Latest news with #BroadbandGenie
Scottish Sun
15 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
WiFi alert issued to all UK homes to check routers NOW over ‘mass blackout' risk
Read on to find out how to avoid internet blackout BAD SIGNAL WiFi alert issued to all UK homes to check routers NOW over 'mass blackout' risk Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TEMPERATURES are soaring across the UK this weekend with Brits enjoying the sunshine. Although hot weather is great for BBQs and tanning, your internet connection might suffer. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Hot weather could slow down internet connectivity by 25 per cent UK homes could experience connectivity issues with 25 per cent slower WI-FI. According to Broadband Genie, high temperatures could overheat your router with upload speeds dropping by 27 per cent. These black boxes, just like most devices, don't like being too hot and could completely shut down. In order to avoid a total blackout, it is advised to keep your router away from the direct sunlight. The Broadband Genie team told Mirror: 'Broadband companies design and test their equipment to operate in and around temperatures up to 40°C. 'If users can keep their broadband router below this, we'll avoid a wave of mass broadband blackouts. 'Customers should check their router isn't placed in an unsuitable spot, such as next to any sunny south-facing window or a sweltering loft space. 'A couple of minutes taken here will save your broadband grinding to a halt, avoiding any broadband-related frustrations.' But don't tuck away your router inside a cabinet either as that could block the signal. It is recommended to place your black box at least 30cm off the floor on a flat, hard surface. Brand new Wi-Fi router revealed Broadband Genie also warns pet owners to keep their fur babies away from the router. Your fluffy friend's fur could congest the air ducts which will prevent ventilation. If your router is too old and is struggling to keep cool even with all precautions taken, you might want to consider an upgrade. Experts say households should replace their router once every five years, at the very least. The newer models run cooler and aren't as perceptive to the temperature, and they could cost you only £50. If all else fails and the temperatures reach 40+ degrees, it is best to disconnect from the internet and bask in the Sun while giving your devices a break. You might enjoy chatting to family and friends over BBQ or reading a book on a patio or in the park in the meantime.
The Irish Sun
15 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
WiFi alert issued to all UK homes to check routers NOW over ‘mass blackout' risk
TEMPERATURES are soaring across the UK this weekend with Brits enjoying the sunshine. Although hot weather is great for BBQs and tanning, your internet connection might suffer. Advertisement 1 Hot weather could slow down internet connectivity by 25 per cent UK homes could experience connectivity issues with 25 per cent slower WI-FI. According to Broadband Genie, high temperatures could overheat your router with upload speeds dropping by 27 per cent. These black boxes, just like most devices, don't like being too hot and could completely shut down. In order to avoid a total blackout, it is advised to keep your router away from the direct sunlight. Advertisement read more on tech The Broadband Genie team told Mirror: 'Broadband companies design and test their equipment to operate in and around temperatures up to 40°C. 'If users can keep their broadband router below this, we'll avoid a wave of mass broadband blackouts . 'Customers should check their router isn't placed in an unsuitable spot, such as next to any sunny south-facing window or a sweltering loft space. 'A couple of minutes taken here will save your broadband grinding to a halt, avoiding any broadband-related frustrations.' Advertisement Most read in Tech Breaking Exclusive Breaking But don't tuck away your router inside a cabinet either as that could block the signal. It is recommended to place your black box at least 30cm off the floor on a flat, hard surface. Brand new Wi-Fi router revealed Broadband Genie also warns pet owners to keep their fur babies away from the router. Your fluffy friend's fur could congest the air ducts which will prevent ventilation. Advertisement If your router is too old and is struggling to keep cool even with all precautions taken, you might want to consider an upgrade. Experts say households should The newer models run cooler and aren't as perceptive to the temperature, and they could cost you only £50. If all else fails and the temperatures reach 40+ degrees, it is best to disconnect from the internet and bask in the Sun while giving your devices a break. Advertisement You might enjoy chatting to family and friends over BBQ or reading a book on a patio or in the park in the meantime.
