We all want to ensure we’re getting the most from our internet connections, whether maximising download speeds or online gaming experiences! Coming up in issue 259 (on sale 24th October) we’re covering this subject in full. To support the feature we’ve served up the following essential free resources to help you manage your bandwidth, troubleshoot problems, and generally extracting the most from those copper and fibre optic wires.
Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Training at Certkingdom.com
Follow these links for our other ‘issue 258’ web packs:
The gamers guide to online communications!
Take a peek at Windows 8 today!
Release the full potential of your broadband and Wi-Fi!
Issue 258 game demo roundup! (coming soon)
ONSPEED
ONSPEED uses selective content compression to reduce the amount of bandwidth required to deliver a webpage. At under £30 a year, it makes sense for people using low-bandwidth connections such as dial-up or mobile internet, but don’t expect it to work wonders with a mid-level broadband speed or your online gaming connections. (commercial service)
Visit the website
Speedtest.net
Want to check your broadband provider hasn’t stitched you up on their bandwidth claims? You can test your broadband speed here. They have servers placed in many locations to ensure accurate results. (free)
Visit the website
Ditch your WiFi
It’s the obvious solution for making sure your broadband speed, ping, connection reliability is as good as it can be, though plumbing in the necessary cables around your abode may not be practical. The next best option is networking through your electricity mains circuit, and it’s no more complicated than plugging in the special powerline network adaptors into wall sockets. (hardware)
Solwise, Comtrend, devolo, Netgear, TP-LINK, Belkin
Build a Cantenna
Those small sticks poking from your WiFi router or network card that pass off for antennae maybe cute but also might hold back the full potential of your WiFi. With a suitable metal can plus a few cheap components you can easily pick up from Maplins, build yourself a Cantenna. What’s a Cantenna? It’s a homebrew high gain antenna you silly boy/girl! There are tons of online guides and videos on constructing them. (Blue Peter for adults)
Google it
Propel Accelerator
You’re average run-of-the mill home broadband connection will often be advertised at a speed vastly in excess of the real-world rates you’ll be able to achieve with it. Using this fine web service you’ll be able to turbo charge your connection so it’s slight closer to the throughput you were originally drawn to. (commercial service)
Visit the website
WEP key generator
You’ve heard stories of WiFi thieves hacking into networks to suck down those tasty radio waves for nefarious ends. It’s usually because the owners haven’t secured their WiFi network at all or used poor password choices. WEP key generator is a handy online secure password creation tool that will make you a fancy password with lots of strange characters. In other words, a secure password to encrypt your WiFi network. (free)
Visit the website
Traffic Shaping
Your internet connection only stretches so far between a house full of users all contesting for the same bandwidth. To spread the load evenly it’s possible to limit download and upload speeds of specific applications or the ports they use and throttle their hogging ways. You’ll need to poke around the router admin settings for the QoS (Quality of Service) settings to make these adjustments. Refer to the router manual or the vendors website for instructions. It’s not very complicated, but may take a bit of tinkering to get this just right. (router settings)
DNS jumper
Switch DNS servers easily using this piece of freeware. What’s a DNS server and why would you care? A DNS, or name server is technology that maps URLs to IP addresses and they all vary a surprising amount in terms of reliablility and speed. So if you find that your browser isn’t resolving web addresses as fast as you’d like then use DNS jumper to switch to a different superior domain name server. (free version)
Download from here
Free Download Manager
Do you want to transfer files to your computer from a website more quickly? Then we have the tool for you! Using Free Download Manager you can split one file into pieces so that each portion has its own connection to the file server. A great loophole for bypassing per-file bandwidth restrictions and grabbing those oh-so-important files all the more quickly. Perfect for those with little patience for waiting times. (free version)
Download from here
inSSIDer
Diagonose problems with your wireless network no mattter the operating system. Unlike other tools inSSIDer works with Windows XP, Vista and 7 with support for both 32-bit and 64-bit incarnations. For example too many networks in close proximity on the same channel can be troublesome. With this program you’ll be able to view which is the least used channel so you can adjust your router’s configuration. (free version)
Download from here
NetBalancer
