Ensure Reliable Broadband

There is no denying the fact that broadband is the in-thing today given the latest technological advances.

Broadband connection is a shared entity and as it becomes increasingly popular, as users do more online, so performance is more likely to be affected. I am sure this is what Internet service providers (ISPs) must be aware of.

One gets tired, and at most times frustrated, over slow broadband connections at peak hours during weekdays, and also especially during weekends, and public and schools holidays.

Internet connections pass through intermediate points, or nodes and these links can become overloaded or choked with traffic.

In the increasingly-competitive broadband market, ISPs must be well aware of the need to have their performance constantly checked, allocating guaranteed amounts of bandwidth to specific types of applications.

When more people are sharing the links, the slower the links will become during peak times. E-mail, for instance, is a critical business application today.

Internet-based technologies are becoming critical, especially when one relies on the computer for a number of reasons. When you try to download something large and at the same time have a voice conversation, the download will consume the whole broadband width and impact on that voice conversation.

For all these critical applications, broadband providers must guarantee performance. This is where broadband monitoring, tweaking and optimisation come in.

The actual speed of the Internet connection will almost certainly vary considerably, and will be affected by many factors, including the way the PC is configured, the way the network is configured between the PC and the service provider, whether the user is running network monitoring software, such as a firewall or anti-spam software, the size of any files being downloaded, and whether other local users are using the same bandwidth.

When different applications share the same broadband connection there must be a careful check on network performance.

When one is into broadband there are usually no quality guarantees about service or performance levels.

There are many things that can be done to maximise broadband performance. Internet service providers provide a lot of information about optimising PC settings and broadband connections, which in itself is commendable.

What is recommended is not only the use of the latest versions of all PC and networking software but also putting more bandwidth over the link.