The Sun
15 hours ago
- Climate
- The Sun
WiFi alert issued to all UK homes to check routers NOW over ‘mass blackout' risk
TEMPERATURES are soaring across the UK this weekend with Brits enjoying the sunshine. Although hot weather is great for BBQs and tanning, your internet connection might suffer. 1 UK homes could experience connectivity issues with 25 per cent slower WI-FI. According to Broadband Genie, high temperatures could overheat your router with upload speeds dropping by 27 per cent. These black boxes, just like most devices, don't like being too hot and could completely shut down. In order to avoid a total blackout, it is advised to keep your router away from the direct sunlight. The Broadband Genie team told Mirror: 'Broadband companies design and test their equipment to operate in and around temperatures up to 40°C. 'If users can keep their broadband router below this, we'll avoid a wave of mass broadband blackouts. 'Customers should check their router isn't placed in an unsuitable spot, such as next to any sunny south-facing window or a sweltering loft space. 'A couple of minutes taken here will save your broadband grinding to a halt, avoiding any broadband-related frustrations.' But don't tuck away your router inside a cabinet either as that could block the signal. It is recommended to place your black box at least 30cm off the floor on a flat, hard surface. Brand new Wi-Fi router revealed Broadband Genie also warns pet owners to keep their fur babies away from the router. Your fluffy friend's fur could congest the air ducts which will prevent ventilation. If your router is too old and is struggling to keep cool even with all precautions taken, you might want to consider an upgrade. Experts say households should replace their router once every five years, at the very least. The newer models run cooler and aren't as perceptive to the temperature, and they could cost you only £50. If all else fails and the temperatures reach 40+ degrees, it is best to disconnect from the internet and bask in the Sun while giving your devices a break.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
UK's 'best' broadband is not BT, Sky or Virgin
The latest stats are in and there's a surprise winner of the best UK broadband. The UK's broadband has been put through its paces once again, and there's a surprise winner. The team at Broadband Genie have just dished out their yearly gongs, and the top prize hasn't gone to the big three providers. Instead of BT, Sky or Virgin Media filling their trophy cabinet, the winner of the 'best' broadband service is Plusnet. The BT-owned platform beat all of its rivals to be crowned the winner and that's not all as the Internet Service Provider also won Most Reliable Provider and Most User Friendly as well. Speaking about the result, Alex Tofts, Strategist at Broadband Genie said: "You won't find any fancy frills with Plusnet, such as TV or phone bundles. "And while flashy rewards for new switches are few and far between, its straightforward 'broadband only ' deals are a real win. No set-up costs, no line rental, great support, and the peace of mind that comes with good customer service if anything goes wrong. Take to the podium, Plusnet!' Plusnet isn't the only winner. Broadband Genie also handed out a swathe of other gongs, including Best Value for Money, Fastest Widely Available Provider and Best Customer Service. ISPs picking up those prizes include NOW, Three Vodafone and Virgin. Here is the full list of Broadband Genie winners Best Provider: Plusnet Fastest Widely Available Provider: Virgin Media Fastest Wireless Provider: Three Best Value for Money: Vodafone Most Reliable Provider: Plusnet Best Customer Service: NOW Broadband Best Social Tariff: Vodafone Best Provider for Home Working: Virgin Media Best Provider for Online Gaming: Virgin Media Best Provider for Streaming: Virgin Media Most User Friendly: Plusnet Along with announcing those big broadband winners, the latest survey has also revealed the providers and areas where improvements need to be made. According to Broadband Genie, customers were least satisfied with customer service. This category has the lowest scores of any, with providers Direct Save (58%) and Zen Internet (64%) significantly below the average in this area. Value for money was also an issue with this category having the second-lowest average score. Virgin Media (64%), BT (64%), TalkTalk (67%) and Sky Broadband (68%) which form the majority of the broadband market were well off the pace of the front-runners. 'It's no surprise that in a year when customers are once again having to swallow hefty mid-contract price rises that they feel they're not getting value for money," added Tofts. "This is more evidence and only affirms our stance that Ofcom needs to ban mid-contract price rises.'
