to improve your wireless one) you might need to reset the TCP/IP stack on your laptop (which, fortunately, is nowhere near as hard as it sounds!) or to change the channel used by your router (which isn't particularly difficult either).
If you need further help, please post again, mentioning the version of Windows you're using and the make/model of your router.
As long as you're happy to stick with a wired connection that's fine. Otherwise (if you want to try to improve your wireless one) you might need to reset the TCP/IP stack on your laptop (which, fortunately, is nowhere near as hard as it sounds!) or to change the channel used by your router (which isn't particularly difficult either).
If you need further help, please post again, mentioning the version of Windows you're using and the make/model of your router.
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