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There have been several reports from remote users that their internet speed is slow or intermittent. As more people around the world are working from home, a larger load has been placed on the capabilities of home internet usage. The following brief guide has been curated to help these users resolve these issues.

Wifi and internet communication background

When you work in the office, it is most common for your laptop to be connected to a docking station, linked to the internet via an Ethernet cable. When working at home, it is more likely that your laptop will be utilizing Wi-Fi, a wireless connection with no physical cable.

Wi-Fi is a wireless service that historically connects your devices at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. This frequency band is also used by many other wireless services (such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ant+) and is used by many ‘smart’ devices you may have in your home such as Google Home, Sonos, or Alexa.
The issue with Wi-Fi connectivity is that wireless communication services “piggy-back”, or run off of the primary user of the band which was originally intended for Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) devices such as your humble microwave oven.

This ISM frequency is completely standardized across the world. It is therefore beneficial for manufacturers of wireless products because they can reduce the number of frequency variants of their product that is intended for a worldwide market.

However, many new devices have the ability of using a new frequency to connect on Wi-Fi – this is often designated on these devices as ‘5 GHz’. If your laptop and Wi-Fi router can use this frequency, it will be more reliable than running on 2.4 GHz. 

Tips for resolving connectivity issues

If you have any connection problems whilst working remotely, the following instructions may be able to help:

1. If you can connect directly into your home router, use an Ethernet cable so that you have a direct connection
2. If you use a microwave oven in your home, ensure that your laptop is as far aware as possible and limit the microwave use when you need a reliable connection
3. Change the wireless connection from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz if your laptop and Wi-Fi router support this
4. Limit the number of other smart devices that are located close to your laptop
5. LED lighting is also known for causing interference – turning off these lights that are in close proximity to your laptop may also help.

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