Entrepreneur
26-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
This $300,000 Problem is Sabotaging Your Team's Productivity
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Poor morale may slow a project, but a frozen screen stops it cold. Every remote workflow — from creative reviews to client demos — rides on bandwidth. Many leaders treat connectivity as a personal headache, but they usually miss the bigger threat. Unstable networks drain profit, push IT into crisis mode and hide behind the vague label of "productivity issues." Remote work is not a hurdle. The bad internet is. Audit your team's internet experience, not just their output KPIs focus on results, mainly tracking what happened, not why it happened. Targets sometimes slip, and managers blame the process or people, yet the real culprit often lives in the last mile. In March 2025, Broadband Genie surveyed 3,200 UK remote workers and found that only 55% of London respondents found their connections stable. Belfast fared worse at 4%. Cities with the weakest links also logged the most missed deadlines. Those outages never appear as a separate expense line, but they bleed margin all the same. Start making reliable connectivity visible and available. Ask teams to run a simple speed test at the start and end of each day for a week. Track latency, packet loss and retry events right next to sprint burndown charts. When a release overruns its timetable, you will know whether the culprit is code quality or congestion on the wire. Related: 4 Tips for Maintaining Productivity When Working From Home Equip IT with tools to monitor connectivity in real time IT cannot repair what it cannot see. Without visibility, hotlines light up, routers reboot and employees wait in line to speak with a technician. That wait is expensive. The 2024 ITIC Hourly Cost of Downtime report says 90% of midsize and large enterprises lose at least $300,000 for every hour critical services stall, while 41% watch losses climb past the million-dollar mark. While most incidents last minutes rather than hours, the math still hurts. Install lightweight agents on every company laptop to sample throughput and jitter. Feed those readings into a live dashboard that displays regional heat maps. The moment packet loss spikes, engineers see a red square instead of a vague complaint on Slack (or Teams, whatever platform you use for communications). Authorize the network team to reroute traffic or spin up a backup tunnel as soon as the dashboard flashes. Visibility turns firefighters into forecasters and sends the overtime line in the IT budget back under control. Standardize network expectations across home and office Almost all companies these days would never issue a decade-old laptop anymore, yet many employees still rely on bargain broadband that collapses during a routine video stand-up. Treat bandwidth like any other asset. Publish a baseline, maybe 50 megabits down, 10 megabits up, latency under 50 milliseconds to core services and fund a stipend the same way you cover monitors and chairs. Require a three-minute speed test during onboarding and schedule quarterly retests. When someone moves or travels, ask for a quick verification run before the next client demo or internal presentation. For coworking spaces and shared offices, maintain an approved list that meets your technical bar. Consistency shields brand reputation. Clients see crisp video, partners experience punctual demos and employees stop wondering whether a glitch is local or global. Clear standards also remove the stigma of "my internet isn't good enough," which turns an individual problem into an organizational fix you already budgeted. Related: Stop Blaming Remote Work for Your Productivity Woes Invest in infrastructure that adapts, not just supports Workload demand changes by the hour — from a 4K video upload one minute to a light chat the next. Legacy VPN gateways choke under that routine, and a single broadband link dies the moment a big truck clips your fiber wires. A software-defined WAN, by contrast, reroutes traffic across multiple carriers in milliseconds. If the wired connection drops, LTE or 5G backup keeps voice and video running. Add zero-trust edge services so each user's security policies travel with them, no matter where they log in. Automation further makes the difference between resilience and roulette. A self-healing backbone senses congestion, prioritizes real-time voice traffic and isolates suspect devices before anyone reaches for the keyboard. When done properly, engineers reclaim the hours they once spent combing logs. Finance sees network spend shift from cost center to competitive edge. Most importantly, teams stay in flow instead of asking, "Can you hear me now?" for the third time in one meeting. Close the loop between connectivity and culture Employee surveys often rank "tool frustration" near the top of morale killers. Stable links erase that pain without a single wellness program. Reliable meetings end on time. Uploads finish before the end of the shift. If every remote team experiences the same high-quality connectivity, people remember why they chose remote work in the first place — autonomy without annoyance. Less friction breeds trust, and trust fuels retention and reduces the recruiting bill. Connectivity now sits beside payroll, and data security on the enterprise risk register. Audit it, monitor it, standardize it, automate it. Do those four things, and "bad connection" vanishes from Monday reports along with the hidden drag on quarterly targets. Culture initiatives still matter, but they thrive only after the network holds steady. Fix the connection and watch your remote teams move at hyper speed.