By adjusting network priority you’ll be able to give applications a certain amount of bandwidth. NetBalancer can tweak download and upload rates for any applications. The best thing being that an application with a low priority won’t be limited if an application with a higher priority isn’t in use. So the days of your BitTorrent client clogging up your internet connection are well and truly numbered! (free version)
Download from here
NetStress
Troubleshoot your network with the help of this free application that’s capable of generating network traffic and then reporting on the performance of the data’s throughput. In an ideal world you’ll benchmark your wireless network when its fresh and working perfectly. Then when performance drops off you’ll be able to use NetStress to diagnose what might be the source of your woes. (free version)
Download from here
NetSurveyor
You’ve heard of NetStumbler, right? Well imagine it on steroids and you’ll come close to visualising what NetSurveyor’s all about with its superior featureset. One aspect that’s of particular interest is the ability to conduct wireless site surveys so you can see a detailed overview of coverage and whether there’s interference nearby that might cause dead spots on your network. (free version)
Download from here
NetWorx
An ailing data throughput is normally the first sign that things are not quite right on your home network. With NetWorx you can configure alerts that inform you when a connection goes down or when there’s some suspicious activity like some unusually heavy data flow on your copper cables or microwaves. Everything is logged so you can always view statistics showing your daily, weekly and monthly bandwidth usage. (free version)
Download from here
Opera
With so many browsers vying for market share developer’s are having put more resources into innovating than ever before. Successfully loading webpages is no longer enough to stand out from the crowd. That’s why the folk at Opera have developed Opera Turbo, a feature for those not blessed with the fastest of connections. It compresses pages via Opera’s servers creating quicker download times. (free version)
Download from here
Orbit Downloader
Who are we to argue with the developer billing this as the ‘ leader of a download manager revolution’? With big-hitting functionality like its web 2.0 capability meaning you can download media from social-networking stalwarts like Myspace, YouTube, Imeem, Pandora and more, it’s difficult to see why you’d need another download manager. But we’ll leave you to mull that one over. (free version)
Download from here
Repair Network
Struggling to comprehend why a network share is causing you some much unwarranted aggravation? The chances are the problem lies with your DNS cache, which can become corrupt or outdated from time to time. Teach it a lesson by clearing your DNS cache and renewing you IP address. You’ll find your network share is operating as it should be in absolutely no time at all. (free version)
Download from here
SG TCP Optimizer
Tune your internet connection without having to resort to solder or a soldering iron. Install this freeware and you’ll be able to dive right into some seriously advanced algorithm manipulation and bandwidth delay features for helping you find the best TCP Window for your specific connection speed. Couple this with functionality for tweaking TCP/IP parameters, such as MTU, RWIN and we thinkg you’re onto a winner! (free version)
Download from here
Simple Port Forwarding
For some, port forwarding can be a difficult concept to truly get your head around. Fortunately your don’t have to be a skilled network administration to configure this feature. Download and install this software and you’ll be able to select to have the whole process done automatically for your thanks to it supporting over 190 different routers. From Zyxel to Belkin and NetGear to Linksys, there’s a very good chance your hardware will be recognised. (free version)
Download from here
SPEEDbit Video Accelerator
More and more internet service providers are slapping ridiculous quality of service restrictions on products that already teeter on the verge of being falsely advertised. If you’re the vicitim of bandwidth restrictions because of slight overuse you’ll probably find video streaming has been hit. But with this software you can either download the movie for a later viewing or use the built-in acceleration to eke a little more out of your connection. (free version)
Download from here
TamoSoft Throughput Test
When experiencing shortcomings in your bandwidth, most place the blame with their internet service provider. But there are occasions when the problem is a little more localised. So before you hit up your ISPs extortianate premium rate support line run some benchmarks and discover information about your connection such as upstream and downstream throughput values, packet loss, and round-trip time. (free version)
Download from here
Wireless Wizard
Should you find that your any of your WiFi, LTE, WiMAX, 3G, or 2G wireless networks aren’t performing as they should you can use this program to increase reliability. Wireless Wizard makes it easy to aim your wireless adapter, measure network performance and quickly identify and fix wireless broadband problems. So if you can’t fix a problem with this great tool it may be time to invest in new hardware. (free version)
