Are your employees struggling with broadband?

If you want your employees to continue working from home their broadband needs to be up to the job.

Globally it seems that home and hybrid workers worldwide continue to suffer with poor broadband connectivity, according to the latest Cisco research that spoke to 60,000 workers from 30 countries. And really, there is no need when increased levels of service can be obtained by businesses and organisations, is so key to economic growth.

Decent broadband connectivity has been valued since the start of the pandemic homeworking, which is now a practice that’s here to stay, but 75% of respondents to the survey said that their broadband needs to dramatically improve. Of those surveyed, 60% also live in households where more than three people use the internet at the same time, which could account for some of the problems.

A business focus on the quality of broadband

Although the work-from-home norm is now fading slightly, many employees are still choosing to be homeworkers, with significant numbers of employees looking for alternative work where they can keep the homeworking option. This has placed a focus for businesses and organisations on the importance of broadband that’s fit for purpose for employees.

Universal broadband access and connectivity has also become a political point too; 40% of the globe do not have access to the internet at all, with this more prevalent in poorer and more rural communities, widening the gap within society. Many respondents in the survey said they would ideally like to see governments adopt plans to make high-speed internet available to everyone.

What can employees do to help their broadband at home?

We always say at Cultrix, when it comes to broadband, that a reduced cost usually means a reduced service. We would encourage businesses to speak to us about their options for improving connection, as there are many business grade connectivity options, and the same goes for individuals.

In the meantime, we have the following tips to help employees maximise connectivity when at home:

Run a speed test

It helps to know what broadband is actually being received so usage can be rationed. If uploading big files and a lot of video calling goes on for work, but there’s only 10Mbps, that’s not going to be enough for recreational use too.

Close unnecessary programs

Shut down applications not in use; programs running in the background will be placing demand on broadband. Security scans, media-rich web pages and chat notification could all be taking up bandwidth, as well as any streaming.

Check the Wi-Fi router is set up properly

The router should be plugged into the master socket, not an extension. It should be positioned upright and ideally in the middle of the home, unobstructed by walls and furniture, and not placed in a cupboard. If there are still issues, a Wi-Fi extender should be considered.

Consider a Wi-Fi booster

Some internet providers will supply these to customers, also known as powerline adapters, to boost the Wi-Fi signal by using electricity, particularly where there are ‘dead spots’ in a customer’s home.

Cut down the number of devices connected

Streaming music, movies and gaming takes up bandwidth. Difficult when there are others in an employee home, but perhaps certain bandwidth-heavy tasks could be scheduled for a quieter time.

Turn off HD streaming

Check that streaming platforms aren’t set to automatically stream at the highest quality. If it’s not needed, this could save valuable bandwidth and is straightforward to adjust in the settings.

Go mobile

Otherwise known as tethering, an employee can use their smartphone and turn it into a Wi-Fi hotspot, if they have good 4G signal. It’s not always available and isn’t a long-term solution but could be useful at certain times of the day when they struggle for bandwidth.

Change the wireless channel

Advanced routers will automatically switch to channels that are less congested, otherwise this could be done manually by changing the wireless channel settings.

There’s always the plug-in option

It’s a last resort, and depends on layout logistics, but there’s always the option for devices to be connected directly to the router with an Ethernet cable, which is inexpensive to purchase.

Upgrading to business broadband

While this may not be an option you want to broach with employees, due to costs, more employees are taking it upon themselves to upgrade to business broadband purely to make homeworking more stable.

Businesses can find out more about business broadband upgrades and options directly with us here at Cultrix.

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